Certain elements of Y2K need to make a comeback

Eve Tawfick discusses fashion in her monthly Baffling Britain column...

Fast fashion outlets have exploded with clothes that will take Millennials back to those hazy, dude-filled days of Charmed, Buffy and Kate Moss at her greatest.

Y2K fashion was an eclectic mix of fairycore tops with bell sleeves and cargo trousers.

Y2K stands for the year 2000, but is also an umbrella term that includes fashion trends that bled from the end of the 20th Century into the 21st.

It's now a trending term on most fashion websites and to Gen Z means a swathe of fashion looks ranging from the awful belted micro skirt, to rhinestone Baker boy caps.

Think Paris Hilton in the Simple Life.

They say if you can recall a trend you shouldn't wear it, but considering a lot of modern trends look like latex panties built for Barbies - I think taking a deep dive into the vintage closet isn't a terrible idea, even if one emerges in a Juicy Couture tracksuit and a baseball cap with "That's hot!" scrawled across it.

Hit shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer have fan pages dedicated to Sarah Michelle Gellar’s on-set wardrobe alone.

Micro dresses, thigh high boots and leopard print camisoles to name a few.

The ladies of Charmed pranced around San Fran in little more than tye-dyed tissue paper at one point.

The trends are a brand all of their own, and after two years of revival - the nostalgic hues of brown and stretchy midi skirts appear to be here for the long haul.

One fancies they will emulate Jennifer Cornelly in Requiem for a Dream, alas - the result is often something less grunge pixie hybrid and more explosion in a sweat shop - yet one can try to fit a size 14 figure into the perky little tops once modelled on size 0 TV stars.

It’s not just fashion that’s made a comeback. Stars such as Pamela Anderson - 90s sex symbol and pin up for small town girls with big city dreams - are entering into lucrative Netflix deals to tell their story, hazy clips of the smoke filled, techno beats days of the 90s spliced between a make-up free Pamela at her beach house.

There’s now a top in Primark that says ‘90s baby’ and many a TikTok influencer who was born beyond ’99 wishing that they were.

While the leather corset tops should be left in the past, I couldn’t help but think that certain elements of Y2K need to make a comeback.

Housing prices for instance, would be a great start.

Potential employers not just ghosting you when you hand in a job application (there’s something to be said for eye contact as you actually physically hand over a CV).

No smart phones (so if you get a text back on Thursday, it’s not the end of the world).

Dial up Internet may have been a pain, but at least we had more time to read…

Fast forward to 2023 and there is an expectation of one’s omni-availability on their smartphone.

Where dating was exciting, instead of some odd, Orwellian social experiment that leaves app users more drained than excited.

We are expected to have somehow accrued 10 years of work experience by aged 21, having to sell your grandmother to be able to afford a house - these are all stamps of the burnout era.

Millennials got a cruel deal, we spent part of our lives in a world where everything seemed possible and even those less well off in society had help.

You would never see a nurse or a teacher at a food bank. In fact a family of four could do well on a singular income, now they can hardly survive on a dual income. After the echo of the Spice Girls faded into nothingness- we entered a place that feels cold, expensive and honestly? More work than it’s worth.

But hey, at least the fashion came back so we can play make believe.

We can try our very best to look like Winona Ryder, or Jolie circa ’ 96 – because let’s face it, we might as well spend our money on cargo pants and crop tops, as it’s not going on a house deposit any time soon.