New Year, Old Trends

An oversized polka dotted blazer with shoulder pads. A green, red, and cream striped crocheted top. While both of these pieces could have been popular nearly 60 years ago, they actually both appeared on a Spring 2020 runway. 

Although it’s the start of a new year and a new decade, the fashion is not exactly cutting-edge. In fact, styles from the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s are expected to be popular. This means psychedelic florals, crochet designs, exaggerated collars, bell bottom jeans, and lots of polka dots. But are these older styles a revamped fashion statement or simply outdated? Well, that depends on who you ask. 

Photographed by Madison Goldberg & Guo Yu

Gabby Portugal, a junior writing, literature and publishing major, is all for these vintage designs making a return. “I definitely have some of those styles in my wardrobe already,” she says. According to Portugal, you could find a lot of the 70s, some of the 80s, and just “a hint of the 60s” in her closet. 

“The more flattering stuff from those time periods are coming back, which obviously we want,” she says. She particularly loves the plaid skirts, 70s denim trends, and oversized clothing. 

Jess Cunha, a junior political communication major, also plans to wear at least some of these styles. “As long as it looks cute on me then why not,” she says, adding that she is particularly a fan of platform shoes and flared jeans.

But these styles aren’t coming back in exactly the same form as 50 years ago. Instead, they are coming back in a more modernized and updated fashion. While we will see 70s-esque knee length denim skirts, they will now be styled with knee high or thigh high boots. Psychedelic florals will be more abstract than past patterns, and according to an article from Harper’s Bazaar, crochet dresses will become a part of the modern sustainability movement because of the “slow, handmade technique that can be passed down generation after generation.”

On recent runways, the updated styling was clear. The polka dotted blazer that appeared in the Balmain runway show went over a matching crop top. The crocheted striped top in the most recent Gucci show was styled with a bomber jacket and plaid pants, and a neon blue Balenciaga floral dress was paired with thigh high boots.

Portugal likes that these styles are coming back in a new way. “I like it because it’s recycling stuff from the past while still somehow making it new,” she says. 

But while college students might be excited to add some vintage pieces to their wardrobe, not everyone is as willing to embrace the past. Especially those who lived through the first iteration of the designs. 

Joan Perry, 54 from Beverly, Massachusetts, grew up wearing these styles, but she is decidedly less excited to see their return.

“They say once you wear it once, you shouldn’t wear it again,” Perry says, laughing. “Some [styles] you look back [at] and think, wow, that was really awful.”

Although she doesn’t plan to wear a crochet vest anytime soon, she’s not completely opposed to incorporating at least a small bit of the past into her current wardrobe. “If I found a cool jacket with big shoulder pads, I would definitely consider it,” she says. 

Perry vividly recalls wearing oversized, shoulder-padded coats with leggings as a teenager. “They were so awesome because they were comfortable and cool,” she says. One photo of Perry as a young teenager shows her wearing a brightly colored polka-dotted shirt alongside her friends.

As for why we will see the return of these styles, the fashion industry has a tendency to look back on the past, and use it to freshen up the future. “Like recycling style,” Portugal says. 

Perry agrees with Portugal’s sentiment. She remembers when she wore capri pants as a teenager in the 80s, her mom claimed to have worn the same style nearly 30 years before. Only then they were known as “pedal pushers.”

In Perry’s case, history definitely repeats itself. Currently, her college-aged kids are wearing Doc Martens, shoes that she actually grew up wearing herself. Her 21-year-old daughter is even wearing her old pair.

So, whether we take inspiration from the past or actually wear pieces from a different era, it is inevitable that older styles will come back into fashion. Younger generations didn’t live through these trends, so while adults may be dreading the return of their high school style, it seems new and exciting to those who weren’t around to see it the first time.