The best & worst summer fashion trends from the early ’00s that are making a comeback

Turn on your tamagotchi and get ready to time travel. From cargo pants to long sleeve t-shirts and bucket hats–like it or not, the hottest fashion trends of the early 2000s are back. 

The gays of the early 2000s were a hot mess https://t.co/TeDBnRgpcK— Meh (@Spilling_The_T) January 5, 2023

So crack open the latest issue of XY Magazine you just grabbed from Borders Books & Music, and put the Queer as Folk soundtrack on repeat as we take a trip down the memory runway and ask WHY to the fashion of Y2K that Gen Z is trying to resurrect…

Popped collars

The preppy popped collar was a signature look in the early ‘00s — a way to signal to other guys that you were up on the latest fashion trends. You wore them so you would look like the Abercrombie & Fitch models, even though you might have secretly just wanted to be with them.

Double popped collars

As if a preppy popped shirt wasn’t bad enough, let us forget the next evolution of the Pokémon popped collar: The double layering of the polos. Which not only looks ridiculous, but really hot?

Puka shell necklaces

There was a plethora of puka shell necklaces in the 2000s, and now more than 20 years later we think… they kind of slay? This is one of the rare fashion trends we’re happy that is having a resurgence. 

Skinny Jeans

After a quick revival a couple of years ago, thankfully skinny jeans are once again thrown to the back of the closet — and lets hope they stay there. While you think they lift up your butt, the jeans end up flattening everything out and hugging you in all the wrong ways. You look like a suitor on MTV’s Next, so it’s best to keep this particular style of denim in the past.

Baggy jeans

Skinny jeans were in, but then things got big — really big — with oversized jeans and pants taking over. The baggy jeans are back in style, so be prepared to do some double takes when you see that Dickie’s label next time you go out.

Denim deluge overall

Baggy or skinny — jeans are always in. But in the Y2K days it was common to see celebs sport denim on denim while walking the red carpets. Even frayed denim jackets, or different shades of denim all stitched together. It might have been a bold take on the boring jeans, but it usually just made you look like the missing sixth member of NYSNC — and not in a good way.

Trucker hats

Elaine Stritch might have asked “Does anyone still wear a hat?” in the classic musical, Company, but hats — at least the baseball kind — have always been a welcome fashion accessory. While hats have never gone out of style, puffy trucker hats were a staple at the turn of the century. Puffy, big, and loud — we’d happily keep wearing the more subtle baseball hats of today.

Cargo pants

Oversized jeans are back, and surprisingly so are cargo pants. With extra pockets to carry around your various items — like your Razr flip phone — the cargo pants have become a little more sleek, but still remind us too much of rave culture to give them another chance.

Bucket hats

Millennials wish they could live inside a Delia’s — or Abercrombie & Fitch — catalog, but only a certain type of person can pull off a bucket hat. They can be cute, but not everyone has Billie Eillish’s style. And if you were old enough to wear them back in the 2000s, you’re too old to wear them now.

Long-sleeve t-shirt

Honestly, we’re not mad at this trend returning. Show off your love for your favorite band or brand by wearing an oversized long-sleeve t- shirt. If you want to level up the nostalgia factor, wear a short sleeve shirt over one to really time travel back to the early 2000s.

Matrixcore

The influence of The Matrix was everywhere in 1999 and Y2K, so it would make sense that the fashion from the iconic sci-fi blockbuster would also come back in fashion. Leather jackets, tiny sunglasses are the major staples of the Trinity and Neo nostalgia — and honestly? We’re here for it. We support anything that makes younger generations discover the genius of the Wachowskis. 

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