10 Trendy Clothing Items Which Will Be Considered 'cheugy' Next Season
Increasingly, the general public has become more conscious of society's impact on the planet. Despite the majority of the damage being done having been committed by corporations and governments, it is the individuals personal responsibility to shop as sustainably and ethically as possible to reduce our own carbon footprints. One such method, is by consuming less fast fashion. However, this approach is unfair to those with limited budgets, and plus-size people who have limited options for fashionable clothes. Despite this, even when shopping primarily at fast-fashion or unsustainable stores, there are still actions we can take to ensure the products that we do by, are as long-lasting, tasteful, and timeless as possible.
How does avoiding trends save the planet? By actively resisting buying-into micro-trends not only are you preventing this years wasteful trendy items from ending up in landfill, but you are also ensuring that your style remains both fashionable, and as sustainable as you can be (which is really the most attractive thing).
So which 10 trendy items are cheugy?
1.That Vivienne Westwood Necklace
RRP £110
(image from Vivienne Westwood.com)
No necklace could be more timeless and chic than a string of creamy white pearls. Or you would have thought so. But the same small pearl choker which overtook last month's Pinterest boards, became so infamous due to one central characteristic, its iconic silver or gold Vivienne Westwood orb. It is without doubt a pretty necklace: it is dainty and uncontroversial. However, like any 'have to have' trendy designer item, its original appeal is lost to replicas and its new-found commonality. I am in no way opposed to fashionable items being attainable and accessible to more markets than just the ultra rich. Vivienne Westwood, having been a sustainability advocate for decades, her iconic pearl jewelry is ethically sourced and vegan. They are at their core, fake pearls, and they are designed with such intentions that jewelry which was once a status symbol is more accessible and harmless than in the past. So why is it so off-putting to see scrolls and scrolls of poorly manufactured counterfeits?
By becoming a trend, the Vivienne Westwood pearl orb choker has stricken-down its original sentiment: sustainability, closing the class divide through clothing, and reducing cruelty to animals. Mass-production and poor quality come hand in hand, and so many naive fashion followers have invested in unconvincing fakes. Already, there are new styles of pearl chokers which are stealing our attention (and our money) e.g. Missoma half pearls/ colored charms, and the Vivienne Westwood's triple pearl Bas Relief Choker (as seen on Bella Hadid and Due Lipa). Due to it's oversaturation in media the Vivienne Westwood orb pearl choker's potential to be a classic designer necklace has diminished. Due to forgeries, fakes, and fashionistas falling for newer, less popular designs, this necklace is already considered cheugy.
2. House of Sunny Hockney: Last Summer's Sun Dress
Green Hockney dress RRP £98
(image from Instagram.com)
House of Sunny rose to notability over lockdown when its collection of unique and seemingly sustainable design and production methods were seen on the like of Kendell Jenner, the Gen Z's 'it girl'. She lay, half deliberately poised and half effortlessly laid-back - as if she were herself a garment folded over, tossed carelessly across the wicker sunchair. During a period where most of us are stuck at home in loungewear and armchairs, who wouldn't want to emulate the polar opposite? Having been one of their most successful, break-out designs, the Hockney toweling dress has been re-born in a dozen more incongruous colors e.g blue, orange, and most oddly, brown.
Partly the dresses appeal was in its celebrity wearers, as well as matching the co-existing trend of 70s swirl patterns which has swept-up the likes of Zara, and mirroring Pinterest's growing obsession with sage green. However, most appealing was the brands sustainable, integrally green image. House of Sunny claim to only release a handful of collections each year, and operate a pre-order method of buying and producing. Despite this, fame is the thief of integrity, and many of House of Sunny's original fans have grown disillusioned to the brands message, believing that as it's grown in popularity their values have been bought-over by hypocrisy. With their growing success, House of Sunny has released increasingly frequent collections, with distinct trendy designs which will not stand the test of time. The same ethical and sustainable outlook which grew their success, has been discarded in order to produce more profits. And it is for this very reason that their success will be short-lived, the trendy designs will fall out of favor, and their 'one hit wonder' Hockney dress will ultimately be considered cheugy.
