This macarrism of good vibes has TikTok as its epicenter. The arsenal of dances, tutorials and user memes revisiting the exciting aesthetic culture of the turn of the millennium seems endless. But what matters here are the clicks, and the platform has driven a spectacular 195% increase in searches for baggy jeans or crop tops linked to the hashtag #TikTokFashion. Each generation decides which period it prefers to reappropriate and it is clear that the connoisseurs of the app now only claim the ultra-low waist in a meaningless goodbye to skinny pants.

This change of third responds, on the one hand, to wanting to maintain the comfort and ease of the garments after months of confinement and, on the other, to return to social life in a transgressive way, with a firm step and positivity. The virtual Y2K fever (read 'the 2000s') has also affected real life globally. If the mass market firms were already offering options to create this controversial mix for a couple of seasons, it is because the greats of the industry had put them on the catwalk in advance.

Céline Homme gave us a spring full of subtle traditionally tacky details and this winter she maintains wide cuts, flared hems, costume jewellery, synthetic fur coats and she has even signed up for the 24/7 white sock moment. Miuccia Prada, undisputed queen of the trend, is another who dances in a winter full of silhouettes of that time, t-shirts with tattoo graphics and ultra-bright colors.

An “escalation to optimism”, as the Italian and Raf Simons described their joint proposal to the sound of techno and the same daring and self-assurance of those (wonderful?) years. Everything fits, given the professional career of the co-creative director of the Italian house since 2020, so pioneering in bakaladero codes that many lifestyle brands have had his influence to relaunch presumably vulgar pieces. The reissue of the 2013 Adidas Ozweego is the Belgian's fault, for example. To the question of how a horrible current can succeed, which neither favors nor brings elegance, the answer is found right there, in that the absence of class and distinction carries a nostalgic charm. Conclusion: ugly wins the game because we end up liking it. We look at it, we criticize it, we try it on... and we end up validating it.

Long live the tacky bowling alley... Of course, with euros in the account

Perhaps the fact that the most handsome put it on first has an influence and, of course, the eye becomes vitiated. Bella Hadid has been determined for months to show a piggy bank with the waistband of the thong over miniskirts at her hips. Stars like Dua Lipa, Zoë Kravitz, Rihanna or the world influencer Chiara Ferragni follow her closely. In the male order, Justin Bieber, Fedez (Ferragni's husband) or our national talent C. Tangana cause a furor with chains, open bibs and makineras sports. Long live the tacky bowling alley... yes, with euros in the account.

Most luxury creators collapse the closets of these current urban jinchos. Balenciaga, Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, Louis Vuitton or Jonathan W. Anderson give good proof that the stellar youth of David and Victoria Beckham can be revisited with dignity.

And in the end, all this revival of horrible clothes is going to be the fault of love. Or romance, which is much better. Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston, Gisele Bündchen and Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, Jennifer Lopez and Puff Daddy. Iconic, ephemeral, perfect couples that gave us exciting fashion moments. They invented the matchy-matchy concept. Their sentimental bustles transferred to the aesthetic plane, even going as far as to coordinate their clothes to the millimeter to attend any social act together. It was the year 2002 when Britney Spears consolidated America's girlfriend.

Her relationship with Justin Timberlake took place in parallel. They only lasted about four years, a period long enough to hate and love at the same time every fashion code they publicly bet on. It was on the red carpet of the American Music Awards in 2001. That appearance of the couple, both in a total jean look, still hurts the eyes, but outlines a smile. The coolest couple in music considered that putting on the fabric in question would be brutal. There was denim there even to line her handbag and his cowboy hat. An absolute painting that, paradoxically, continues in our memories as one of the most brilliant images of the star system. As a curiosity, Katy Perry herself was kind enough to copy the outfit in 2014 to pay tribute to the lovebirds.

The good news is that in Spain we received that cannalism cured of horror. At the turn of the millennium, the mythical bakalao route was experiencing its decline, but 15 years of chonis and bakalas parading through the nightlife of Valencia had left a good trace of destruction in the collective imagination. We were already crazy about Enrique Iglesias (a true paradigm of bakala, by the way), Kanye West and trance music, but we discovered The Libertines, Kings of Leon, Arctic Monkeys or Coldplay, while compulsively consuming episodes of Friends and Sex in New York.

The 2000s left us with looks that were as hard to assimilate as they were impossible to forget

A cocktail of references that, although it softened the tacky setback a bit, failed to completely neutralize it, and thank goodness, because our historical archive of outfits would be too boring and because currently we would lack the blessed tacky inspiration. It seems that it is time to tear your clothes off in a literal sense.

The broken, the faded, the navels almost in the air and a colorful party return. When the renowned Pantone officially selected Illuminating Yellow as the color of 2021, she was giving us clues in the popular saying format: “There is no field without crickets, nor tackiness without yellow”.