“The only thing the chronically online seem to agree on this summer is that life was probably better in the past,” Bentley says. “Nostalgia and ennui rule — from Kylie [Jenner] going viral playing with some old lip kits she found in a drawer, to the return of messy Insta carousels and long-forgotten mid-2010s filters.” Now, it’s about recycling and remixing past aesthetics that still carry meaning, Walia adds.
This desire for the past is something brands are leaning into. Topshop, for one, is banking on nostalgia to fuel its reboot. “The community is desperate to have Topshop and Topman back,” managing director Michelle Wilson told Vogue Business ahead of its Trafalgar Square comeback show. A brand’s return can indeed connect with consumers because of this affinity. “Nostalgia offers familiarity and legibility when the future feels unstable,” Walia says.
But is nostalgia really enough? For every magazine celebrating the return of the brand’s Joni and Jamie jeans, there are consumers questioning whether it’s just a repackaged version of the same polyester-laden Topshop of our youth. When you peel back the layers, this nostalgia may not be as desirable as it may seem.
Instead of copy-pasting, brands should look to how this desire for ‘better times’ can translate into an offering of something truly better and lasting. As it stands, experts are questioning the current wave of nostalgia’s staying power. “The nostalgia epidemic is similarly relentless, becoming more nuanced and micro in its references all the time,” Gordon-Smith says. “We think we’re going to see this plateau. The newest vibe is more about historical references indicating a knowing, intellectual quality.”
This goes back to consumers’ desires for quality, smart clothes. Instead of reverting to the aesthetic of a specific, over-simplified period, brands can — and should — lean into timelessness. Clothes that are well tailored; garments with pockets; pieces that reference history while still looking forward.
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