The spring-summer fashion weeks revive Y2K styles

Kendall Jenner and other models grace the runway wearing the spring-summer Off-White collection to open Paris Fashion Week 2022.

Ritika Gupta

Kendall Jenner and other models grace the runway wearing the spring-summer Off-White collection to open Paris Fashion Week 2022.

Ritika Gupta and Maddie Cowan

February 11th to March 8th are important for designers and brands, as the New York, London, Milan, and Paris spring-summer fashion weeks take place.  

New York Fashion Week (NYFW) always opens the season of world-wide fashion weeks. Held from February 11th to 16th, the event helps designers display their upcoming collections, get press reviews, and buyers can begin placing orders.

“I’m really excited for this year’s spring shows, I feel like they set the tone for the rest of the year and the runways are a good showcase for emerging designers,” said Sam Richert (‘22).

NYFW also introduces new trends or revives old ones for the upcoming year. Many shows this year had a major influence from the 2000’s with the revival of Y2K styles, crotchet, capes, and skirt suits. 

“There’s still a lot of Y2K, I feel like there’s a lot of 80s as well. I’ve noticed there’s a lot of sequins. I don’t know if I’m a sequin person but [there’s] a lot of crazy stuff. I think we’re walking away from covid and just wanting to wear all the fun stuff,” said Chloe Peissner (‘22).

Over the last millennia, a common tendency has been noted called the 20 year trend cycle. In this cycle, styles and colors from 20 years prior make an impact on current trends. The cycle promotes designers to recycle old trends into new looks. 

“A lot of the pieces that are cycling back into the fashion industry now are reimagined pieces from the 60s, 80s, and early 2000s. With recent pieces especially, they’re so similar that it almost poses a question of originality within the fashion industry,” said Olivia Prevost (‘23) .

The Y2K reemergence brought details like waist cinching belts, chocolatey brown and hot pink colors, corsets and bustiers, tweed, and lots of sequins.

“I’ve noticed that we’re kind of stepping away from a lot of the pastels and going into a lot of bright colors, it’s very electric and reminds me of the sixties mod trends,” said Peissner.

High fashion brands like Oscar de la Renta and Versace, as well as new designer Tia Adeola, have taken inspiration from these 2000’s trends. An all-black and white classic wardrobe also found its way to balance the bright neon colors.

“There’s so much color on the runways which is so fun but I feel like with that a lot of people are also leaning towards classic neutrals,” said Richert.

New York Fashion Week brought a diverse color palette and pushed the creative choices of each designer. The upcoming spring-summer season is bound to blow away Y2K fashion lovers.