Top Ten of the Past Ten: Most Popular Fashion Trends of the 2010s

Welcome to the 2010s in America. Marijuana use gained more popularity as Washington and Colorado became the first states to legalize cannabis for recreational use in 2012. Millennials born in the 70s and 80s entered the labor force. The Black Lives Matter movement began in 2013 with the unjustified acquittal of Trayvon Martin's murderer. In 2015, same-sex couples were legally able to tie the knot after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of same-sex marriages, legalizing it in all 50 states. Donald Trump, a celebrity and businessman, was elected as President in 2017. Without further adieu, here are the top ten most popular fashion trends of the 2010s.

1) Millennial Pink

Ellen Gutoskey from Mental Floss stated, "Millennial pink isn't the name of a specific Pantone color; instead, it's an unofficial term for an equally unofficial family of colors that includes everything from pink-ish beige to muted salmon." Gutoskey wrote, "if it looks like something your old Barbie dolls wore, it's probably too bright to be considered millennial pink." Little Gold Pixel reported millennial pink started from 2016's colors of the year, rose quartz, which is a baby pink or pure pink. In the same year, Veronique Hyland from The Cut added the word "millennial" when describing the rise of a certain shade of pink in consumer marketing and pop culture, and the term "millennial pink" was born. From sneakers to clothes, dishware, and paint, millennial pink had its hold on America in the 2010s and 2020s.

Little Gold Pixel reported millennial pink is a "safe" pink, embraced by both men and women, and by fashion and interior designers; it's more androgynous than previous pinks. According Laura-Clark from Love Good Color told Business Insider in an interview about millennial pink, "Pink too had a 'gender-less' meaning; and millennials loved if for it's 'Instagrammability'; It represented this neutrality for a whole generation, who really cared about gender diversity and openness." Mental Floss reported that millennials found millennial pink claiming, like a remembrance of their childhood, a flooding feeling from the pale pink of nostalgia.

The titration of actual pinkness varies a little, but it's still a fairly narrow spectrum--from salmon mousse to gravlax, to extend the metaphor. Call it "millennial pink."
Veronique Hyland
The Cut

2) Athleisure Wear

According to Marli Guzzetta from Inc, Athleisure wear is "athletic clothing re-envisioned as everyday wear." Guzzetta reported that the hoodie, a pull-over garment with a hood, long sleeves, and sometimes a pocket across the mid-section, was invented by The Feinbloom brothers, William and Abe, in Rochester, New York, for laborers, which eventually turned into the brothers $1.5 billion Champion brand. In 1959, DuPont scientist Joseph Shivers invented spandex, a crucial component for athleisure wear. In 2007, Bravo's T.V. series, Keeping Up With The Kardashians, gave yoga pants their appeal as a garment that could be worn 24/7. Tasc Performance reported, "Between 2012 and 2019, the global athleisure sector increased by 42% to a total value of $270 billion."

Tasc Performance stated, "Over the years, athleisure moved from sportswear, which was clothing designed for a specific sport, to the one-size-fits-all approach to athletic apparel that defines athleisure clothing today." Deirdre Clemente, a fashion historian at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, told the Atlantic that athleisure is the culmination of three long-term trends: technological improvement to synthetic fiber (spandex), modern fixation on healthy appearance, and the decline of formality in American fashion. Lefty Productions Co stated that the comfort that athleisure provides is a leading factor in the popularity of the trend and its multi-purpose use as workout, casual, or informal wear. Top brands like NIKE, Lululemon, Athleta, and Adidas are geared towards sportswear and athleisure wear, with many other clothing companies following close behind.

At this point, calling athleisure a trend almost seems disingenuous because it has spread across the world and become so pervasive that it's now more like a movement.
Tasc Performance

3) Skinny Jeans

Skinny jeans or slim-fit pants, made out of denim, are tight trousers that have a snug fit through the legs, ending with a small leg opening. According to History of Jeans, many trends evolve over time, "In the 1990s, tight jeans were popular among pop stars . . . Skinny pants started as a fashion for the rich, but in time all classes started wearing them, and there are even skinny pants for both sexes." Luiza do Prado Lima on Medium, wrote, "when entering the 2010s, skinny jeans became the ultimate norm and took over trousers markets." According to Highsnobiety, skinny jeans for men were popularized by notable modern rappers like Lil B, BasedGod, Lil Wayne, Jay-Z, Kid Cudi, Travis Scott, and many others.

