Fashion through the decade

Hair

The 2010s featured some of the best haircuts of any era. Original Disney stars like Miley Cyrus and Selena Gomez sported long, curly hair, and they rocked side and blunt bangs for the first few years of the decade. But these innocent haircuts soon turned into bob cuts, pixie cuts and undercuts; the long strand of fake feathers they once wore in their hair turned into bleached, dyed and ombre hair. 

Hair during the decade was also defined by Kylie Jenner, who sported different color hair almost every time she was seen in public. Crowd favorites were the pink, silver and green hair. The journey through all the phases of hairdos, wigs and hair colors was well worth it, because with the late 2010s, came an important trend — hair slicked back into a tight ponytail. New, chic and unique, this style embodies the fierce, confident energy women will continue to exude in the 2020s. 

Accessories

The 2010s also marked the decade of extreme accessorizing. The decade’s first notable trend was the knuckle ring, which took up more than half a finger and was highly inefficient to wear.  Part way through the decade, the trend of tiny, chic sunglasses was shaped by Rihanna, Gigi and Bella Hadid and Priyanka Chopra. 

This is when the age of the fanny pack hit (one of the most obnoxious trends of the decade), probably as a result of a lack of accessories for men. Supreme fanny packs, mostly worn across the body with the pouch sitting somewhere on the torso, were used religiously as an extra pocket on a men’s outfit that already had at least four. For better or worse, the sunglasses and fanny pack trends were not short lived, and remain in the new decade with us. 

Shoes

Shoes in the 2010s included ballet flats (early versions of which were worn even in the 1800s), ankle boots and several hundred-dollar sneakers. Kanye West came out with the Yeezy 350s in September 2016 — the shoe that continues to fly off shelves today at prices that can be $300 or more on the resale market. 

Around that same time, white shoes started trending. Being that white sneakers were the biggest trend of the decade, it deservedly got upgrades, which came in the form of Balenciaga and Fila’s super chunky, “dad” sneakers. Considering they were originally dubbed the “dad sneakers” because of their resemblance to the big Nike sneakers dads wore 25 years ago, these were despised by teens when first introduced.

 Another surprising shoe trend came in the form of Crocs. Crocs, which 2000s babies wore regularly 15 years ago, came back as a nostalgic fashion decision among teenagers in the late 2010s. Although their collection of jibbitz (pins put on Crocs) for their Crocs isn’t as large this time around, many teenage athletes — namely swimmers and soccer players — are trying and succeeding in their quest to bring back Crocs among their teammates and peers. Although the trend is highly controversial among fashionistas, the plethora of decade-old memories that Crocs hold make them the best trend to end the decade with.