Without a doubt, fashion is obsessed with the past. Fueled by nostalgia, the reminiscent obsession has heightened in the past year. It has branched out from fashion and ventured deep into all aspects of pop culture. From The Crown to the new Gossip Girl reboot, TV shows have strongly been indulging in this. Music is also not to be left out of the conversation. This year Taylor Swift re-released her 2012 album Red and Aaliyah’s entire music catalogue was finally available to stream since her death in 2001. Recent events have made us all more wistful about the past, and we are eager to cling on to previous moments in the arts that made us feel happy. For all the good, the bad and the ugly that social media brings, it has made fashion and pop culture history more accessible and digestible. Instagram’s fashion archive accounts – which document, curate and comment on fashions of the past – are leading the way. Celebrity stylists are definitely paying attention.
Zendaya stunned at this year’s BET awards in 2003 Versace, whilst Saweetie wore a Dolce and Gabanna dress from a 2005 collection the same night. Last year, Kim Kardashian wore a remake of the Roberto Cavalli dress Aaliyah wore to the 2000 VMAs, whilst Rihanna was recently spotted wearing $15,000 archive Gucci jeans. These make for amazing viral moments – it’s great press for the brand, celebrity, and stylists. For fashion archivists, it’s a testament to their content and the impact it has on culture. Here’s a handful of the best.
‘Lady Di’s sassiest post-divorce revenge looks’ was the account’s tagline for a while. It was created in 2018 by fashion writer Eloise Moran as a way for her to get over her own divorce. Ladydirevengelooks highlights Princess Diana’s most coveted fashion moments and signs off its punchy captions with an iconic #fuckyouCC (CC stands for Charles and Camilla). The popularisation of the account coincided with the latest season of The Crown, which focused on Princess Diana and her relationship with Prince Charles from the 1980s through to the 1990s. The success of the page has led to Moran publishing her own book, The Lady Di Look Book: What Diana Was Trying to Tell Us Through Her Clothes, which is due to be published in June 2022.
2. @70sarchives
It’s hard to remember a time where flares, corduroy and Nike Cortez weren’t cool, but believe it or not, these are newly revived trends. This account shows you everything you need to see from this decade – ABBA, silver gogo boots, paisley print galore.
3. @Thekimbino
Kim Russell is a 25-year-old fashion researcher who started off critiquing and commenting on fashion via her Instagram and Twitter. Now she works on secret projects with Kim Kardashian. Russell focuses on 90s/2000s Fashion, in particular black fashion, which was heavily overlooked at the time. High Fashion Twitter is a virtual community of fashion lovers and Russell is an active member. As well as this, Russell has an educational Onlyfans account with hundreds of paying subscribers. Russell’s ascent is reflective of wider industry changes, where fashion media/commentary is more inclusive of diverse voices, opinions and thought.
Ran by superfan and current Gucci client advisor Justin Friedman, this account focuses on Gucci between 1994 to 2006, whilst Tom Ford was at the helm of this iconic brand. This era of Gucci was very different from what we see now. It was dark, moody and hyper-sexual on occasions. During this time we were introduced to the Gucci G-string, the Gucci G-shaped pubic hair and much more. As one might imagine, it was incredibly controversial.
The 2018 resurgence of cowboy fashion has a name – The Yeehaw Agenda. 2019 was a pretty cowboy-heavy year, with artists such as Solange, Kacey Musgraves and record-breaking Lil Nas X (Old Town Road) all touting the aesthetic in their music. Cowboy fashion was everywhere on the runway, and everyone and their mum dressed up as a sexy cowboy for Halloween that year. However, it wasn’t just a fashion statement, it got political. Many people highlighted the fact that portrayals of cowboys were overwhelming white, despite it being suggested that at least 25% of cowboys being black and it being a large part of Black Texan culture. Bri Malandro, the founder of the Instagram account The Yeehaw Agenda is not only credited with popularising the term, but also highlighting the erasure of black cowboys in history. Whilst we finally seem to be moving away from our obsession with cow print (I think? We have right? Right?) The Yeehaw Agenda seems ever-present, most notably in Beyonce’s latest campaign for her clothing line – Ivy Park Rodeo.
Stylist Nygel Simons had been hoarding archive fashion images for the past decade or so. He began on tumblr, moved onto Polyvore before finally relocating to Twitter and Instagram where his posts captured the attention of people like Bri Malandro (mentioned above) and esteemed Fashion Historian Shelby Ivey Christie. His love for 2000s music videos, award show fashion and hip-hop magazine spreads can be seen through his posts, which are vibrant, gaudy and glossy – undeniably y2k.
If you’re a fashion history junkie and want to find out even more about other fashion history accounts, click here to learn more!