Outfit Wise reported that skinny jeans are popular among women "because they make their legs look sexy and slim" and popular among men because they are comfortable and easy to match. Paula Cocozza from The Guardian wrote that skinny jeans were almost seen as a default fashion choice for they can be used as a "blank canvas;" this "invisibility" of the garment can be "tucked neatly into boots" or works "well with Converses when Converse were all that men wore." Cocozza continues, "For manufacturers, skinny jeans make perfect economic sense, requiring less fabric than more generously cut pants; for consumers, their (skinny jeans) ongoing domination keeps the rest of the wardrobe working too: no need for costly revamp." Top skinny jean brands could include clothing companies like Levi's, Old Navy, Wrangler, Cheap Monday, Topman, and Hawksbill Denim Co.

Skinny styles are great because their narrow line provides a platform on which to play with more directional tees, sweatshirts, and outerwear.
Rachel Morgans
Topman Buying Director

4) Streetwear

Streetwear, according to Temple, originated from New York's hip-hop fashion and California's surf cat culture with elements of sportswear, punk, and 'Japanese street fashion, which revolved around "casual, comfortable pieces such as jeans, T-shirts, baseball caps and sneakers." Temple described that comfort, limited-editions items, menswear styles, and contemporary art are all characteristics of the streetwear style. Mandy Meyer from The Vou stated, "before it (streetwear) became a cultural and stylistic phenomenon, streetwear meant 'unflattering fashion consisting of graphic T-shirts, baggy cuts and worn-out sneakers.'" Collective stated, "Brands like Supreme and Stussy paved the way for designers like Vigil Abloh and Raf Simmons to create their own, designer take on streetwear . . . most of the popular streetwear brands you see today were started in the 1980s . . . It was thought that creating a fashion brand around a particular persona/hobby (skateboarding) was a smart way to tap into a completely new market."

Adclays describes streetwear as popular because some items can be seen as vintage. Streetwear is comfortable and flexible (much like athleisure wear), "Most streetwear brands use a more sustainable approach in their press of production." Limited-edition items with customization options add to streetwear's popularity. Complex Magazine, in 2010, named Stussy, Supreme, and A Bathing Ape as the best streetwear brands of the year. Other popular streetwear brands are New Balance, Adidas, NIKE, Billionaire Boys Club, Deep, Patta, Kith, A Cold Wall, Golf Wang, The North Face, Huf, Obey, Off-White, and others.

Streetwear flips the traditional fashion model on its head . . . through streetwear's predominantly direct-to-consumer model, it's the consumers themselves who are driving trends.
Wear Zeitgeist

5) Normcore

As streetwear flipped the traditions of fashion industries, Normcore is a trend that became popular in the 2010s for its comfort, simplicity, and rejection of high-end fashion. Audible Wav reported Normcore "means intentionally dressing in a manner that does not focus on current trends and styles . . . picking clothes that are intentionally unpretentious, nondescript, or plain. According to Highsnobiety, the Normcore concept appeared in K-Hole's, a trend forecasting agency, firest-ever issue in 2013, with the headline "Being Special vs. Being Free." Dazed reported Emily Segal, the founder of K-Hole and creative director of Genius, coined "Normcore," stating Normcore is "about adaptability and being able to go into a lot of different communities at one." Marc Richardson from Grailed wrote key garment choices of Normcore to be white T-shirts, stonewashed blue jeans, fleece jackets, solid-colored crewnecks sweatshirts or hoodies, simple sneakers, and non-fashion caps; with the popular Normcore styled brands like Birkenstock, Champion, Gap, Hanes, Levi's, New Balance, and Patagonia.

Jackie Manno from The List reported that mom jeans "are defined as high waisted, straight-legged denim jeans, typically with a looser fit . . . they were popular with middle-aged women due to their convenience as opposed to sexiness." Manno continues to write that some of these garments are considered "uncool," but for young people, dressing "ironically" became rebellious and contributed to a counter-culture that saw the rise of the Normcore trend. Freelance stylist and fashion writer Jeremy Lewis, founder, and editor of Garmento said, "Fashion has become very overwhelming . . . people use fashion as a means to buy rather than discover an identity . . . [Normcore takes] cues from people like Steve Jobs and Jerry Seinfeld. It's a very flat look, conspicuously unpretentious, maybe even endearingly awkward."

