Key Takeaways
- Flip telephones, like the long-lasting Motorola Razr, have been a significant development within the early 2000s and have made a comeback due to the recognition of Y2K style and TikTok micro-trends.
- Apple’s AirPods and AirPods Max have develop into style icons, with their smooth, white design and wi-fi performance making them a staple accent for gym-goers, commuters, and younger urbanites.
- Wired headphones are additionally making a comeback as a style assertion, with Gen Z actress Jenna Ortega being named a “Wired It Woman” by Teen Vogue. Regardless of the rise of Bluetooth headphones, wired headphones have develop into a logo of nonchalance and magnificence.
Tech and fashion are powerhouse industries. And whereas any overlap of the 2 industries might sound blurry, expertise and style are inextricably linked, not solely with regards to manufacturing, however of their presentation and cultural influence. From 2000s it-girl Paris Hilton because the face of Motorola’s 2024 Razr to 2016’s Met Gala theme, Manus x Machina: Trend in an Age of Know-how, and even a faux baby covered in computer chips at Paris Trend Week 2024, we discovered seven occasions tech and style crossed wires and cultural boundaries collectively.
1 The flip cellphone is core Y2K aesthetic
And it is coming again
Arguably, the early 2000s marked the period when tech went from clunky to pocketable — ushered in by the long-lasting flip cellphone. With a easy clamshell design, a number of keys, and no digicam, the flip-phone reigned lengthy earlier than the smartphone. And whereas smartphones might rule in performance, they are not almost as enjoyable or modern. Notably, the queen of clunky belts and clutch purses, Paris Hilton, was a significant a part of the Motorola Razr launch in 2004, and from there, flip telephones appeared to develop into an iconic tween and teenage lady accent.
In 2020, the rise of TikTok made dances, Y2K style traits, and content material creation a viral sensation. With the unfold of “micro-trends,” Y2K style, like low-rise denims, brilliant colours, metallic supplies, and baguette luggage, and sure, flip telephones have been all “in” once more. Large names within the tech trade adopted go well with. Samsung and Motorola launched the Flip and Rar+ collection, respectively.
Whereas Samsung’s Flip, debuting in 2020, was probably in manufacturing properly earlier than Y2K style made its massive comeback, the next releases of the flip focused content material creators in search of performance that complemented their general Y2K aesthetic. Samsung even partnered with Euphoria star, Sydney Sweeney, to advertise the Flip 5.
Modern flip phones aren’t the dumb flip phone Gen Z is nostalgic for
Gen Z is not answering the smartphone trade’s name to make retro tech good.
2 AirPods and the “cut-off” earbuds look
The stems weren’t for everybody
Pocket-lint
Apple has a model loyalty like no different, one which many style manufacturers — from luxurious homes to malls — try for. This excessive loyalty is especially evident with regards to iPhones, but additionally, Apple’s in-ear buds. As soon as critiqued by techies and fashion-lovers alike for trying like “cut off headphones“, Apple’s AirPods and their stems have now achieved icon standing and at the moment grace the ears of gymnasium rats, commuters, travelers, and professionals alike.
Strolling round and residing in an enormous metropolitan space like New York Metropolis, it is exhausting to not see everybody has AirPods hanging out of their ears.
By all three iterations, after which for the previous two Professional generations, the AirPods have solely been rising in reputation, probably on account of their smooth, white look that does not conflict with any outfit. They’ve develop into a streetwear staple.
I replaced my AirPods Max with these $9 Temu headphones, and here’s how it went
It won’t be a direct comparability, however Temu knock-offs held their very own in look and efficiency. And so they even beat AirPods in a single essential space.
3 Over-ears are in all places
Gen Z’s unofficial uniform
Renee Rapp through Instagram
Apple’s in-ear buds aren’t the one style sensation proper now, however its over-ear AirPods Max have all of a sudden develop into a part of Gen Z’s unofficial “uniform.” In late 2023, a TikTok development even went viral exhibiting customers how they may “gown like they have been from New York’s Decrease East Facet” to realize a cool aesthetic.
The AirPods Max themselves do have a really futuristic look with their stainless-steel end and mesh headband and even paved the best way for all-over-ear headphones to be en vogue, particularly for younger people residing in cities.
