While visiting family overseas in Europe this summer, I fortunately had the chance to take note of some of the hottest trends that I encountered. There are many minor trends not mentioned of course, but I thought I would write about a few that really stood out to me.
1. Gaucho pants
My elementary school outfit basically consisted of gaucho pants and a Happy Bunny™ t-shirt, so seeing this trend come back from the mid-2000’s grave made me skeptical. Thankfully, this style is much more fashionable than I remember and is ideal for Florida weather because of its flowy, wide-legged shaped. I actually bought a jumpsuit overseas featuring the gaucho style and it is now one of my favorite pieces in my wardrobe. The gaucho pants pictured above, from Forever 21, is a great basic piece to add to your closet.
2. Embroidery
The embroidery trend made a strong (debut) earlier this year and is still going (strong) well-into the fall season. While in Europe, I saw embroidery everywhere; jeans, sneakers, shirts, even bralettes. I absolutely love little details like this and I even bought a purse at Stradivarius with colorful embroidery on it. I consider this a trend that is extremely wearable for almost any occasion; a good embroidered article of clothing or accessory can make your outfit look polished and tasteful. (Fun fact: I actually have the backpack featured above but in the color white, from the store Stradivarius!)
3. Lace-up corset belts
I first saw this trend commercially in a H&M store in Athens, Greece. While the item made its debut this year on the spring runway for designers such as Stella McCartney, stores seem to now be mass-producing the product. (This is pretty much how all fashion works though.) This shirt above from H&M already has a corset belt, so you would be good-to-go for this trend.
4. Mom jeans
Ah, mom jeans. I’m still a bit indifferent to how they look because I don’t really like the shape it gives me personally, but I’ve seen some girls on the street really rock this trend. This is yet again another 90’s revival trend making its way back into the fashion scene. Mom jeans, in my opinion, are best paired with a crop top or a graphic t-shirt because it really ties the whole 90’s theme together. These mom jeans from Urban Outfitters are a good way to start your collection.
5. Fashion sneakers
Almost every European clothing store I walked into sold some type of sneaker that catered to a more fashionable crowd. Many of the fashion sneakers I saw had some form of embroidery on them, tying back to the embroidery trend that I mentioned before. These sneakers are more fashion than function, and while you probably can’t run too far in them they sure are cute! Pull&Bear had some great fashion sneakers this summer, like the one pictured above.
6. Cord hair ties
Over the past few weeks I’ve seen this trend slowly making its way back into American street fashion, but overseas almost everyone had a cord hair tie on their wrist. This hair trend features basically a hair tie that is shaped like the cord you would find on a traditional corded telephone, such as the set above from Forever 21. I’ve tried it out, and it surprisingly doesn’t tangle hair despite what you would think by looking at it. I consider this another 90’s revival item.
Overall, I consider this summer to be a “blast from the past” in terms of trends. From corded hair ties to gaucho pants, we are definitely seeing a regression to previous fashion styles, which isn’t always a bad thing. “Everything old is new again,” for sure!