3.Jacquemus ultra mini bag
RRP £385
(image from Jacquemus.com)
The Jacquemus Le Chiquito leather tote is perhaps the most impractical accessory to ever exist. It is a monochrome leather (extra mini) mini bag which would be more fitting for a poly pocket doll. It is ironic that during a time in history in which we were the most sedentary that we have been in centuries, the Coronavirus pandemic prompted us, the consumers, to make some irresponsible purchases, much of which was impractical. Did we really need to buy that Renaissance-style satin corset and knee-high stiletto boots? Perhaps the most impractical trendy purchase, being this bag.
There is no way to justify owning such an impossibly silly bag. It is most certainly not made for non-celebrities: it may fit a handful of pills, a lipstick, and a zip-lock bag of white "makeup powder" for their red carpet essentials. But measuring just 8cm by 10cm, for those of us who have to buy our own coffees and clothes, it is ridiculous to carry around a £400 bag which fits a single credit card (assuming you weren't already bankrupted by your designer purchase!). Now that normality is returning, our wardrobes are reverting back to practical, attractive pieces for work and leisure. There is no room in normal lives for vanity mini bags such as this, and the implicit excess and privilege of not 'having baggage' to carry around with you is not something that the increasingly fashionable, and more so political, Gen Z will approve of. This trendy piece is not a valuable investment bag and nor so will it age well. It will, no doubt, soon be considered cheugy.
4.Cheap Y2K accessories
RRP £47
(image from UrbanOutfitters.com)
Y2K, why did it have such a clutch over our 2020-2021 style. Y2K and all its garish, trashy, eccentricity has perhaps been the most notable overall trend to characterize the last calendar year. And can you really blame us? First day of quarantine, stuck at home I was struck by how comfortable a Juicy Couture tracksuit would have been. We were undergoing an uncertain and scary period in history particularly for young people, so it is no surprise that we regressed to our child selves, to a period where there was equal financial and social unrest.
The initial first-wave of neon pink butterfly baby tees and ultra-low rise flared jeans has since been elevated, but still alludes to the original concept: cheap, plastic, garish jewelry. The kind of jewelry which you would have groaned had you found it inside one of your pre-teen magazines ten years ago. Think of plastic, shimmery, butterfly hair clasps and iredescent nylon scrunchies. Since that first wave, influences from Y2K style can still be seen in the enormous chunky clay rings which Urban Outfitters are selling for almost £50 - the same style of which would have been found in charity shop discount bins only a month or so before. I don't think much explanation is needed to explain why buying into trends such as this wont be fiscally responsible, sustainable, or fashionable.
Most people would argue that the nostalgia and tacky quality of Y2K accessories is what gives it its charm. Nonetheless, as charming and nostalgic as the trend may be, in a year or so these pieces of huge, plastic, pink jewelry will either have broken or will be wildly out of style. Sure, fashion is cyclical. That is at least clear from how we unanimously adopted fashion trends from the 2000s a decade later. However, it would be very irregular for this to occur any more frequently in the next few years.
5. Crossed cropped Halter Tops
This cross-over cropped, cleavage-heavy halter top is arguably this season's go-to going-out top. "What are you wearing?" "Oh probably just some jeans and a cute top". And with clubs opening back up and bars closing later those of us who bought into the trend during quarantine will have them styled, ironed, and ready for when we receiving that "plans tonight?" text. However, it became trendy at a time where we couldn't wear it (unless your work from home dress-code was especially lenient). Therefor it's hype is already over. The mob of girl gang party-goers who will show up to clubs this week will be confronted with a dance floor and instagram feed in which everyone is wearing the same top. They will inevitably shun this overpopularized trendy item the next morning and it will be found in a thrift shop a week or so later.