4 Wired headphones say ‘I am unable to be bothered’
Jenna Ortega is our Wired It Woman
Pocket-lint
Earlier than Bluetooth, there have been wired headphones, and just like the flip cellphone, they’re making a comeback. Wired headphones themselves did not provide a contemporary take or added performance. They merely simply grew to become a “look.” Gen Z Wednesday actress Jenna Ortega was even deemed a “Wired It Girl” by Teen Vogue alongside different celebrities like Bella Hadid, a lot of whom seemingly forecasted the wired headphone development all the best way again in 2019.
I went back to wired headphones in 2024, and here’s how it went
Whereas wired headphones have been largely changed by Bluetooth over or in-ears, I nonetheless suppose they’re the unsung heroes of music and audio.
Whereas in no way essentially the most sensible resolution, the return of wired headphones is maybe an much more pronounced method of signaling to onlookers you can’t be bothered, particularly now that Bluetooth headphones have develop into much more refined.
5 Smartwatches are greater than timepieces
Well being-tracking mini computer systems
Hermes/ Apple
Apple, Fitbit, Google, and Garmin are only a few of the massive names which have revolutionized what was an adjunct and made it right into a health-tracking mini laptop we put on on our wrists. Nevertheless good, these watches and trackers have been at the start a cultured, and will I even say, timeless style staple. Whereas there could also be some argument over whether or not smartwatches look as good as they carry out, massive identify designers and attire manufacturers like Hermes, Nike, and Fossil have all partnered with tech manufacturers to make aesthetic timepieces.
Best Apple Watch bands: Top straps for every model and activity
Customizing your Apple Watch goes past the software program. Full your wrist wearable with comfy, fashionable, and budget-friendly bands.
Moreover, jewellery manufacturers like Michele, Kate Spade, and Gorjana have all made bracelet-like bands to pair with good gadgets. There are numerous third-party manufacturers and boutiques on Amazon and Etsy that make distinctive bands to additional type wrist health trackers.
6 Good glasses get a lift from massive manufacturers
Ray-Ban type
Particularly for my era, seeing good glasses on the cabinets makes us really feel like Cookie from Nickelodeon’s Ned’s Declassified College Survival Information succeeded in creating the proper prototype (if you already know, you already know). Whereas good glasses will not be fully as much as par with how scorching smartwatches have been at their debut, massive identify manufacturers like Ray Ban and Carrera are partnering with Meta and Amazon, respectively, to create good glasses that seem like an adjunct with added smarts reasonably than a clunky eyesore.
Once we examined Meta’s Ray-Ban good glasses, we thought they regarded nice, and with the brand new Wayfair body type, regarded fashionable even other than its audio and visible capabilities.
7 Robotic style
Schiaperelli through Instagram
In a world full of ChatGPT and the discharge of the presumably transformative Apple Vision Pro VR headset, it comes as no shock that helmets, metallic supplies, physique armor, and even bodily robots have entered the style chat (and purple carpet).
Gigi and Zayn on the 2016 Met Gala
On the tech-themed 2016 Met Gala, for instance, former it-couple mannequin Gigi Hadid and ex-One Path member Zayn Malik regarded like a shocking robotic couple. Malik, whereas in any other case in a easy Versace go well with, embellished the clean-cut look with silver robotic arms across the sleeves.
Equally, Hadid’s silver and sheer Tommy Hilfiger gown by itself appeared like a extra refined nod to the theme, however paired with the lengthy metallic rings on her fingers, the couple’s fingers undoubtedly gave homage to a terminator-like period. Maybe it was a social commentary on how, with the age of smartphones, our fingers are turning into an extension of expertise — and our expertise, even an extension of us.
Schiaparelli’s bejeweled robotic child
I am certain you’ll have recycled previous expertise like an iPod, MP3 player, and even vinyl, however Schiaparelli’s inventive director, Daniel Roseberry, transformed pre-2007 style in an ultra-unique method throughout this 12 months’s Paris Trend Week. Showstopping the carpet, a mannequin in all white garments with solely a pop of beautiful emerald earrings carried a fake child lined in previous motherboards, flip telephones, CDs, wires, and calculators in a maternal method.
As to what impressed this nostalgia-studded and surprising show, Roseberry claims it is a inventive response to a viral development. “Lots of people on TikTok have been taking AI and turning my collections into digital collections and seeing who wore it greatest, so I used to be considering, the one card I’ve to play now could be actually my reminiscences,” Roseberry stated in an interview with WWD.
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