The Y2K revival in Bollywood: how 2000s film fashion came back as Gen Z nostalgia.

 

You know what Gen Z is wearing right now? It's those loose low waist jeans with the chunky buckle belts, Baby tees and those butterfly clips. Which if you remember is the simple definition of 2000’s Bollywood look. Not as a costume but more like a daily uniform. The generation that wasn’t even watching these films on release adopted the fashion book of all these films and somehow Bollywood has become their style guide. I find that kind of beautiful, honestly.

 

 Homesick for a decade they've only seen through screens.

 

                  

 

Fashion always comes back because it is a cycle roughly every two decades everything returns. But it's not just about clothes coming back. For these kids, the 2000s feels somewhat emotional…it’s a world that existed before everyone was online all the time. Slower and less Performative. When they watch the cult classic movies of that decade like K3G, Dhoom and Kal Ho Na Ho, it’s not just a movie, it's a carefree window that opens up for them.

 

 But something I love the most about GenZ in this context is that nobody is recreating a 2003 Dhoom Hrithik Roshan outfit head to toe. It's more like they've taken the language of it. One Knee-slashed flared jeans, some converse sneakers and one good scarf and that is it, that's the vibe of it. And GenZ girls throw on a pair of low-rise jeans, an oversized blazer on top and suddenly it all makes sense. It's nice and smart with an old bolly touch to it. For example lets take a few actresses from that time: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan or Priety Zinta. Those bright skirts, frilly tops, and playful accessories weren't just outfits they carried a certain optimism. And in today's sea of beige and minimalism that optimism feels surprisingly radical.

 

And surprisingly it is the kids from this generation that have decided all of this. There is no designer at top who has made this trend, It is the creators, influencers and the algorithm that shaped this wild bit. Somebody posts an outfit check reel in one city and a few days later it’s everywhere. All those old films which are on DVDs in some dusty old shelf in our houses have suddenly become screenshottable and remixable. There's a certain charm in that contradiction. They miss a time they never lived in, and they reconnect with it through clothes that have already been lived in.What I mean by this is because the manufacturing for such clothes are barely there anymore GenZ now thrifts clothes and gets second hand clothes to wear the style…so it is more conscious than the era it actually came from.Which is kind of ironic if you think about it.

 

So, fashion never dies does it? It was just waiting for a generation that wanted a bit more colour, a bit more character, pure nostalgia. And the best thing is they did not just find it they made it their own. Which is the thing about the best trends: you don't really invent them. You just remember them, and then you make them yours.

 

 -Devangshu Purohit