Vintage Fashion Trends For Gen Z

As Elisabeth Joy said, “ethical fashion is the recognition that there are human beings behind the clothes that we wear”. But how does the youngest affected generation deal with the ever fast spinning fashion trends? Francesca Eley tells us...

Bella Hadid wearing vintage Versace from the Fall 2003 Collection in Cannes 2022 ©Twitter It was a summer afternoon and I was bored and at home, having been roped into helping my grandmother sort out her clothes from the seventies. She had decided it was high time to get rid of them, so we were sitting in the stuffy upstairs bedroom sifting through the different fabrics and making fun of the outlandish styles of the decade.

Most of the clothes were colourful flares and jumpsuits and a few classic dresses in various colours. We concluded they would never be fashionable again and dispatched them by the sackload to charity shops.

Five years on, the same flared trousers and bright patterned co-ords are filling up my Instagram feed and are all over resale sites. The seventies is the latest comeback trend.

It is not just vintage clothes that have resurfaced in recent years. The use of analogue technology like film and polaroid cameras as well as record and cassette players has also greatly increased among Gen Z – to the bewilderment of many parents, my own included. But what has brought about this sudden surge of nostalgia for a time that my generation never knew and what does it mean for the future of the luxury fashion industry?

In part, this can be seen as a backlash to the fast-moving trends created by the endless amount of information and

Lily Rose Depp © Tom Rose/ Shutterstock

inspiration available on social media, which are then adopted by fast fashion companies looking to jump on the trends before they disappear. This hugely wasteful cycle has caused many people to think more about where their clothes come from and their own carbon footprint. The climate crisis weighs heavy on young people’s minds so it may be that many of us have made decisions to be more sustainable in our lives.

There is also an element of nostalgia among these trends. A 2020 survey by CNBC revealed that Gen Z experiences the most stress of any generation. Could it be that our angst about the future has made us do a full 180 back to simpler times, seeking comfort in the films and music we enjoyed as children and adolescents from the nineties and early 2000s? ›

Bella Hadid, a keen wearer of vintage items of fashion brands © Andersphoto/ Shutterstock.com

Bella Hadid in vintage Jane Norman and vintage Gucci sunglasses ©Vogue.co.uk THE BEST WAY TO MAKE A CONTRIBUTION IN FASHION, IS TO PROMOTE THE IDEA THAT A FUNDAMENTAL INTEREST IN PRESERVING THE ENVIRONMENT IS ITSELF FASHIONABLE.

Georgio Armani

This era of style has undoubtedly been the most popular of all the decades seeing a resurgence, with a whole category on secondhand site Depop dedicated to ‘Y2K’ fashion. Standing for the year two thousand, this tag has also been plastered across social media sites such as Pinterest and Instagram. There is also a financial benefit to preloved fashion. Burdened with university loans and facing high housing costs, Gen Z could be the first generation in a long time to be financially worse off than their parents. Finding ways to incorporate 2000s style has enabled many young people to economise by clearing out their parents’ or older sibling’s wardrobe.

Or is it that we have simply just run out of ideas? Gen Z itself is a complete paradox. On one hand, we are advocates for change and social justice with a vision for a better world and we use new technology to organise and spread these ideas and movements. Yet we are also a generation of followers, digital natives forever looking to the next ‘it girl’ and Instagram model to tell us what to wear and how to be.

Luckily though, this generation’s ‘it girls’ such as model Bella Hadid and actress Lily

Many 2023 Resort Collections feature a vintage feel. Maxwell © iMaxtree.com

Rose Depp are the torch bearers of the vintage fashion trend and are frequently photographed in archived pieces from designers such as Vivienne Westwood and Chanel. Not only this, but their general styles are easy to emulate; all one needs is a pair of oversized jeans and a vintage top, making it simple to thrift their effortlessly chic outfits.

Where once we would have seen fast fashion unboxing and hauls, we are now seeing thrift hauls and videos on Youtube and TikTok encouraging shopping second hand from this generation’s influencers. Even Boohoo, the epitome of fast fashion, has launched a resale site.

And to show for it, during the pandemic when most enterprises took a hit for business, Depop instead doubled its sales from the previous year. This revolutionary change is happening at both ends of the price spectrum, from the cheapest charity shops to second hand sites such as Vestiaire Collective which specialise in archive designer fashion and provides a certificate of authenticity with each item. In many ways, having the most upto-date fashion is now the least cool thing you can do. The challenge instead is to find the best value or rarest piece in the thrift store, the most unique vintage top, to reject conformity. It’s no secret that Gen Z is the most gender fluid and experimental generation so it comes as no surprise that we are drawn to the creative freedom that comes with vintage clothes.

As my generation moves further away from clichés and over commercialisation, the challenge for the luxury fashion industry will be to keep up with our originality and fluidity when it comes to style but to also make environmental commitments that limit the waste and emissions produced by the fashion industry each year. We have already seen brands such as Prada restock archived pieces from the nineties, specifically the nylon baguette bag which helped drive resale value up and made these desirable to own again.

Gen Z have certainly changed the definition of luxury fashion in recent years. Now, it is more of a ´flex’ to have found a rare vintage designer piece and reworked it into your wardrobe than to show off the latest designer pieces in a brash display of wealth. This new way of shopping is economical and eco-friendly, in line with Gen Z’s moral consensus and vision for a healthier planet.

g Francesca Eley writes about lifestyle and fashion and is an undergraduate of modern languages at Bristol University.

Lily Rose Depp in vintage Burberry skirt © Pinterest