Newstalgic 2000s: In the streets

Celebrities of the 2000s dressed differently to those going about their everyday lives. How most people experienced the era, and dressed in it, was quite different to what we might’ve seen Britney Spears wearing on MTV.

Some celebrities were more relatable than others, however. Billie Piper feels like a more accurate reference point for British 2000s fashions. The outfits in her ‘Because We Want To’ music video consist of vests layered over long-sleeve tops, cargo shorts, baggy trousers, and fitted v-neck tops. Piper also wore a colourful purple suit jacket set – maybe let’s not bring that one back.

Although those outfits aren’t the McBling style that’s so intwined with the 2000s, perhaps they are much more realistic for the less Americanised styles of the time. The revelation of Piper’s wide-studded black belt during the video and the strange chrome figure dancing in the street (obviously) feel very Y2K.

Rose Tyler’s outfits are just as iconic

Piper’s Doctor Who (2005) character Rose Tyler’s outfits are just as iconic. Her bold union jack top in ‘The Empty Child’ is especially notable, but my personal favourite might be her red asymmetrical Punkyfish top in ‘The Long Game’. Rose’s collection of jackets, usually over t-shirts and paired with flared or baggy jeans, perfectly represent how the themes of 2000s futurism mix with her down-to-earth (literally) character.

The Ninth Doctor’s outfits, worn by Christopher Eccleston, are also surprisingly close to the era’s styles despite being ‘alien’. His black leather jacket, although feeling especially Matrix-inspired, enabled him to look as if he could blend into the audiences that watched him. Even the Tenth Doctor, played by David Tennant, sports white Converse high-tops. The show’s accessibility was part of the outfits – or maybe the other way around.

A slightly more rogue ‘look back’ [is] the clothing worn in The Inbetweeners (2008) – and no, not the black vest top Will’s mum gave him on his birthday

A slightly more rogue ‘look back’ to the 2000s might be the clothing worn in The Inbetweeners (2008) – and no, not the black vest top Will’s mum gave him on his birthday. More like the ‘going out’ tops, wide belts, low-rise shorts, and capris Charlotte and her friends wear to Wendy’s house party in series one.

This all feels more accurate to the trends that are coming back. This is because these characters were created with relatability in mind, they help us to pinpoint what was really worn by, for lack of a better word, ‘normal’ people. Although many of the brands were the same, the way they were worn, and styles that came out of them, were often not.

Juicy was fashioned mainly for the everyday and became estranged from the mainstream celebrity endorsement

Juicy Couture is an exception to this rule. With many pieces displaying a crown, even the words ‘Her Majesty Juicy Couture’, the brand was originally created to satirise the self-acclaimed superiority of high fashion labels. It occupied the wardrobes of both the public and celebrities, with Jennifer Lopez wearing it in her ‘I’m Real’ music video. During its comeback around 2017, Juicy was fashioned mainly for the everyday and became estranged from the mainstream celebrity endorsement it enjoyed in the 2000s. Despite being insanely comfortable, the image it had created in America didn’t seem to translate overseas and ended up being deemed ‘chavvy’, the ‘tack-suit’, in the UK.  However, it arguably makes its message more hard-hitting.

Many brands have redesigned elements of their originals to fit the ‘newstalgia’ we’re experiencing in fashion

How we wear the 2000s now is, unsurprisingly, different. Many brands have redesigned elements of their originals to fit the ‘newstalgia’ we’re experiencing in fashion culture. ‘Lowmel UGGs’ have kept the comfort and cuteness of the original UGG boots that were so inherent to everyday 2000s outfits – while modernising the shoe’s style to fit the current popularity of trainers. BERSHKA’s collaboration with the Spanish brand El Niño on its ‘capsule collection’ is another example of these brands responding to the re-emergence of the era in a unique way.

This all makes clearer why the term ‘newstalgia’ is so relevant to fashions of the 2000s. It, more obviously, depends on whether you’re referring to what celebrities were wearing, or the average person. Besides this, it seems that there’s quite a difference in what these fashions meant in America compared to in the UK. They had many wardrobe staples, like UGG boots, in common, but the actual outfits that came out of them were more dissimilar, being influenced by the cultures they emerged in. As a result, the inspiration taken from the glamoured Americanised styles of the 2000s, like in Mean Girls (2004), continues not to fit the aesthetic of the much grittier British fashions of the time. It also, then, feels newer in its return here, and perhaps less nostalgic, than it does in America.

What we mean by ‘2000s fashions,’ therefore, becomes even more nuanced than before. The ‘nostalgia’ of the era is left completely up to the styles you were influenced by, what you watched, and where you lived. It’s just another reason why we can’t really capture one perfect example of the 2000s outfit, and the ‘aesthetic’ remains a loose and indefinite one.