This year (like most really) saw a number of fashion drops, collaborations, and launches. Yet the one that made it to the top of Google Trends was Hollister’s 2000s drop. According to Google Trends, it was one of the top trending drops in the US, while the search term “Babydoll tops” reached an all-time high.
There’s no doubt that Y2K fashion has been ruling the current trend cycle. Low-rise jeans, layered tank tops, and yes, babydoll tops, are now a part of contemporary wardrobes unironically. And that popularity goes for the brands ruling the 2000s as well—between the Coach resurgence and the steady revival of Hollister. According to WWD, Hollister’s sales have increased 22% between May 2024 and May 2025, jumping from $449.2 million to $549.4 million. Whereas, reports by Reuters mention that Hollister contributes to more than half of its parent company’s, Abercrombie & Fitch, total sales.
The drop, and its success, doesn’t come from thin air. Gen Zers, who are the current generation to lead cultural trends, have been leading the charge to a nostalgic past. Part of this comes as a response to dealing with COVID-19 and lockdown. For older Gen Zers, Y2K fashion represents childhood, and the nostalgic high is a source of comfort when navigating a completely different world than what was expected when growing up. For younger Gen Zers, it’s a collective exhaustion of growing up in a digital world, constant surveillance, and an uncanny valley reality caused by AI. Hence why the desire to go back, whether that’s through clothes, through 2000s rom-coms, or through digicams. Going back is exploring a new world previously unheard of: a world disconnected technologically but rife with community and physical belonging.
But the consumer isn’t acting alone. For as long as we can remember, fashion has moved in circles, referencing the past. Fashion in the 80s would reference 50s hair and circle skirts, whereas fashion in the 90s would reference 70s patterns and punk rock styles. The early aughts were an amalgamation of them all, reinterpreted through a modern lens. And so on, we have continued borrowing from the past, mimicking the golden haze of nostalgia.
However, the pattern of referencing the past was particularly strong this year. Designers across multiple fashion capitals presented runways that pulled from their younger years—Jacqumeus’s Le Paysan, Olivier Rousteing’s final Balmain show, and Emergency Room’s GOLDEN (R)AGE 2.0 at Dubai Fashion Week—reimaging their childhood as adults through insignia, silhouette, and motif.
And by all means, it is a theme worth exploring because childhood is when creativity roams freely, unburdened by stress. Nostalgia is a high because the growing pains are hardly noticed. The safe space it provides is comforting when faced with hard times. Now is no different. With everyone connected yet seemingly lonelier than ever, with the cost of living rising higher and higher, and with new technology stripping away the good, bad, and ugly of human creativity, a babydoll top, even if ill-fitting for an adult body, is a reclaimation back to the whimsical part of life. In a way, it is revolutionary to go back to being silly in a world hardened by seriousness. By going back to the “dated”, we reclaim the older versions of us that were lost in the process of adulting. The nostalgic high is an added benefit.
