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Coming of Age.
Youth, reminiscing.
Lindsey Azurin ‘29
December 4, 2025
The same goes for fashion. According to NPR writer Neda Ulaby, “fashion moves in twenty year cycles,” returning when “tastemakers get nostalgic for their childhoods.” Yet nowadays, amplified by social media, fashion trends resurface faster than ever before. Instead of old, “clothing becomes vintage.” Tiktok and Instagram influencers advocate for thrifting clothes, rather than fast fashion. Thrifting not only makes vintage clothing more accessible, but also supports better sustainable practices for the environment.
Various aesthetics can develop from a shared sentiment, a response to what is happening around.
For example, the early 2000s introduced “Y2K,” also known as “The Year 2000.” Consisting of grunge denim, colors, plus bold patterns, “Y2K” showcased the collective feeling of looking forward to the new millennium, especially in a time of uncertainty of the future.
The nostalgia of “Y2K” demonstrates that even amidst conflict, the fun in fashion and the confidence in ourselves never goes away.
According to Slavic and Eurasian studies professor Vladislav Beronja, “nostalgia plays a huge factor in everything we do during our daily lives and that includes the clothes we wear, the stores we shop from, the music we listen to, [and] the movies we watch.” Because our present-day is so caught up with exams, school work, and technology, we tend to reminisce about earlier days, when life felt easier, perhaps less stressful. Attitudes such as these find their way into fashion, allowing us to seek comfort through clothing and aesthetics, and quite literally travel back in time.
What kinds of emotions does reminiscing about our past evoke? Perhaps they are lighter, a reflection of happier moments, or even bitter, representing a desire to return to a simpler time. Perhaps nostalgia encourages a combination of feelings, both positive and negative––a mosaic of memories that make up who we are underneath.