Four words: lowrise jeans are back.
Styles and trends that were ‘so totally in’ only 20 years ago, worn by our parents and teachers, are not just for the history books anymore. This decade is witnessing a fierce revival of the iconic fashion of the 2000s and the students at Heritage, along with the rest of Gen Z, are adoring it.
People on the Internet and even fashion industry giants like Vogue magazine dubbed the aesthetic “Y2K.” Vogue reporter Boutayna Chokrane described in her story “Y2K Fashion 101: How 2023 Got the Millennium Bug All Over Again” how “the early 2000s are ruling with a vengeance, [and] you’ll find e-girls with retro hairstyles, beaded chokers, and butterfly clips.”
Senior Tarynn Bryant, expressed how much she likes this sudden revival of the older fashion trends of this millennium.
“It’s so exciting to see old things come back,” said Bryant. “I think it’s giving me a chance to live in a phase I didn’t get to live in and I didn’t get to dress. I’m like ‘Yeah, I didn’t get to do that one, let me try that one, let me try this one.’ It’s super fun.”
Before the maximalist, loud, and fashion forward Y2K aesthetic, there was just the year 2000, a decade credited for the inspiration for this style of fashion. The only difference is that 20 years ago teens were dressing up as elaborately as teens today, so not very much. Y2K in 2024 is actually just a caricature of all the most missed parts of the past decade.
Speech and debate teacher, Coach Ranmal, looks back and talks about how she used to dress for high school, during a time where the norm was skinny jeans and long shirts.
“I feel like for most of high school I was definitely a preppy gal, so you know, the normal, sometimes low rise jeans, probably like a Hollister top with a cami, a tank inside, like the ones with the little lace,” Coach Ranmal said. “Or maybe a skirt with another Hollister t-shirt.”
While the fashion trends have greatly changed since then, there really are some things that never do. Despite the change in times, teens twenty years ago still shopped at the same stores they used to. Coach Ranmal nostalgically recalled which shops she and her friends used to go to at the mall.
“Charlotte Russe, which is still a thing, I love that place,” Coach Ranmal saidsaid Coach Ranmal. “Charlotte Russe was like the bomb dot com. Papaya was also huge; Wet Seal was huge, that one’s a throwback. Then of course, Hollister, Aeropostale, Abercrombie & Fitch were all like the thing.”
In the early years of this millennium, shopping at the mall was really the only option available because the internet was still young and online shopping was non-existent. With little Internet, no online shopping, and definitely no Pinterest, the teens of this era got their inspiration in a more ‘old school’ way. English I and II teacher Mrs. Mendoza explains how teens consumed media and fashion twenty years ago.
“We only saw what we saw on TV for the most part. It took some time, but it would trickle down and people would try and emulate that,” Mrs. Mendoza saidsaid Mrs. Mendoza. “It’s definitely a celebrity influence, big time. You would see these celebrities show up and they would be in their awards fits, but they were still kind of casual. Like there’s this iconic thing with Britney and Justin where they were in matching denim and then everyone started to wear denim- like denim on denim on denim.”
Celebrities played a big role in creating this iconic look of the early 2000s; teens during those years, like Coach Ranmal, constantly looked up to them as their personal fashion inspirations.
“I loved, at that time, all the shows like ‘Lizzie McGuire, ‘That’s So Raven’ [and] ‘Hannah Montana.’ I really thought I was gonna grow up and be her one day,” Coach Ranmal saidsaid Coach Ranmal. “We also definitely did a lot of magazines, like the magazine called J 14.”
T.V. shows were just the surface of these teenagers’ love for celebrities who influenced a big portion of the youth’s sense of style. Print media also began playing into the generations’ obsessions.
“Teen magazines were real big back in the day, so that’s where we got our inspiration from,” Mrs. Mendoza saidsaid Mrs. Mendoza. “Teen People or Elle Girl really were pushing magazines for girls in their teens. It was all covering celebrities. At the time it was big for boy bands or pop queens, Britney and Christina. You would open up a locker and us or our friends would all have like the Backstreet Boys or NSYNC or whoever we thought was cute at the time on the inside door.”
As this fashion has made its way back into the mainstream these days, Y2K and vintage lovers continue this trend of taking inspiration from the iconic celebrities of that time as well.
Bryant, a self-certified ‘fashion girlie’ who loves the Y2K aesthetic continues this trend of celebrity inspiration and, in a sense, stays authentic to the original essence of this style.
“It really can just be a Y2K outfit inspo, but I specifically look for black girl,” Bryant saidsaid Bryant. “It’s definitely something like Beyonce in her early days, like Beyonce in Destiny’s Child. Also Rihanna in her ‘Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded.’ I definitely loved her in that era, her red pixie era.”
Bryant also takes it to the next level, beyond just emulating the style from the 2000s. She, in the true Y2K fashion, makes her look as elaborate, glitz and glam, as possible.
“I would describe myself as the girliest girl possible,” Bryant said. “I love my hair done, my nails done, my face, my makeup done, my toes done, my clothes. I love it.”
This younger generation is truly enjoying the unexpected comeback of this iconic style of fashion.
“Oh my goodness, I would have given anything to be a teen in those days,” Bryant said.
