Last weekend, I was at a friend’s birthday party on the back patio of a Bed-Stuy bar. We were sharing the space with another group who had put black balloons on every table and when we first arrived, someone was giving a rather solemn speech - yes, a eulogy. As more attendees showed up in all black and the playlist descended into How Do I Live By LeAnn Rimes, we worried we were intruding on a wake that someone decided to have on the patio of a Bed-Stuy bar. Eventually they broke out an ice cream cake and we realized this was simply a “Death To 20s” themed birthday party.
Anyway. At one point, and from then on, we took turns listing obscure-leaning late 2000s cool coded bands. You know what I’m talking about - Metric, Louis XIV, Hot Chip, The Postal Service. The list went on for hours and anecdotes of “My sister dated a guy in the Polyphonic Spree” crowded between exclamations of “Oh my goddddd, Dr. Dog!”
I would pay money for a playlist of every MySpace song on my profile between 2005 and 2008. It changed every time I broke up with my boyfriend (2-week cycle) or came home from a show in downtown Dallas in which the unknown opener was better than the headliner. Literally everyone loves notalgia. It’s in our apartment decor, our fashion trends, our TV series reboots. It’s the comfort of not just remembering who we were, but comparing that to who we are, discovering threads of our own authenticity and doing that within a cohort that shares those experiences. The latter is what Big Nostalgia has failed at making genuine, instead churning out polished versions of old, beloved content that sort of tries to make us feel seen by stitching a student loans reference into a Goonies graphic. And you know what? We’re sick of it! They don’t know us! Enter: Nowstalgia.
Reduce, Reuse, Replicate
The Y2K revival has been coming in hot since late 2020. 19-year-olds are freaking out about finding Limited Too at the thrift. Love that for them. While this coincidentally lines up with the traditional but arguably defunct 20-year trend cycle, it mostly coincides with the shift we’ve seen in personal style post-pandemic. Think: the rise of Dopamine Dressing - bright colors, mixed prints and scales, glam, regency, novelty. People were tired of wearing sweatpants, tired of being alone. They want to look weird, they want to share a collective memory.
But the Internet Age has sped up trend cycles, identifying aesthetics within aesthetics at a truly dizzying rate. What have new generations of ethically-inclined consumers done with this? They’re not throwing away last year’s micro trends or drastically switching up the entirety of their personal style. They’re renovating, redeveloping. Nowstalgia refers to an impulsive return to an imagined past, one not necessarily ever experienced first hand. That’s your Millennials on their 1970s shit, Zoomers with their emo revivals. And that’s not new - every generation has romanticized a time period they haven’t lived through. But the fusion of cosplaying the past, adapting to the present and imagining the future is revolutionary for fashion. It’s giving us cross-generational connection and never-ending inspiration. It’s never been easier to mix eras, hone in on a personal style that really resonates with you and stop over consuming. It is the most sustainable wave of fashion… ever.
How can you modernize your wardrobe?
First, let’s unpack the term “sustainable” in regards to consumption. Green washing has led us to believe that sustainability refers to how a product is made, but it’s actually about how a product retains its use. Nothing is sustainable until you implement it into your life regularly and effectively. A vintage dress is not sustainable before you wear it. A metal straw is not sustainable if you’re never inclined to use it. A sustainable wardrobe means clothes that you actually wear - clothes that fit you and clothes that are emotionally and physically comfortable.
The Nowstalgia revolution is about embracing chaos: fuck sleek and chic, fuck a cohesive aesthetic. Style trends of the past keep us spending money and time on maintaining a look. Society is finally granting you permission to wear what you really like, what really looks good on you. So instead of cleaning out your closet every few months, allocate that energy to figuring out how to reimplement existing pieces back into your wardrobe.
Mix prints. Just do it. It’s cool. Where people get hung up on this kind of styling is with the colors - you’ve got to match the tones of different prints. Not all reds are created equal, so look at the undertones of a piece you’re trying to pair. Or just go with my all-time favorite, black and white. A swirl pattern and a checkered pattern in the same colors is upper echelon shit.
Tailor your clothes. Of course this can refer to making a larger pair of pants fit you better. But also, reimagine the lengths of pieces. Would that midi suit you better as a mini? Would you get more use out of that sweater as a shrug? Take it a step further and try redesigning. The zipper on that too-small dress can be removed for a more versatile lace-up fastening. Add panels of a different material to the sides of a skirt or pair of jeans. The money you’ll spend taking these to a tailor will still be less than buying an entirely new quality piece.
Layer. Is there a tank top you never wear that would look cool under a slip dress? Could you cut it down the middle, add a little button at the neck and wear it over a bralette or t-shirt in the summer? Could you put a crew neck or button-down over a jumpsuit or dress?
Make it easy on yourself and seek out inspiration in the media you consume. Mood board on pinterest, follow up-cyclers on IG, make a list of every killer outfit River Phoenix wore to an awards show in 1991.
That’s Hot
I would be remiss in talking about Y2K trends without diving into the MOST emblematic brand of the early 2000s: Von Dutch, baby.
Now, the origins of the Von Dutch brand are widely debated among its Californian founders. Nearly everyone who worked there in the first few years claims to be The Creator. But it is apparent that Mike Cassel was the company’s first designer. While Ed Boswell was the first to put the Von Dutch logos onto patches in 1997 that eventually went on mechanic shirts, Mike designed really high quality workwear denim that got the brand their first meaningful sales.
But a quality product actually does not sell itself. It never has. And while we may consider the emphasis on branding to be a fairly recent marketing concept, it’s not. Bobby Vaughn knew this. When he met Mike in 1999, he was a lively, charming surfer out of Santa Cruz and truly an ideal marketer for Von Dutch. Bobby was big on guerilla marketing like weaseling his way into celebrity parties and friendships to network. Most notably, he became friends with Tommy Lee, world renowned rockstar and distinguished partier.
On one fateful day in 2000, Bobby and a slew of friends were sleeping off the night before at Tommy’s when a producer from MTV Cribs woke them up with a knock on the door. She told them to get their asses up, they had to start filming immediately. While Tommy, still drunk, began the tour of the house, Bobby handed out simple Von Dutch logo shirts to everyone in the house. The entire episode had the backdrop of this Von Dutch-sponsored party - hot girls dancing in VD tank tops, rockstars taking shots in VD tees (the only available video of this is in french?). It became the most-watched episode in the series’ history. And it’s what shot the brand to the very top of Y2K culture, subsequently popularized by Paris Hilton, Ashton Kutcher, Hilary Duff, Dennis Rodman, Britney Spears, even Madonna.
Popularity for the brand waned after 2006 when the company suffered internal chaos, switched designers and did Mike Cassel very dirty, began putting their declining quality products in every store who wanted them and generally oversaturated themselves. But the grassroots way this brand was built before millionaires ran it into the ground is still so resonating. Mike Cassel unknowingly at the time founded the Von Dutch branding on three principles: 1) Classic never dies, 2) What you stand for is more important than what you sell and 3) Authenticity sells itself. Who’s gonna tell Zara?