While decades past have hit the gate running in their definition of the styles of the moment, it’s of no news to anyone that the twenties have gotten off to something of an indulgently nostalgic start. Perhaps we can’t keep up with our constant quest for the new, so have endeavoured to wind back the clocks, or maybe it’s our way of coping with the totally polarised political climate and prospect of global annihilation we face in the threat of another World War? 

Either way, this season made it abundantly clear that we’re not quite ready to move on from the revival of Y2K style, just yet. From mini-skirts just a millimetre shorter than the kind of belts Jodie Marsh made famous in the noughties, to double denim and slinky party dresses that would’ve made the it-girls of the early 00s frontpage news, here are the most noughtified shows we saw this season.

Off-White
Y2K folklore is all about tabloid gossip and iconic celebrity moments – and it doesn’t get more iconic than hosting one of the most sprawling casts of supermodels and famous faces ever to walk the runway. This is the legacy left by Virgil Abloh, whose final offering for his Off-White label drew in the likes of Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Joan Smalls, Serena Williams, Honey Dijon, Amber Valletta and the Hadid sisters, to name a few. Some carried slinky handbags embroidered with weed leaves, while others were clad in glittery LBD’s (Tulisa Contostavlos style) and large, sequined snapbacks in a glamorous and touching tribute to the late trailblazer.  

Connor Ives
Raised on a visual diet of Disney Channel Original Movies and America’s Next Top Model, Connor Ives’ FW22 collection exists inside the vacuum of a late-aughts high school. Taking inspiration from his own coming of age, its students, taking on a slew of pop-cultural archetypes such as The Editor (Anna Wintour) and The Carmen Miranda Rave Girl, rock up to class in low-slung denim with extreme raw hems, gathered slogan dresses that revoke work in the name of Euphoria’s Maddy Perez, and bandana halter tops that bear mid-riffs and sheeny, glittering skin. The Ives woman might love Swarovski crystals and bias-cut satin, but it’s herself she loves most of all.

Blumarine
Nicola Brognano’s FW22 collection for Blumarine is quintessential to our understanding of the Y2K revival. Bridging the gap between the futuristic optimism of the pre-90s, with the ‘trashy’ style staples of the mid-00s – aka the Mc-Bling era – Blumarine settles happily in the middle of this spectrum, grinning from ear to ear with its frilly pink miniskirts and shiny butterfly motifs. Brognano uses the era’s prevailing currency: sex, as a launch board for his youthful and wholly indulgent creations, giving us pearl-draped gowns, angular leather jackets in ornate pastel purples, and enough colourful velvet to upholster all the seats in London’s most revered Instagram-eatery, sketch.

Acne Studios
Slouchy, skin-bearing knits? Check. An array of patchwork denim that forms jeans with gargantuan wide legs and gowns that would give Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake a run for their money? Double-check. What about an array of tiny purses, rimless sunglasses and statement bling to catch the attention of the paparazzi? Acne Studios FW22 show had all of this and more, blending the specific style codes of the decade into a uniform of thick outerwear and unusually lengthy wool accessories. We can’t stay in the past forever, but with a little editing, it can settle down in the future with us just fine.

Miu Miu
If you need any proof that Y2K style is truly here to stay, the formidable spirit of the Miu Miu mini-skirt (and FW22 booty short) is undoubtedly it. Seen on red carpets and magazine covers, this raw-hemmed masterpiece with it’s beige pleats and exposed pocket linings symbolises the hedonistic and totally liberated spirit of 00s fashion. I mean, the 2000s were the age of ¾ length tracksuit bottoms and feather boas worn outside of movie premieres, the seriousness of power dressing just doesn’t ring true here. Miuccia’s girls just want to have fun (and double-belted waistbands), so fun they will have.

Poster Girl
If you want to go there, BFF-designer duo Francesca Capper and Natasha Somerville’s party brand, Poster Girl, is basically the modern-day Juicy Couture, complete with the uber-cool styles, all-encompassing vision and a wildly playful spirit that permeates each accessory and heart-shaped cutout. This season, the two took their picture-perfect party dresses and unbuttonable latex leggings to the slopes. Colours were recognisably bright in green chainmail, hot-pink thigh-warmers and orange faux-fur trims, with such club-ready looks pairing off with iridescent catsuits and reflective cargo pants. We’re sure we could survive another Ice Age if we had fits like these to see us through…

Diesel
Glenn Martens‘ sordid world of Trompe L’oeil denim catsuits and stretchy crop-tops are about as Y2K as fashion gets. The Y/Project designer’s Diesel debut for FW22 didn’t just tap into the era’s ‘go big or go home’ spirit, replayed in the modern-day through fashion archive accounts and dogeared tabloids, it shredded it up into acidic, chunky faux-furs, turned it iridescent via space-age minidresses and alien bodies and bedazzled it onto garish belt buckles. Endeavouring to bring fun back to fashion, consider his mock-corset prints and mouthwatering belt skirts as a gateway to the sacred and oh-so-explicit glory days of celebrity culture.

Isabel Marant
Picture the world of the 2000s Video Vixen, with it’s bright spotlights, curvaceous sports cars and high power wind machines. As a speaker blares, shaking the room each time the bass drops, maybe she’ll command the camera in a strappy gunmetal bikini. Too cold? Try those layered silver jackets, or maybe those holographic Capri’s, synonymous with a certain kind of sun-kissed leisure that always takes place on a yacht. In the next scene, she’s the picture of refinement in a denim midi-skirt or a pair of floor-length jeans covered head-to-toe in bedazzled jewels, hanging on the arm of a model whose sheeny tracksuit would make a pastel-loving Ali G just about keel over. That was the magic of Isabel Marant’s unsuspectingly aughts FW22 collection, which saw the designer bring a penchant for colour and exposed mid-riffs to the casually sporty world of an American rap video.