BY: Caitlin Gallagher
The year was 2005, and I was just coming into my seventh-grade school year. Dying to make a good impression, all I wanted was a pair of Clarks’ Wallabees. When I told my parents I HAD to have the shoes, they informed me that those particular shoes were in style when they were teenagers. There was no way we were talking about the same shoes. But we were. This is when I learned about the “20-Year Nostalgia Theory”.
Although the most prominent recurring trends are typically fashion, all trends make revivals. From music to decor, television shows and even scents, we are constantly surrounded by nostalgia from eras past. It’s no secret that the last few years have been a tribute to the 90’s. Kurt Cobain, Doc Martens, Cucumber Melon and Lisa Frank‒ these were typically the starter pack for kids and teens in the 1990’s.
It’s no secret that Kurt Cobain was the “King of Grunge”. He had a very eccentric style and could typically be found in oversized clothes, whether it be a layered flannel over a graphic t-shirt or an extra baggy sweater. He kept his jeans ripped and his hair disheveled. Kanye West’s clothing campaign, Yeezy Season 3, paid homage to this distressed look that Cobain unintentionally created.
Grunge is not the only style that has been brought back to life. High-waisted everything is popular again. From “mom jeans” to swim suits, biker shorts and the like are all currently on the upward slope of fashion.
Bath & Body Works re-released a few fan-favorite scents at the peak of the 90’s revival: Pearberry, Cotton Blossom, Freesia, and the coveted Cucumber Melon.
Television shows have also paid tribute to the era. Spin-offs of some of the most beloved sitcoms and series have been produced. Fuller House, Girl Meets World, and Roseanne have so far all been well-liked by viewers of both the original and the reboots. While these shows don’t follow the same storylines or include the same actors that the originals did, there are still plenty of cameos from our favorite characters to bring that sense of familiarity. There has been a lot of talk on online forums that we should be expecting quite a few 90’s movies being remade in the next few years, including Home Alone and Clueless.
While there really isn’t any rhyme or reason for history to repeat itself in this way, we have to recognize that we do take from trends and ideas in decades past. We just put our own little spin on it in the current day and wait another 20 years or so for it to come back around. Maybe then the next wave of trend setters can put their mark on it and pass it on. Not all trends run on a twenty year cycle, but the idea that everything that is old will become new again stands true. I just hope we can all agree that Von Dutch hats should stay in 2002.
