A (Very) Brief History of 2021's Top Viral Trends

Fashion is a fickle thing - constantly chopping and changing. What was the in thing last week is charity shop fodder this week. Everyone knows that fashion moves in cycles - that fashions return after a period of time - however, whereas it once took a good 30 years for major fashions to make a return (flared jeans of the 60s and 70s didn't come back til the 90s), it now seems that those circles are getting smaller. Aren't we already in a mid Y2K fashion resurgence? 

Fashions move fast - and social media is a likely cause. Whereas once we looked to the latest runway or fashion magazines for style inspiration, current trends are now emerging from our phones, with Tiktok and Instagram acting as the new harbingers for what is in.

From the shoe everyone loves to hate - crocs, to tie-dying all the white t-shirts in your household; here's a look at the top viral style trends of the year so far, examining what may have made each trend come pinging back onto our fashion radar.

Balenciaga Crocs

Crocs

Never has a shoe been more controversial than the humble croc. Surely were it not for their comfort level (high) this shoe would never have seen the light of day beyond the creator's sketch pad. Perhaps the fact that they are quite so fugly may have had something to do with it also. There's a certain type of hipster who judges cool on a scale of how uncool it appears, thus swinging the very uncool back to cool again with a sort of two negatives make a positive type logic.

The ultimate ugly shoe saw it's resurgence in 2021 with a hail of celebrity endorsement, from Justin Bieber and Jaden Smith kickstarting the revival after being seen repping the iconic sandals across social media. When they were papped wearing the shoes on the streets, a trend was reborn. 

It wasn't until early May however, that the trend really exploded when Nicki Minaj sent fans loopy with her custom pink crocs. The brand has now collabed with big hitters like Balenciaga on a bespoke collection, which makes it look like they could be around for a little while longer.

Loungewear

It doesn't take a fashion guru to tell you why loungewear has been on the rise the last couple of years. When lockdown hit the world in 2020, office wear went out the window and comfy casual pieces came in through the door. (Remember when we were given a national scolding for causing delivery men to do their backs in from having to carry all the extra parcels containing comfy loungewear and bread makers that a new work-from home-workforce was ordering?).

Google data shows searches for loungewear sets increasing by a huge 223% in March last year, and this continued throughout the year, with popularity peaks coinciding with the various national lockdowns.

Bella Hadid dons skinny shades

Y2K

The Y2K trend has dominated spring/summer 2021 collections bolstered by its huge popularity among Gen Z and their Tiktok-ing. Fashions come and fashions go, but what appears to be a full circle moment, Gen Z appear to be tapping into styles that were big when they were growing up in the early 2000s.

The whole Y2K thing really soared last summer with bright, bold colours, mini bags, micro sunglasses and clumpy shoes. The popularity of Depop and Vinted within university culture may also have have had its influence on the trend.

Vintage

Sustainability has been one of the biggest buzzwords in the fashion industry for the past few years. The amount of waste the fashion industry is responsible for is shocking to even the least environmentally friendly in the world. Great Britons send 700,000 tonnes of clothing to recycling centres, textile banks, clothes collections and to charity each year. That's enough to fill 459 Olympic-size swimming pools.

With younger generations seemingly more conscious and mindful of waste and the environmental impact of fast fashion, than those before them, it's no real surprise that upcyclcling, recycling and reusing fashion has really taken off.

Again, social media appears to have played its part - vintage clothing has been tagged over 325 million tines on Tiktok alone.

Tie-dying your clothes proved a popular pastime

Tie Dye

When the world seemed to shut down in March 2020 and we were nationally mandated not to leave our homes, the country looked for ways to keep itself entertained. 27 million Brits turned to baking  - researchers analysed that in the 6 months of lockdown from March to September 2020, 960 million loaves of bread were baked! Others turned to slightly more idiosyncratic projects, rediscovering hidden talents and long lost hobbies. One of these happened to be the long forgotten old hippy craze of tie-dying. First popularised in the 60s, and briefly popular again during the 90s 'Second Summer of Love'. A fun way to spend an afternoon, tie dying during lockdown also offered the opportunity to double up as a way to refresh your wardrobe, with tie dye t-shirts, joggers and other loungewear items proving popular. Others went so far as to open full on businesses, selling their dye-dipped wares to other Gen Z folk who wanted the look, but couldn't be bothered with the unavoidable mess. 

Again, this was a trend accelerated by social media as Tiktokers documented their creations on the site. The term saw over 4.7 billion hashtags on the platform, showcasing yet again just how dominant Tiktok has become in propelling fashion trends forward.