These 2000s fashion pieces have stood the test of time (yes, really)
The fact that 2000s fashion is now considered vintage continues to cause me and my fellow elder Millennials shock and despair, but even we have to admit, there is some joy to be gleaned in seeing our nostalgic fashion favourites come back in style.
After all, Mary Kate and Ashley were my childhood fashion priestesses – and every song from One Tree Hill was the soundtrack of my moody, teenage existence. With them came the height of a very haphazard time in fashion. Juicy Couture velour tracksuits reigned supreme thanks to Regina George and Paris Hilton. Meanwhile, Sienna Miller and Kate Moss added their Boho spin to noughties style, accessorising their looks with big, woven belts and beaded pendant jewellery. Then, of course, there was everything in between, from Sketchers to Miss Sixty jeans, to Abercrombie hoodies to Hervé Leger bandage dresses.
Carrie Bradshaw's Sex and the City wardrobe was a time capsule of 00's style, really. One day she was in a silk nightie and that tiny, Fendi Baguette bag, the next in pedal pushers and a bandana. Sex was on everyone's minds – with the likes of Versace and Roberto Cavalli spinning barely-there sheer dresses every season: the most famous of them all being that JLo Versace kaftan that led to the invention of Google Image Search.
Perhaps it's exactly the sartorial freedom of early 2000s fashion that appeals to the Gen-Z-ers who are driving trends today. Instead of prescriptive fashion rules or perfecting microtrends that arrive and disappear within a fortnight, there's something quite comforting about this hedonistic way of dressing, putting together clashing, at times kitschy clothes that are just, well, fun.
Butterfly clips and blue eyeshadow had already fluttered back into our lives this summer, as have jelly shoes (much to my mother's continued disapproval, 20 years on).
While there are some things better left in the past (please just not the rhinestones, I beg you), some fun, flirty styles feel like old friends.
In fact, some of today's biggest brands have fully embraced the era in their DNA. Blumarine designer Nicola Brognano, for instance, has turned the fashion label into the poster child of 2000s fashion, flooding her runway with sheer, ruffled tops in fluoro hues and butterfly tops. KNWLS for a few seasons owned the leather Noughties niche, with cowgirl inspired cuts and lace-up everything that would have been all over pop princess Britney Spears. And finally, we can't talk about fashion's Y2K obsession without its prime luxury leader: it was Miu Miu that single-handedly brought back Britney's ultra-mini schoolgirl skirt in 2021, throwing us all the way back to exactly the year 2000 when Oops…! I Did It Again was first released.
Consider this your comprehensive guide.
Love it or hate it, there are some 2000s relics that we just can't shake. From wraparound aviators to the kitten heel, here are the key era-defining Y2K fashion items that you'll be seeing well into the new millennium.
Born and raised in Hong Kong, she earned her journalism degree in America and spent time at GLAMOUR US and People Magazine. She then returned to Hong Kong and became Tatler Asia's fashion director, where she ... Read More
