to wonder if there is really such a thing as fashion anymore

I’m middle aged and don’t dress that differently from how I dressed in my late 20s! Obv I don’t wear cropped tops or ‘on trend’ clothes but I wear jeans, boots, trainers, t shirt, hoodies.

Definitely fashion around here and it’s bloody awful! Tracksuit bottoms and gym wear for everything! I wouldn’t be surprised if people start rocking up to weddings dressed like it soon. So sad, no pride in appearance anymore. Just sloppy, baggy stuff that makes everyone look like rappers in an early 00’s music video!

It probably doesn't help that almost every Western country is ageing demographically. Older people buy replacements, and possibly upgrades, rather than trends. I still wear jeans for everything (except work) as I have done since I was 12 in 1969, and sometimes they are still Levi 501s!

Fashion still exists but I think what’s really changed since covid is the categories of fashion for different “events”. It’s currently quite out of fashion to dress up when going out- for example, in the 2010s it was fashionable to wear very high heels and bodycon on a night out, now it’s much more casual. My 19 year old son and his mates tend to wear exactly what they wear in the day, to go out it in. When I was their age men had to wear smart shirts and proper shoes to get into clubs.
I actually love the slouchier shapes and comfy waistbands that are around more now. But the (older) millennial in me still wants to sometimes dress up a bit and is only just getting used to socks being on shoe and not tucked away!

I live in london, and constantly notice that style has disappeared except in the most affluent of zones. males particularly are in black casual clothing, a uniform. People look very conformist now, very similar. The British fashion forward, distinctive individuality has gone. People watching is not what it was.

Sort of. I think it's probably a combination of getting older and just not paying as much attention, and there being a bit more variety. Fashion is still a thing. Instagram feeds me videos of people doing a dated and a fashionable outfit and I can see how they fit in. For example there's quite a baggy silhouette at the moment. A wool coat will be slightly oversized and boxy. A decade ago it would have had more of a waist. Skinny jeans are out, wide legged and barrel are in.

There is fashion still. Barrel legs. Big shirts trainers with socks. I don't feel like current fashion is very edgy now though.

We're becoming very dull almost like the US now.

Its very hard to find classic well cut clothing that flatters in good fabric now.

Yes, I’d say it is, even though I don’t follow it myself much, and the high street is always quick to follow the trends set by the fashion houses.

The biggest trend I can see right now is peplum, the high street is full of it. It’s trickled down from the likes of Erdem.

Hi Everyone.
It’s an interesting question fashion has definitely evolved, but I think it still exists, just in a more personal way. People mix trends with comfort now instead of following strict “rules.” You see flowy silhouettes, co-ords, and long dresses coming back, but with modern cuts and textures. I recently came across, and their collections really reflect how style today is about self-expression rather than uniformity. So maybe fashion isn’t gone it’s just become more individual and effortless. https://apricocia.com

One other reason a 2020s look is hard to pin down is because trend (or aesthetic) cycles are now much shorter than they were previously, largely thanks to TikTok and SM in general.

Since covid there’s been cottage core, whimsy goth, y2k, 90s grunge, clean girl, and now cowgirl/western is having a moment. Not to mention all the micro trends on top of that.

I can see why a people might choose to opt out because it’s relentless.

I totally agree. I live in NYC and used to live in London. Absolutely anything goes when it comes to fashion (particularly in NYC). The quality of clothes has taken a nose dive so people are shopping on Vinted or in thrift stores which naturally have a wide range of styles from different eras.

I personally CBA with following fashion, I just wear what I like and what suits me.

There are certainly fewer 'scenes' defined by music and associated fashion, which has changed things a lot.

There are definitely items that are trendy. If 5 women under 21 walk past my front door and it's not boiling hot, I'd say at least 2 will be in a White Fox hoodie and one will be in a similar cheaper version with a logo on the back.

I've lived near Bath for nearly 20 years and it's as eclectic as they come. Some who look like they fell out the back of a VW camper at Glastonbury, tourists in everything from Joules stripes to Chanel suits, loads in their 20s wearing Sweaty Betty and Lululemon.

