Nostalgia in Novelty

By Deputy Editor-in-Chief Tiernán Berhe Ó Ruairc

Novelty is what keeps life exciting, whether you’re an adrenaline junkie who must try more and more daring tricks or reach further and further into the unknown. Novelty is what pushes people to travel and try new things. That being said, in recent years people of my own age, Gen Z or people born between 1997 and mid to late 2010’s, have begun to look back. Aside from any political reasons to revise our past behaviours and actions, our generation has led the way to Noughties Nostalgia.This includes low rise jeans and the digital camera.

These things acknowledge our youth, however in many cases we were too young to remember, so these fashion trends are a novelty to most twenty-something year olds who embrace them. This is not a new trend, the use of the past for new and novel experiences is as old as the Romans, who once copied classical Athens e

Twelve hundred years later an Italian architect named Andrea Palladio would lead the way in the classical revival we now call Palladianism which stood as a testament to the joy of nostalgia for the upper classes of sixteenth century Europe. The Palladian revival represents our own generation's desire to take fashion inspiration from the past, which is a desire for an idea of the past's simplicity, a time when everything seemed simpler even if it wasn’t.

While we have not reached this point yet, the revival of Palladianism led to the greatest era of architecture in the Neoclassical style. While the idea of finding comfort in the past and allowing it to shift into something new and wonderful is something that shouldn’t be discouraged completely, a common thread in this evolution is its links with the upper classes of this world. While the roots of Palladianism and its evolution into Neoclassicism were the elites, our current societal structure means that it is in fact the middle class who are leading the way in this revival of the noughties and earlier fashion trends. This is evident in this trend's price tags for pieces meant to replicate earlier trends being extortionate in an attempt to make the new trend of low rise and miniskirts high end.

The issue doesn't end with new pieces on sale, even thrifting culture that has emerged recently has been co opted by the middle class causing what was once a niche market for both the working class and a peculiar set of ‘artsy’ folks, but recent efforts by the, middle class have forced the markets original target consumers out of the market.

In the world of sports the desire to experience nostalgia for this current generation has manifested in the enjoyment of past matches on youtube and the new found love for classic players like Charlie Gallagher (who played football for Cootehill Celtic GAA and Cavan GAA) and Tom Kiernan (who played full-back for Cork Con, UCC, Munster and Irish Rugby). This love for the past of the games has seen the rise in belief of true athleticism when sports like the GAA were truly amateur. From a fashion perspective this has resulted in the joy of buying retro jerseys not just actual 2005 British and Irish Lions jerseys but this trend has forced manufacturers to reproduce kits. For example Canterbury of New Zealand 2005 home IRFU jersey and most Premier League clubs have a retro range available now. Making retro styles get another run out in nightclubs leading to a strange new aesthetic on a Friday night in the club. Overall this is a trend that I like many others I do not begrudge, but the price of these pieces whether first hand or thrifted have become an issue and speak to a larger, social issue with fashion in our society which seeks to gate keep style for a certain few.