Within the fashion world, peacocking outside fashion shows in look-at-me outfits became standard practice. Beyond that, Instagram users took to posting their ensembles in #OOTD posts.
No designer represented this trend more than Alessandro Michele, who succeeded Frida Giannini as creative director of Gucci. If Gucci’s ready-to-wear business was born with Tom Ford’s sex-on-a-stick pieces, Michele flipped the house codes on its head, doing granny-chic meets Wes Anderson meets glam rock. Michele’s Gucci was covered up (a chiffon maxi dress topped with a fair-isle V-neck finished with a Peter Pan collar) and intellectually quirky. Michele promoted styling and an outré mix of patterns.
Cool Parents: Mom Jeans Rule, Dad Sneakers Dominate
After the skinny jean craze of the aughts (which peaked when brands started offering them in pastel shades), pants loosened up. Dubbed the mom jean, they were cut with a baggier fit, like a boyfriend jean, but sat higher on the waist; the denim silhouette was a go-to. It was worn to the office, the bar, and everywhere in between.
Meanwhile, so-called dad sneakers broke out onto the fashion scene with a fervor. The unending nostalgia for the ’90s and the decade’s thick-sole white sneaker—like something worn by someone’s unfashionable father—became a fashion item. Demna Gvasalia promoted the style at Balenciaga’s Fall 2017 menswear presentation, which debuted the Balenciaga Triple S Sneakers (named for the three soles layered on top of one another). The clunky shoe inspired countless copycats and ushered in the era of the “ugly shoe.”
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