INDUSTRY INSPO Early 2000s Fashion Is Back With A Veloured Vengeance
To the awe of some and no doubt the ire of others, early 2000’s fashion and pop culture is experiencing a revival. The infamous Juicy Couture velour tracksuit has weeded its way back to relevance in its FW 2020 collection, with Kim Kardashian releasing her own velour iteration for her brand called SKIMS, and Paris Hilton‘s popularity is skyrocketing after the release of her YouTube documentary, This Is Paris.
In 2020, it’s no wonder that nostalgia for simpler times is running high. An uptick towards the trends that Millennials remember well, and which those on the cusp of Gen Z caught the tail end, is on fashion’s horizon. In a time before smartphones, before fast fashion as we know it today, and before our hyper-connection to the world around us, we were cushioned by colourful optimism and an overarching hope for the new millennium. It was a mindset that manifested through celebrity figures such as the Hilton sisters on The Simple Life, and iconic movies like Mean Girls and Legally Blonde. 2000’s pop culture was very much characteristic of a time when our only real concerns were reading over-the-top teen magazines and scouring shopping malls for the latest trends. It was a simpler time that was couched in a cultural buoyancy that is amiss in our current context.
The undertone that accompanies the re-emergence of 2000’s fashion is quite apparent, especially when considering the rise of comfortable work-from-home outfits and uncomplicated ensembles that dominated lockdown wardrobes this year. The sentiments of comfort and simplicity seem to be here to stay, but so does the importance of feeling fashionable. Enter the velour tracksuit, a nostalgic icon of comfortable glam, in a resurgence heavily dictated by Paris and Kim K through a very calculated meeting of their 2000’s and 2020’s respective icon statuses.
Reviving early millennium innocence, naivety, and escapism seem to be the order of the day for those living through 2020. After the year we’ve collectively had, it’s no surprise that people are seeking a return to innocent simplicity, or in the case of those born after the initial 2000s hype, to freshly experience a carefree spirit with a contemporary twist.
Images sourced via @skims and Hypebae