I've not really changed my style in that time. I've had brief periods of following a trend (Lucy and Yak dungarees anyone? Those sweatshirts with HELLO on them?) but ultimately I wear a trending shape of jeans, stripes, and Converse/Docs. From that description I could be anything from 30 upwards.

So, @araiwa- casting aside the last two thousand years of humanity constantly refining the ways we can sign to strangers who and what we are / believe in / possess / know through our clothing - you will personally be responsible for the single grey boiler suit in which (if sci-fi is to be believed) we are all collectively to meet our futures?

I think that it’s hard to grasp a current look in the moment.
Give it 20 years, and it will be easy to “describe “ a 2020’s look.

I think a lot of it is down to how clothes are fitted now. You say you wear things from 75 up to 20 years ago. 20 years ago was 2005 and I have an Adidas track jacket from a couple of years early than then, but roughly 20 years old. It fits very differently to a similar jacket now as it's designed to be shorter and tighter fitting all over as that's how tops were then. Now everything is a bit boxier and relaxed. It wouldn't look strange on though as it is now (unfortunately) old enough to be vintage. If I hunted around and dug out some tops from ten years ago, they would just look dated as they are not in fashion but too recent to be 'vintage'. I think hairstyles and make up make a difference too. Heavy dark, drawn on brows look unfashionable like you are stuck in 2016. A strong line of blusher up your cheeks and short perm will always look like the 80s.

I hope there isnt

Fashion and trends can go in the bin

I think, even allowing for Vinted, there are a lot of things that have come and gone in the last few years and would be considered unfashionable currently:

• gladiator sandals (particularly the knee length ones with a zip at the back).
• cross body camera bag with a “funky” leopard print strap
• cold shoulder tops

I just can’t see anyone successfully wearing these without being seen as unfashionable.

There’s a few - Kendall Jenner, the Hadid sisters, Hailey Beiver modelled for a while. But I agree that social media is more influential now - personally a lot of my style comes from WAGs and social media!

I agree that aesthetic is considered more important now. People also seem more influenced by Love Island types than high fashion - a trend I noticed developing in the early 2000s when young people were beginning to get more interested in what reality TV 'personalities' and Z listers like Jordan were wearing rather than fashion models.

I'm old and past it, but I couldn't name one current super model. Are there even any super models these days? High fashion seems to be losing its grip.

There seem to be trends still but as pp has said, since Covid, things are much more casual now.
If I buy clothes now I always look on Vinted first as chances are it’ll be on there - either vintage from last time round and better quality, or current.
I used to love shopping but don’t anymore as it’s so hard to find good fabrics. Even high end labels are using pretty crap fabrics these days.

If you see a lot of the high street ‘fashion’ like Zara, H&M, Mango, River Island, even M&S to a degree, you can see a set of shapes, lengths and aesthetics that have filtered down from high fashion. So for example the barrell shaped cropped jeans, resort shirts, those weird looking fishnet type flat sandals, androgynous relaxed separates and simple A line silhouettes. There is also a return to the 90s CBK aesthetic which I personally love (but no longer have the figure like I did in the 90s 😭).

I think the world has changed since covid and a lot of us don’t really dress up any more. People have got used to a slouchy comfort way of dressing and gymwear seems to be more ubiquitous than it used to be. People are far more casual even at occasions and events these days. All to be styled with flats and the ‘right’ trainers. So I think the trends, if there are any, tend to be around easy, breezy, subtle and urban leaning.

I'm old so seen lots of fashions come and go over the decades and yes I'd agree, this does seem to be an ' anything goes' period in time. There's still Goths who were around in the eighties, combat trousers that were big in the nineties, choice of hem length on both skirts and trousers, older and younger women all wearing trainers. Leopard print seems to come back in style every few years! Personally I think it's fab and very freeing.

There is an exponential trend towards pre-owned clothes right now - which effectively scribbles over the edges of what is currently deemed fashionable (as in informed by this season’s catwalk shows.)

But even so there’s a hierarchy. For every thrifty MN poster declaiming the joys of getting a five year old Reiss dress for £20 from Vinted, there’s a nepo-baby with an unlimited budget who only wears vintage Chanel and Balenciaga from one trusted source. The latter shopper will be shaping the idea of What Looks Good Right Now rather more than the former, even if neither is consuming current fashion via Cos.