People long to feel comfortable and secure and couldn't give two hoots about whether something is deemed fashionable.
Lauren Sharkey
The Book of Man

6) Dadcore

According to Priya Elan from The Guardian, "Dadcore is inspired by the wardrobe of the man who gave up on fashion when he became a father. Ostensibly it's a wardrobe full of practical, comfortable, yet sadly dated clothes, but the concepts behind it and how it has arisen are interesting. Unlike most fashion trends – which are inspired by film, musicians, or workwear – the idea of Dadcore came from comedy one-liners and sketches that developed into internet jokes and memes before being seen on the catwalks." Stephanie Hanson from The A Magazine reported that Balenciaga's 2018 spring collection was the initial inspiration for the Dadcore trend. Hanson wrote Dadcore, "combines gender-neutral articles of clothing with the old-fashion, but out-of-style vibes, that the stereotypical dad would wear."

Rivet reported the popularity of Dadcore is attributed to millennials' fondness for irony and nostalgia. Kate Demolder from Irish Tatler wrote, "Dadcore essentially consists of sartorial choices that focus more on functionality than style . . . it's all about orthopaedic-Esque chunky sneakers, baseball caps, bucket hats, cargo shorts, and vests." W.T. Plus reported the Dadcore essentials to be T-shirts, jeans, baseball caps, suspenders, tapered trousers, joggers, bucket hats, and pleated shorts.

The thing about Dadcore is that it takes its cues and inspiration from our father's wardrobes, rather than acting as an invitation for complete replication or blatant copying.
Darren Kennedy
Square Mile

7) Sneakers

Through athleisure, streetwear, Normcore, sneakers lines of canvas, basketball, high-tops, wedge sneakers, slip-on, athletic, white sneakers (the list goes on), had become a $79 billion global market industry through the 2010s. A sneaker is a soft shoe with a rubber sole worn for sports or casual occasions. According to Adrienne Howell from The Collector, "Sneakers express individuality and personal identity more than any other fashion item. Nowdays, the sneaker can come in a variety of shapes, colors, finishes, and an unlimited amount of uses for the contemporary consumer." German native, Adi Dassler, created Adidas in 1924; Adidas became the most popular athletic shoe globally. In 1984, Michael Jordan, an NBA legend, signed a contract to wear the NIKE shoe called Air Jordans, the most famous sneaker ever produced. According to Men's Health, in 2015, Kayne West, a famous rapper, partnered with Adidas and launched Yeezy sneakers, selling a limited amount, their price ranging from $200 to $5,000 a pair. A trend of celebrity sponsorship and the shift from formal to causal saw the rise of sneakers' popularity in the 2010s.

Aine Cain from Business Insider wrote, "ultimately, consumers' willingness to splurge on athletic shoes that they view as good investments or bold statement pieces has allowed footwear companies to invest resources in increasingly luxurious, technologically advanced, and celebrity-backed products." The Collector stated, "The relationship between public consumers and sneakers is a strong bond. Established through celebrity endorsements to features in popular music/movies, it has continued to evolve and grow with each passing decade." Popular sneaker brands may include NIKE, Adidas, Converse, Reebok, New Balance, Vans, Puma, and more.

From sport to fashion, sneakers dominate the consumer market. Yet despite their adoption by the mainstream, sneakers retain their coolness as cultural icons.
Naomi Braithwaite
Fast Company

8) Festival Fashion

Friends Party Photo Created By Gpointstudio at Freepik.com
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A popular music festival in America, The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, held in April, became so popular in the 2010s that in 2012 the festival was separated into two weekends instead of one. A festival fashion trend emerged as a unifocal dress code for this music event and others. According to Melissa L. Haney from Bustle, common fashion trends for festival fashion are nudity, glitter, and neon colors. Shirine Saad from CNN reported "recurring elements (of festival fashion): fringe and cutoffs; gladiator sandals and desert boots; metallic bindi tattoos, Mexican-style embroidery, and vintage-inspired anything." According to Sarah Boyd from Forbes, popular festival fashion brands include The Wolf Gang, Finders Keepers, Quay Australia, For Love & Lemons, btb Los Angeles, Thrifts & Threads, Jordan Road Jewelry, Deadwood, MLE, and Same Los Angeles.

