Why Is Everyone So Obsessed With 2016 Right Now?

Before we start, I’m going to make one request: play Drake’s One Dance within the background as you learn this. It’s the one soundtrack that may really set the scene for the time warp we’re about to embark on, rewinding all the way in which again to 2016. Don’t fear, I’m not about to topic you to a slideshow of my very own decade-old reminiscences. Having simply turned 18 on the time, I’ve only a few images that exist outdoors of sticky-floored nightclubs. But I’m going to discover why, collectively, we appear so drawn to the previous.

“There are so many studies that preach psychologically we always look back on the past with coloured glasses, and we always find the past to be maybe better than our present,” shares vogue and sweetness psychologist and creator Shakaila Forbes-Bell.

“There was even one study that found when people were encouraged to engage in nostalgic thinking and were actively reminded about the past and encouraged to reminisce, they felt happier, they felt more socially connected, even physically they felt calmer. So it’s always going to be something that evokes joy, which I think under the current climate that we’re in right now is needed. A lot of people are struggling with affordability and political situations and it seems like a very tough era to be in,” she provides.

So why, precisely, is 2016 the vacation spot for our metaphorical DeLorean? “We’ve had five years of upheaval. Coming out of the pandemic I think a lot of people were predicting the roaring 20s, myself included, and it just wasn’t like that. I think people feel cheated out of that so they’re harkening back to a time where we did feel free, people were dressing up and going out,” Forbes-Bell explains.

And exit we did. We wore lace-up tops and Bardot necklines—searches for off-the-shoulder kinds on vogue platform Lyst reportedly hit 3,000 an hour in July—alongside a beneficiant dose of metallic. Just look to Kylie Jenner, a key tastemaker of the period, to jog your reminiscence.

But, as Forbes-Bell notes, it isn’t simply the feeling of 2016 we’re attempting to recreate—it’s our wardrobes, too. “I think it’s maybe even a sign of how people are getting a bit fed up with the very minimalist, quiet luxury, clean girl tropes, which has now been used as a symbol of like success,” she explains. “Maybe they secretly crave the freeness and the the boldness of the 2016 aesthetic”.

That boldness got here within the type of skinny denims—which have been reportedly outselling different silhouettes two-to-one globally—whilst straight-leg kinds started climbing the search charts, turning into essentially the most sought-after form within the UK that yr, in accordance with Lyst. They have been paired, naturally, with logo-heavy hoodies from Vetements, Gucci and Calvin Klein, and basic black-and-white Vans, which racked up greater than 18,000 searches a day on the platform. Proof, if ever you wanted it, that your type could not have been fairly as “indie” as you thought—sure, even you within the black choker, whose gross sales have been up 120% that yr.

Still, as Forbes-Bell factors out, this doesn’t essentially imply we’ll all be speeding to purchase silky bomber jackets and slogan tees. “It almost feels incompatible with the times that we’re in right now.”

“There is this push for us to be more bold with the heels and the dressing up, but looking broadly it’s the case of not having somewhere to go,” she explains. “People can’t afford it, nightclubs are shutting down, and people aren’t really going on dates as much, so it’s just like a whole culmination of things. As much as people would would to [lean into that fashion era]there has to be more of a shift globally for that to be a lifestyle that we can actually dress up for.”

For now, then, it appears our love affair with 2016 will stay largely confined to Instagram spotlight reels—until, in fact, somebody fancies throwing a home occasion.