Fashion Trends That Should Be Left In 2020

2020. Where do we start with you, 2020? Should we start with the biggest civil rights movement since THE civil rights movement? No, that’s too, as some highly intelligent, civilized, and totally, not at all, can’t possibly be racist folks would put it, “divisive“. Shall we begin with the most intense, high-stakes presidential election since.....well, ever? No. Also too “divisive”. Should we talk about the highly deadly, and badly handled, pandemic that has killed more Americans than combat has U.S soldiers in WWII? Total vibe killer. In all seriousness, 2020 has a truly awful year for an really inordinate amount of people. Nearly all lines of work and forms of culture have taken massive hits as a result of COVID-19, the music, medical, and film industries chief among them. Another field that has suffered a severe loss in capital is fashion. The fashion industry has lost hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue, and countless iconic retailers have been forced to file for bankruptcy and close stores across the world. Also suffering, apparently, is the quality and taste of the trends shoved down our throats. While I wouldn’t call last year a crapshoot in terms of nice trends, I have also seen some of the most perplexing and strangest trends I’ve ever seen in my brief, 20 year existence. The perplexing, strange, and just plain unattractive fashion is what I’m here to talk about, because if we can’t agree that an literal white supremacist shouldn’t ever be allowed a term in the highest office in the world, if we can’t agree that men shouldn’t be pinned to the pavement and smothered to death because of counterfeit $20 bills or dare I say it, because of race/skin color, if we can’t even agree that wearing masks to combat an airborne virus is smart, we can at least laugh at the stupidest, most mind-boggling fashion choices that was born out of this year and agree that NOBODY should ever waste their money on them. Right? Right?

We’ll start the discussion with.....

I may only be 20 years old, but even I was old enough to remember when people used to make fun of each other because of holes in their clothing. It makes sense: a hole is indicative of something literally being worn out and you not having any money to replace it. Now people are shelling out hundreds to thousands for leg wear that looks like it needs to be thrown in the garbage? Not to mention that it’s probably way easier to damage than normal jeans, leggings, or stockings. Then again, I guess one wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.

Some trends have seen revivals of sorts after reaching their peaks at a previous time in history. Tie dye, for example, has seen some backlash because of the oversaturation from the TikTok side of the internet, but I personally don’t have any problem with it. There are some trends, however, that I don’t believe should have ever been in style in the first place. Fanny packs is one of those trends. Goodness gracious, these things are so ugly, especially if a man is wearing one. I have seen people walking on the street with their whole chest out wearing fanny packs, and not once have I never ever thought it was attractive. And then people have the audacity to throw it over their shoulder and wear it across their chest like it’s a book bag or something.

You’re supposed to stop wearing backpacks after you graduate school. When are you supposed to stop doing this? I don’t think folks should have been doing this in the first place, but apparently this is also a divisive issue. I don’t care about how convenient they’re supposed to be; they look incredibly stupid, and if fanny packs could die and be dead forever, I’d greatly appreciate it.

Now, I’m not a woman and will never pretend to be. There are, admittedly, many things I don’t understand about women. Such as their love/hate relationship with stilettos. Heels are almost universally hated by women, and yet, they can’t stop wearing them. Heels are essentially a right of passage for girls growing up into women, and can be looked at as your older sibling’s irritating hoodie that you know you’re going to get as soon as they grow out of it. The gripes are very well known about at this point: the pointed front of the shoe pins the toes painfully close together, and it’s very easy to twist an ankle if the wearer has no grace. Kitten heels were designed as an more comfortable alternative, but the thing is that it doesn’t actually seem to be anymore easier to wear than normal heels. For one, the pointed toe is still there, so there’s that. Also, wouldn‘t the stubbiness of the stiletto make it easier to roll an ankle and hurt yourself due to the lack of support? I don’t understand, but maybe I’m not meant to. I’m just thankful I never have to try to stick my foot in a heel, and especially not those ones.

I mean.........what am I even supposed to say about this? At least two of the last three entries seem to have been created from practicality reasons. I have nothing good to say about ripped pants, but fanny packs, as utterly goofy as they look, has one argument going for it, and that’s extra carrying space. Kitten heels also have a lot of supporters, but this? What are you even supposed to put in this thing? Can you EVEN put ANYTHING in this.... I don’t even feel comfortable calling it a purse, because it completely defeats the purpose of why purses were created. You can’t carry anything in it. It’s basically just a really expensive toy, like something that would come with a Barbie doll set; Oh yeah, right, it is very expensive. This “handbags” can go anywhere from $260 to nearly $800. With support like this, who needs pockets? Or wallets? Or a real purse?

I wish this challenge wasn’t limited to fashion, because I have some serious issues with how our society is turning out. There are a lot of general culture trends that have made me question my purpose on this planet, but fashion has always been easy for me to laugh at. I always laughed at the latest ugly designer that rappers waste all their money on, and winced at how much people treated BAPE and Supreme as if it was the second coming of Jesus. I enjoyed writing this, because we all need a laugh, and more importantly, we all need to learn how to laugh together. But more than anything else, we need to learn to stop buying goofy fashion.