Every 2013 trend that's making a comeback

It is said that fashion is cyclical, repeating every twenty years. This theory has its roots in 1937 with the first publication of the Laver's Law in the book Taste and Fashion. According to the English art critic and museum curator James Laver, consumers' perception of fashion trends alternates with fixed timing. Laver argued that a trend would be seen as indecent ten years before, as smart during its heyday, and as romantic a century later. If reproduced ten years after its initial appearance, Laver explained, it was commonly recognized as hideous. Laver's Theory, though rigid, has proven to be true in most cases (in 2023, each of us cringes at the thought of wearing skinny jeans with cuffs or Galaxy-print leggings), but today the pace of trend production has undergone a general reassessment. Partly because designers are finding inspiration for their collections in the most intimate moments of their lives, including their youth, and partly due to the passion for vintage among the new generations. From post-ironic style, which revives disappeared trends and playfully presents them, to the increasing attention consumers pay to personal style, everything goes in fashion now, even trends from ten years ago. We didn't expect to be talking about skinny jeans and lace inserts so soon, and yet they are already back on the runway.

So, here are five trends from 2013 that are making a comeback.

Turquoise

Prada FW14

Acne Studios FW14

Zac Posen SS13

Gucci SS13

Versace Menswear SS13

Bottega Veneta SS24

Simone Rocha SS23

Prada FW23

Fendi SS24

A year after the actual launch of Instagram (the app was released for all devices in April 2012), the platform's feed mainly consisted of super-saturated 1:1 photographs. Perhaps the result of users needing colorful subjects to post on their pages, creations in marzipan soon became a viral hobby, inspiring fashion collections of those years as well. For SS13, Gucci brought bright color palettes to the runway, including canary yellow and turquoise, while Versace draped this shade over the shoulders of its models for Menswear SS13. The following season, the same hue was chosen by Acne Studios for long silk dresses and by Prada for leather trench coats and tweed suits. Today, turquoise is back on the runway from Fendi, Paco Rabanne, Bottega Veneta, Prada, Simone Rocha, JW Anderson, and many more.

Studs

Fendi SS13

Fendi SS13

Balmain SS13

Isabel Marant FW13

Valentino Rockstud 2023 campaign

Blumarine SS23

Celine FW23

A relic of the emo aesthetic that took over a few years earlier in Italy, among young subcultures far from the runways of Fashion Week, studs in 2013 were distributed by designers on bags and clothes like rice for pigeons. In those years, fashion tried to rewrite the history of "elegantizing" punk, producing collections that paired stilettos and tube tops with leather studs and leggings. For FW13, Isabel Marant covered thin scarves, mini skirts, and jackets with small studs, while Anthony Vaccarello used these glittering details on sleeves and shoulders. At Fendi, silver sequins formed entire looks for SS13, baguettes included, and at Balmain, which made inlay and embroidery a stylistic code, countless metallic appliqués covered dresses and shawls in an 80s collection. Ten years later, the remnants of anti-fashion subcultures have been taken up by Celine, Valentino - a maison that for years kindly combined rock studs with ballet flats and clutches - and Blumarine.

Lace Inserts

Valentino SS13

Oscar De La Renta SS13

Chanel Couture 2013

Dolce&Gabbana FW23

Celine SS24

Dion Lee SS23

Gucci SS24

Because it was fashionable in those years to combine high and low in stark contrast to each other, the trend of brands adding lace details to street-style outfits remains one of the most vivid memories of the time. Dolce&Gabbana had been doing it for a long time, following the Dolce Vita trend, but for the 2013 collections, Versace, Oscar De La Renta, Valentino, and Chanel followed suit. During the latest Fashion Weeks, the romanticism of lace has been shredded and re-proposed for SS24 by Celine, Dion Lee, Gucci, and again by Dolce&Gabbana.

 Cut outs

Valentino SS24

Chloe SS24

Dion Lee SS23

Alexander McQueen SS24

Mugler FW23

We cannot talk about 2013 without remembering the total black cut-out dresses, a cornerstone of the nightlife of that time. It's challenging to pinpoint the exact style movement of this trend, as it appeared in every fast-fashion store window in 2013. The trend of cut-out dresses found success in the '60s thanks to Pierre Cardin and in the '90s thanks to Versace, but it regained popularity in the early 2010s thanks to the brutalist and dystopian aesthetics of designers like Rick Owens. On the runway, in 2023, this style has been adopted by Valentino, Chloe, Alexander McQueen, Mugler, and Balmain.

Peplum

Florence Pugh in Robert Wun

Sydney Sweeney

Alexander McQueen SS24

Jil Sander SS11

Loewe SS23

Marni SS24

Cecile Bahnsen SS23

Proenza Schouler FW23

In addition to colors and textures, a silhouette from a decade ago is slowly making its way back onto the runways. We are talking about the peplo, a 2010s icon that allowed suits to hit the dance floor back then and has been reintroduced this year in both couture and ready-to-wear, thanks to artistic exploration by designers. While Marni and Loewe have given it the form of a regal basque, Proenza Schouler, Cecile Bahnsen, and Robert Wun have paid homage to the trendy tops of two decades ago by incorporating contemporary textile modifications. Unless worn with skinny jeans, this silhouette has every right to come back into fashion, as evidenced by the latest celebrity looks on the red carpet.