For those of you who didn’t know, fashion works in 20-year cycles. Which means that the things that were popular in 2002, are popular right now. Word of the wise – keep your clothes. Not only is it sustainable, but actually you’ll be ahead of the curve when it comes to trends, and rookies will be scouring the vintage sites for clothes you’ve already got!
Y2K is back, baby, and with that, comes dressing like a Bratz doll. Bratz came out in 2001, and emulated the fashion of the millennium that all the girls were wanting. High pig-tails with fly-aways, platform shoes, pleated mini-skirts with chains, and baby crop tops.
The Italian brand GCDS even collaborated with Bratz, creating GCDS-dressed dolls, bra tops, hoodies, boxer shorts, and a range of novelty “merch” all emblazoned with the Bratz motto, “Passion for fashion.” To accompany those boxer shorts? Why not pair with absolute skyscapers of their Divine heels? I love the crystal ones, because I feel like if you’re going to wear a show with a 16.5cm heel and a 9cm platform – yes, you read that right, almost seventeen centimetres – I feel like you might as well just go all out and bang some pink crystals allllll over those babies.
Platforms are everywhere to say the least. It started out with Versace’s Medusa heels that everyone and their mother tried to buy in a limited black, fuchsia, yellow, and red versions – but due to the overwhelming demand they’ve extended the colourways to baby blue, baby pink, purple, peach, and including some fab knee-high black leather boots into the fray too. Donatella hasn’t stopped there either. With platform wedges in similar colours available for Summer ’22, and a pointed toe version coming in patent black and burgundy for Autumn/Winter, we haven’t seen the last of the Versace platforms yet.
Valentino followed suit with their chunky patent leather platforms (that I caved in and bought in a very chic cream, and they’re continuing on with a strappy, open-toed version for Summer, and in a very special hue of fuchsia pink for Autumn/Winter – also in black, and boot form!
But I digress from shoes, for Blumarine is bringing back the butterfly – a classic Bratz motif (I’m looking at you Yasmin) and a huge motif for the 2000’s. Remember Mariah Carey in that butterfly top, or Salma Hayek in that butterfly dress? Well, Blumarine’s brought them back, with their SS22 range of denim butterfly tops, butterfly belts, butterfly slip-on heels, and low-rise jeans (low-rise jeans! Pray for us) adorned with colourful butterfly embroidery. Ruffled shirts and mini-dresses bring back old memories; shiny silk halterneck tops paired with low-rise denim just prove that Y2K is back, and if you’re not dressing like Sasha (presumably where Beyoncé got the idea of her alter ego from), Cloe (named by someone who definitely did not know how to spell) or Jade (my favourite Bratz and style icon) then you don’t get it.
J.Lo is buying into the trend, as not only is she back engaged to Ben Affleck (totally Bratz-inspired, I’m sure) but she was recently seen out on the town wearing her giant green diamond engagement ring, and a pair of very, very low-rise jeans. Here they come, ladies. Brace yourselves.
Even beauty standards are currently Brat-ified, with big, pouty, glossy lips a staple for gorgeous, gorgeous girls, as well as large, eyeshadowed and eyeliner-flicked cat-eyes à la Bella Hadid with her “face tape” (or just PDO threads) to look as snatched as poss.
Apart from collaborating with GCDS, Cult Gaia even has a collection with Bratz, again pushing the butterfly tops, green snakeskin cut-out dresses, and red cropped jackets with the B for Bratz as a clasp.
In the middle of spending all my money on platform shoes (very pleased that they’re back in again to be honest as a 5’3” queen) I’ll be re-watching that iconic live-action Bratz movie and aspiring to be Janel as Jade as a fashion designer just like I did in 2007 when the movie came out. Because, I? I have that Bratitude, and it’s not an attitude.
Feature image via Wonderland Spring 2022