Angela Velasquez from Sourcing Journal wrote, "Though Woodstock was arguably the birthplace of festival fashion and remains a source of inspiration for festival-goers on both sides of the Atlantic, festival fashion as we know it today landed on the radar of young shoppers in the early 2000s when British style icon Kate Moss plodded through the mud at Glastonbury in the U.K. wearing barely-there jean shorts and Hunter boots." Lauren Cochrane from The Guardian reported, "Fast-fashion brands know that festival season is a time when consumers spend – The Business of Fashion is reporting a boost of 173% for sales of festival fashion items across the sites Boohoo, H&M, Asos, and Nasty Gal."

Cutoff denim shorts, crossbody bags, and wellies: Festival fashion has developed a style all its own, and catering to it has become big business for retailers.
Elizabeth Holmes
Vogue

9) Customization

Longchamp's My Pliage Customizable Travel Bag - $365.00
Image by Longchamp.com
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Krista Garcia from Emarketer stated that due to more efficient manufacturing, eCommerce platforms, and mass customization, "the production of products that meet individual tastes has become mainstream." Garcia quotes a 2018 YouGov survey that indicated that 26% of U.S. consumers had customized a product, and 29% of those products were apparel and footwear. Lefty Production Co. reported that A.I. tech revolutionized the fashion industry. Debit explained that the popularity of fashion customization is for a unique look and boosts creativity, which encourages customer engagement. According to Fashionista, Racked, and The Current Daily, popular customizable brands are NIKE sneakers, Brooks Brothers suits, Burberry trench coasts, Longchamp bags, Mon Purse, Shoes of Prey, The Mighty Company, Pop & Suki, M.i.h. Jeans, Dress shirt, Louis Vuitton, Fame & Partners, Function of Beauty, Rapha, Puma, and Levi's.

Elizabeth Holmes from Glamour wrote that consumers are "hunting for something different, something more representative of our lives, something more special. And we've grown accustomed to personal treatment—companies tailor every email or recommendation to our every desire." Az Big Media reported, "Along with providing the consumer with unique clothing, these services cut down the inventory losses for businesses . . . Technology is also improving, and many of these unique pieces can be customized with a swipe of a finger. These shippers never have to settle for those mass-produced pieces.

Personalization is all about shoppers. It strives to deliver a genuinely singular shopping experience to users by giving them complete freedom to design apparel or accessory from scratch.
Manali Jain
Katalyst Tech

10) Logomania

Logomania, according to Mary Stringham from Mission Magazine, logo's have been around since Coco Chanel put her name directly onto her clothes back in 1925. Stringhman wrote, "With the logo came logomania—a trend whereby obvious branding is strewn all over one's clothes. Rather than a brand name hidden away in a shirt on a tag, a fashion house's logo was now worn to be seen." David Marchese from The New York Times stated the hip-hop music industry of the 80s and 90s pushed logomania's popularity into mainstream pop culture. Alaina Demopoulos from Daily Beast wrote, "Dapper Dan, the New York designer, essentially started logomania in the 80s. Thirty years later, he's back for seconds."

According to Anwar Boutayba from Coulture, "In a visually-driven society, it is no surprise that logos have injected themselves into fashion. . . logos encapsulate everything about a brand into a simple graphic. The oversaturation of logos has increased high fashion sales growth, redefined what it means to be fashionable, and enhanced celebrity culture's influence on consumer decisions." Alexis Schwartz from L'Officiel USA reported the launching of the social media giant Instagram in 2010 contributed to the logomania's trend rebirth, stated, "When [social media] engagement started increasing, and tagging became a feature for influencers to knock on brands' doors quietly, marketing departments began to notice . . . by 2018, 10% of social media influencers were earning over $100,000, up 370% from just the year before." Tatler and Not Jess Fashion reports top logomania brands to include Balenciaga, Fendi, Gucci, Off White, Levi's, Champion, Channel, Versace, Louis Vuitton, Valentino, and Marc Jacobs.

The popularity of all-over monogram also challenges fashion's faded ideas of elitism by blurring the lines between highbrow and lowbrow commodities. Depending on which cycle of fashion we're reporting on, wearing head-to-toe brand labels was once seen as ostentatious or "ghetto fabulous."
Kara Kia
Pop Sugar