Jan 16, 2026
3 min read
Nowadays, you have probably found pictures of your 10-year-younger friends on the Internet.Surely you have even surprised yourself when you search in the Instagram archive or in your 2016 files on your PC to check if it is true that you have changed a lot.After a decade, the answer is clearly yes, but there is one consolation: you can still dress like you did then, if you dare.
Two weeks into the new year, and what started as a crazy viral internet trend is becoming a welcome demand: 2026 is the new 2016.An avalanche of memories, photos, videos and musings looking back over a decade flooded Instagram and the major social media platforms.A wave shared mostly by millennials, as Gen Z was still in its infancy at the time.
"Years ago", "when everything was simple", "before the world went crazy", "when the Internet seemed fun" ... these are some phrases that capture the inspiring feelings that nostalgia always creates, and although in many ways it is fair, it is still not fair to romanticize 2016. Even then there was political tension, there were social changes, and the world changed. But looking from 2026, it is considered the last great moment before the permanent chaos: before the pandemic, before the daily hyperpoliticization, before the algorithmsIdentify every last sign of our digital identity.
It was the year of Brexit, Donald Trump's first victory in the US presidential election and the worsening migrant crisis in Europe.However, it was also the year of Tumblr, Snapchat, View Anti and Rihanna's Drake, Pokemon Go, chokers and pink filters, first wines and viral memes, Coachella, Lollapalooza ...
Nostalgia is a strong emotional anchor and an incomparable emotional regulator in difficult times, and if we remember well where we were ten years ago, we will surely remember how we were dressed.
2016 is an important transition period.Many of the trends that are exploding today are the structural basis of how we dress.Suits have reached the top and laid the foundation for what we call sports today.Streetwear has ceased to be a subculture and has become a dominant language and luxury has allowed itself to be strangely recognizable and emotional.Gucci Princetown Horsebit's success, for example, predicted (moccasins with mane on the heel) a re-creation of the classic shoes we encounter today, where loafers are a favorite item that has been recreated in a thousand ways.
However, it is clear that there are some items of clothing that have remained completely associated with this leap year.The most important thing?One of the most tortured pieces in history, the fear of the modern, the prison that scarred every muscle... or lack thereof: skinny pants.Yes, the world is better with a certain amount of looseness from the waist down, but this editor will always defend the certain dignity of a garment we don't know how to wear.Punks, rockers and skaters don't give up this fight and often present looks with more personality than most fashionistas on duty.
Does this mean skinny jeans will make a comeback in 2026?Don't dare, but the pendulum is beginning to stabilize.And after all these years, these pants are super loose.We are starting to see a shift towards a cleaner fit.Clearer legsand tighter pantsCreative use of leggings for experimental layered looksTake a look at Balenciaga's latest 2026 collection, which is an important sign of changing proportions.
Bomber's bam's bamboo is the first to earn a little more than the first, which is not the mark to see him.and reduction ...) and simple and frame range and wet and pavement and the end is a good pile).
Denim Denim has been with us for a while, but in 2016 it found its golden age.Famous and globally growing brands like Pull & Bear have put jeans at the center of their collections, Rihanna and Kanye West haven't stopped choosing jeans for everything (designers like Hedi Slimane alongside Saint Laurent). Needless to say, jeans are still going strong ten years later with different washes, cuts, cuts and more.
If 2016 has learned anything, it's that fear of color is optional.From fluorescent sweatshirts to multi-colored sneakers, the saturated palette became a recurring visual language, and cobalt blue is a key reference.How can you not embrace the rainbow in full effect of Instagram filters?Clarendon was the most popular and contained the finer points of increased contrast and saturation.In 2026, moderation and neutral colors are slowly reaching the point of exhaustion, and a growing interest is expected to return to that playful maximalism.
Finally, an accessory that we also save from that time is the baseball cap, available in all brands such as Supreme and New Era.If it is more related to urban or sports aesthetics, today we can see it in a comfortable look, like a dress.Personalities like Bad Bunny do not hesitate to play this game of contrast, and the big houses present new models with a subtle key and a renewed fashion.
Now it's gray (but black) and we dress accordingly: quiet comfort, simplicity, modular style, almost ascetic practical fashion... Without falling into excessive baroque, and given that 2016 was not the end of extremes abroad, the new year's outbreak of homesickness seems to have sparked the fusion of free behavior and nature more than the return to organicism. Algorithms and life seemed less stressful.Except for cigarettes, of course.
