Nostalgia was a major fashion trend in 2019, as heritage brands looked to their pasts to capitalize on decades of design and offer up authentically retro pieces for shoppers.
It started in January, when the sports-oriented menswear label Perry Ellis launched the second drop of its “Perry Ellis America” capsule collection, paying homage to the sub-label of the same name that the brand first launched in 1984 with Levi’s.
The five-piece series was the second installment in an archival remix that saw it update and reimagine nylon tracksuits, washed denim and other pieces with a vibrant red, black, white and grey color palette and classic logos.
In April, Tommy Hilfiger got in on the act, adapting its vintage 1986 “Tommy Jeans Coca-Cola” collaboration for a modern audience. The designer tweaked the original pieces to display a new logo fusing both the iconic Coca-Cola and Tommy Jeans symbols, but kept the all-American vibe of the original collection, riffing on a color palette of royal blues, reds, whites and yellows.
The same month saw American fashion label Guess roll out “#GUESSVintage”, which involved more than 150 authenticated vintage pieces sourced from all over the world and sold exclusively at the Los Angeles retailer Fred Segal.
Gap marked its 50th anniversary over the summer with a “Denim through Decades” collection of revamped styles from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, and a “1969 Premium collection” of elevated pieces.
Target celebrated 20 years of high-end designer collaborations by re-releasing items designed with Missoni, Anna Sui, Rodarte, Jason Wu and more over the years, while Coach honored its roots with a New York Fashion Week pop-up called “The Coach Originals.” And this month, the ’90s streetwear label DKNY Tech announced it was making a comeback, launching a new collection inspired by archival pieces exclusively at Urban Outfitters.
Whatever the reasons behind the throwback fashion trend, the appetite for retro fashion ties in neatly with some of the major trends seen on the catwalks this year, such as 1990s streetwear, 1980s denim and 1970s color palettes. Will 2020 see fashion continue to channel the good old days? IB/JB
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