13 Fashion Trends That Were Absolutely Everywhere In The Last 25 Years
Remember when leggings were pants and sneaker wedges made sense? Take a trip through fashion’s memory lane, however dubiously cringe or wonderfully glorious it may be.
By Aaron Kok - published
Fashion loves to tell us that everything comes back around. Sometimes, that is comforting. Other times, it means opening an old Facebook album and confronting photographic evidence of yourself in sneaker wedges, a peplum top and enough costume jewellery to set off airport security. The trends we once swore by have a funny way of becoming punchlines, only to reappear a decade later on a runway, a celebrity or on some TikTok throwback that will make you feel your age.
And yet, there is something irresistible about looking back at the clothes that defined a particular moment. From cargo pants dressed up for the club to Ed Hardy caps, bandage dresses and the rise of Yeezy Boosts, each trend says as much about the mood of its era as it does about what we wore. Some were glamorous, some were gloriously impractical and a few probably deserved their time in fashion exile. Ahead, we revisit the trends that once ruled our wardrobes, in order of their heyday, and ask the only question that really matters: are we ready to wear them again?
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1. Fashion Cargo Incoming
For a spell in the early 2000s, cargo pants were everywhere, and somehow, they were all ready for going out to the clubs. Some came in satin or fabrics with a subtle sheen; others stayed resolutely utilitarian, pockets and all. The trick was in the styling: a slinky party top, plenty of bling and a pair of heels instantly took them from combat-ready to club-ready.
2. Extra, Extra, Wear All About It
Few accessories screamed early-aughts celebrity quite like the newsboy cap. Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez and practically every tabloid fixture of the era made the jaunty little hat an unlikely styling essential. Pulled low over blowouts and paired with cargos, bootcut jeans or a fitted tank, it was less Victorian newspaper boy and more incognito pop star making her way through LAX.
3. Hardy Party
Subtlety had no place in the Ed Hardy years. Trucker caps splashed with tattoo-inspired graphics, rhinestones and flaming motifs became a badge of mid-2000s excess, worn by everyone from reality stars to pop idols. The louder the print, the better. It was fashion designed to be spotted from across the club, ideally beneath a generous coating of fake tan.
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4. A Tribute to the Platform
There were high heels, and then there were the Saint Laurent Tribute sandals. With their towering platform, vertiginous heel and instantly recognisable caged front, they were a fixture on red carpets and paparazzi shots throughout the late 2000s. Celebrities wore them with everything from bodycon minis to skinny jeans, and somehow we all collectively agreed that walking was secondary to the look.
5. Bandage Together
For a time, getting dressed for a night out meant quite literally squeezing yourself into one. Hervé Léger’s bandage dress became the uniform of late-2000s glamour, its figure-hugging strips engineered to sculpt, cinch and hold everything firmly in place. Seen on countless celebrities and copied endlessly on the high street, it made breathing deeply feel like a reasonable sacrifice for a good silhouette.
6. Pants? Debatable
There was a period when leggings stopped being confined to being workout gear, and simply became trousers. Long tank tops slowly got shorter, waistbands disappeared beneath oversized tees and, before we knew it, opaque black leggings were acceptable practically everywhere. Paired with ballet flats, sneakers or a giant handbag hooked into the crook of one arm, the look became an unavoidable uniform of the late aughts.
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7. Sleaze, Please
Indie sleaze was what happened when everyone decided looking slightly dishevelled was cooler than looking polished. By the early 2010s, It-girl models like Kate Moss, Anja Rubik and Agyness Deyn, skinny black jeans, cropped biker jackets, battered band tees and smudged eyeliner had taken over the mood board. Clothes looked lived in, nights looked long and the entire aesthetic suggested you had just left a gig at 3am, whether or not you actually had.
8. Wedge Your Bets
The sneaker wedge asked a question nobody knew needed answering: what if your trainers secretly had heels? Isabel Marant’s cult versions sparked an early-2010s obsession, spawning countless imitators and becoming the off-duty shoe of choice. Worn with skinny jeans and an oversized knit, they promised the ease of a sneaker and the height of a heel. In theory, at least.
9. Peplum at Nine, Party At 10
For a few glorious years, the peplum top did it all. It went to work with a pencil skirt, then headed straight to the club with coated skinny jeans and a statement necklace. Its flared waist was considered universally flattering, which explains why it appeared on blouses, blazers, dresses and practically anything else designers could attach an extra ruffle of fabric to.
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10. Normal Was the New Cool
When menswear had finally exhausted itself with logos and overt peacocking, normcore arrived dressed like your dad on a grocery run. Plain sweatshirts, straight-leg jeans, sensible sneakers and aggressively ordinary basics suddenly became fashion statements. The appeal was in looking as though you had given your outfit absolutely no thought, even if every perfectly anonymous piece had been painstakingly considered.
11. Yeezy Come, Yeezy Go
Few sneakers defined the mid-2010s quite like the Yeezy Boost. Its knitted upper, chunky sole and tightly controlled drops turned footwear launches into global events, with queues, raffles and resale prices becoming part of the experience. The muted colour palette also helped usher in an era of tonal dressing, where beige, grey and taupe became whole personalities for some.
12. Come On Barbie, Let’s Go Pink
Pink has never exactly been absent from fashion, but Barbiecore turned the saturation all the way up. In the lead-up to the 2023 Barbie film, hot pink flooded the fashion conversation as moviegoers rocked up to the theatres in full fuchsia regalia. Subtle blushes need not apply. This was pink as a full-body commitment, worn proudly, loudly and often from head to toe.
13. Charm Offensive
The It bag is no longer enough. Now, apparently, it needs its own accessories. Bag charms have transformed handbags into portable mood boards, with plush toys, beaded trinkets, keychains and miniature curios dangling from handles. The more personal and slightly chaotic the combination, the better. After years of pared-back minimalism, fashion has rediscovered the pleasure of making a perfectly expensive bag look entirely your own.