In the recently watched marketing documentaries, we have observed that one of the strategies to getting information from consumers is hiring correspondents to find trendsetters: people who lead the way in fashion or ideas. They look for unique individuals who they believe will start a new trend that will sooner or later explode in society. As trends constantly change from being “cool” to “uncool”, companies try to predict what will become hot in the near future.
However, we have noticed that certain styles have made a comeback. One of the most prominent examples is the scrunchie comeback. Invented in 1986, they were popular until the early and mid 2000s, where people lost interest and even mocked them. Articles titled “Five Reasons We Hate the Scrunchie” (Bazaar) and similar pieces were written and believed that scrunchies belong in the past. Since then, they have been re-integrated into the latest fashion trends. Scrunchies have appeared on fashion runways, celebrities have accessorized their outfits with them, and they are a critical piece to the “VSCO girl” trend. Why have they returned?
There has been an increase of what some people call “nostalgic culture”. Old TV shows, movie remakes, bands, and in this case, fashion, have cycled back as they have innocence and nostalgic attachment to it.
So when something from the past returns and becomes a major hit in current culture, is it for the nostalgia? Or is there something more?
I think it could be partly nostalgia but it is also the fact that if something is cool and successful during one time period, it could certainly become "cool" again. People can still find trends from the past trendy and possibly want to adopt them because they are unique to their own time period. In the same way as looking forward for trendsetters, you can also look back at trendsetters to see what was "cool" back then and try to pull it off as cool today such as scrunchies, mom jeans, etc.
ReplyDeleteThis is really interesting. Companies are constantly on the look-out for new trends and new ideas of 'cool', but how can you possibly predict the comeback of styles and trends? All of these concepts tie into a book that I read by Malcolm Gladwell, the Tipping Point. It explains how the few individuals that are trendsetters are enough to change the fashion and culture. You don't need a vast number of people. It only takes the bold few to bring back a certain trend or completely reinvent one.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is not unusual for trends to be brought back, and that many companies use trends from history to their advantage. Especially if or when they are desperate, looking back at products that were successful or extremely popular gives them a base to work off of. In fact, many products are just products from history repeated over and over again, but are different versions that are either altered, updated, or more or less the same.
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