These days, trends rise and fall faster than ever. (Instagram, influencer marketing and Zara have seen to that.) Not that that’s a bad thing. They’re trends. Like iPhones, obsolescence is in their DNA. Each one comes with an expiration (and, in many cases, a renewal) date built into the package.
Every year, certain pieces (Gucci sweatshirts, Bernie-Sanders-referencing Balenciaga scarves) rise to stardom, infiltrating our closets and feeds. And then we tire of them, ship ’em off to consignment stores and survey the runways for new, soon-to-be must-have items to spend our hard-earned dollars on. And the beat goes on.
Of course, it’s important to remember that trends are simply patterns, It pieces come and go and, at the end of the day, fashion is all about cultivating an enduring sense of personal style — screw what other people are wearing.
To help guide you on your closet curation journey, we’ve compiled a list of 10 fashion trends that everyone wore — to death — in 2017. We implore you: let them go peacefully. (Or don’t. Again, feeling good about the way you look in a certain item/style is a good enough reason to wear it year in and year out. Who are we to judge?)
[ Next: The Top 15 Fashion Trends of the Spring 2018 Runways ]
Trends to Leave in 2017
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J.W. Anderson Pierce Bags
For the past two seasons, no one bag has been quite as ubiquitous as J.W. Anderson's Pierce handbag (though Gucci's Marmont fanny pack was a close contender at the Spring 2018 shows). We'll keep this brief: if you're going to splurge on a statement bag, go for something a little less expected. We're already sick of looking at that would-be septum ring.
Image: Imaxtree
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Head-to-Toe Millennial Pink
Even if you haven’t heard of Millennial Pink — or didn't know it went by that name — you've seen it. It's a pale pink/beige-blush/peach-salmon shade that's been gone viral. What can we say? It's gender-neutral, calming, nostalgic, flattering, just the right amount of cheeky and generally pleasing to the eye. That said, the shade has been trending for going on five years now — and we're ready to give it a rest. Bring on the reds and blues.
Image: Imaxtree
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Hoodie Lampshading
A trend spearheaded by the first family of Calabasas (and recently co-signed by Karl Lagerfeld), "lampshading" involves wearing a pair of over-the-knee boots with an outsize hoodie, sweater or T-shirt featuring a broad hemline that hits just above or right at the tops of your thigh-skimmers. Particularly when done with a hoodie, the look is neither comfortable (because skin-tight, heeled boots), nor provocative (because baggy top), nor practical (because you can hardly bend over), nor appropriate for most everyday settings (same reason). Let's nip this one in the bud. (Or do it the Lagerfeld way, i.e. huge-ass sweater worn with thigh-high socks. If you're gonna be cozy, be cozy.)
Image: Imaxtree
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Pieces That Exploit Political Messaging for Commercial Gain
Balenciaga's Fall 2017 men's runway featured a series of pieces (tees, hoodies, jackets, puffer scarves) adorned with a very obvious take on Bernie Sanders' campaign logo. Was it a collab? No. In fact, the motif wasn't meant to be a political statement at all. "To be honest, the collection was not inspired by Bernie Sanders, it was inspired by [all things] corporate," explained Demna Gvasalia at Vogue's Future of Fashion conference. "One of the things we wanted to create was a logotype that gave a corporate vision very vividly. In my research, Bernie Sanders's was most present at that time; that's why it resembles it so directly and obviously I was very aware of it. I wanted it to be [similar] — that was my message with this collection." Only Sanders has/had a socialist-leaning agenda. And for many, his loss in the primary is still a source of pain. If you ask us, this is the sartorial equivalent of Kendall Jenner's ill-fated Pepsi commercial. Let's take it off the air.
Image: Imaxtree
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Tufted Pom-Poms
In 2016, whimsical, colorful pom-poms added cheer and charm to sandals, straw bags and caftans. In 2017, the rainbow-colored tufts made the jump to chandelier earrings, jacquard jumpsuits, cashmere cardigans and broderie anglaise camisoles. It began to feel as if some glue-gun-happy two-year-old broke into mom's/big sis' wardrobe. These days, we're championing Raf Simons' subtler, yet more literal take on the pom-pom for Calvin Klein, i.e. cheerleader-ready handbags with close to a yard of metallic-tinged fringing.
Image: Imaxtree
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Over-Enthusiastically Ripped Jeans
We've said it before and we'll say it again: stop hacking your denim to pieces. Unless those knee holes appeared via good ol' natural wear-and-tear, they shouldn't exist. You say avant-garde, we say even Marta Marques and Paulo Almeida have retired their scissors. (Note: Distressed hems, our beef is not with you.)
Image: Imaxtree
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Gucci-Logo Tops
It's true what they say: common sense is not that common. In the past year, Gucci's oversized cotton-terry sweatshirts — emblazoned with the brand's 80s-era emblem, because logomania — have gotten an unsurprising amount of play. Every influencer worth their five-to-six-digit following owns one of these $1,300 duds, which cost about the same — if not more — than the brand's coveted, genuine leather belt bags. We get it, Gucci's the It brand, but save your hard-earned dollars for a fancy double-G piece that doesn't have a big ol' 2017 timestamp on it. (Or at the very least, wait to purchase till they inevitably hit The RealReal at a fraction of the price.)
Image: Imaxtree
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The Sheer Shirt/No Bra Look
Don't get us wrong, we're all for the #freethenipple movement, female empowerment and embracing your sexuality. But in 2017, bare nipples walked the runways and city streets so often, they lost much of their shock value (which is a good thing). Now that we've made our point and it's cold AF outside, why bare it all? (We know what you're thinking and during the summer, there'll still be air conditioning to consider.) Mark our words: 2018 is the year of the interesting bra. Grab yourself a Helmut Lang bag-slash-brasserie, pioneer a new feminist trend.
Image: Imaxtree
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Corset Belts
True, corset belts continue to pop up on the runways, most notably at Tibi Spring 2018. And, yes, there is something to be said for a midriff-cincher that draws attention to our waists and has feminist, even punky undertones. (The new raft of fashion-forward, cozily-constructed corset belts seek to update/reappropriate the once-stifling design.) Still, to quote New York Magazine's Christine Whitney, "There’s something uncomfortable — no pun intended — about resurrecting the corset at a time when the political mandate seems to be to take women back to the 16th century. Despite many well-founded claims that corsets have been unfairly demonized...they still come with symbolic baggage: The idea that looking skinnier, bustier, and sexier is the fashion endgame might make modern feminists queasy." Also, they've been done to death. Moreover, the flipside of using breezier, more malleable fabrics is that they tend to shift around and clump up. Nexxxt.
Image: Daniel Zuchnik/Getty Images
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Stan Smiths
Like the iconic Céline designer who always took her bow in them (we're not crying, you're crying!), it's time for Stan Smiths to take a well-deserved break from the fashion grind. Since their reissue, the shoes have launched a thousand copycats and been reimagined in a mind-boggling array of colors, styles and limited-edition collabs. Sleek and versatile though the tennis sneaks may be, we've all got Stan Smith fatigue. Hence the rise of chunky-soled dad shoes.
Image: Christian Vierig/Getty Images