(image from PrettyLittleThing
I wont dispute that this item is for a specific occasion: binge-drinking in a busy city bar, cocktails with the girls in your friend's mums basement, finished off with slobbering over a 24-hour McDonalds in some guy from the smoking area's kitchen. It is not a day-to-day top. It skimpy, flimsy, and flattering. Perfect for partying. However, now that we are planning our outfits in advance of post-lockdown events, the once-trendy cross-over halter top is absent from our Pinterest boards. Now the trendy summer "nice top" to go with your trusty denim jeans is a satin bodysuit (lingerie as day-wear to skip straight to the middle-man), or a racer-neck body-hugging tank from Zara's S/S collection. Additionally, those of us who reveled in the anticipation of 'going out, out' are desperate to wear one of our now neglected mini dresses.
The fastest of fast fashion sites such as Boohoo, PrettyLittleThing, and Shein were some of the first to embrace the cross-over cropped halter top. One of the reasons it was initially so popular was not because it was fashion able, no high-fashion brand designed anything of the type, but because it was cheap to produce on a massive scale. It is, after all, essentially just a strip of fabric. Increasingly, society is resisting the compulsion to buy fast fashion because it is detrimental to the environment. Even someTikToks which list out 10 or so 'cheugy' things have said buying from sites such as Shein, which is notorious for its poor working condition and environmental impact, is in itself cheugy.
Instead, a more sustainable, chic, and equally flattering alternative is to re-purpose a silk/satin patterned scarf into a cross-over halter top. This viral hack has gone viral on Tiktok because it is both innovative, stylish, and fiscally responsible. Using a scarf instead of buying a new unnecessary trendy top also makes your 'fit' much more personalized to you: you could borrow a vintage scarf from a relative, thrift a designer silk number from a charity shop, or buy a totally unique piece from Ebay or Depop. So not only will this alternative never be out of fashion, but once we're at the club or filming an 'ootd', you'll not have to gatekeep where your top's from because "oh, I thrifted it!". And there's nothing more cheugy than gatekeeping.
Here is how to re-purpose a silk scarf into a halter top.
6. Converse canvas low-top trainers
These trainers were the uniting feature of every 2000s kid's youth: the scene kids, emos, Disney Channel wannabees... A canvas, plastic-toed monstrosity seen on every soon-to-breakdown child star and band kid alike. They were very 'of their time'. However, now they're are dated. Very dated. For many, their nostalgic appeal still applies, but even then their prices have inflated arrogantly and their new designs fall short in comparison with competitors like Vans.
Like many Gen Z-ers I was perplexed when I saw that classic canvas Converse were selling for roughly £50-70. In a very geriatric, boomer-esque way I can remember "way back in may day..." when converse all stars cost less than £40. They certainly weren't a 'have-to-have' item. They were simply a cheap, basic staple shoe. Nothing special. They're not leather, avant garde, or high-performance. They're just colored canvas sneakers with an unsupportive plastic sole. There is nothing more cheugy than gouging consumers money for a sub-par item.
There are so many more timeless and practical sneaker alternatives which don't look like they belong in an Avril Levine music video. More like "Hey! Hey! You! You! I don't like your- converse..." The rise of athleasure style has made the typical ugly 'dad trainers' - made for performance not aesthetic - a trendy staple item. In particular, brands like Balanciaga have become the go-to on-the-go modal-off-duty sneaker. Ironically, disregarding the typical snobbyness and extravagance of haute couture, their plain (arguably ugly) trainers with details straight from daddy's closet. Alternatively, Alexander McQueen's
7. Merch - any merch; celebrity, MUA, musician...
Much like their celebrity counterparts
8. Mini Backpacks
9. I Am Gia's unrivalled array of cut-out clothing
10. Prints, charms, and brands based on cultural appropriation
Not only is this category cheuy, it is a cancelable offence! Tiktok has been diligent in its recognition of what is cultural appropriation and what isn't, what is and is not offensive. And for the most part, it has been both eye-opening and incredibly interesting. One controversial target has been the 'evil eye' symbol
Ultimately, style is personal, and your essential pieces are equally personal. It should not matter whether an item which "brings you joy" is regarded as unfashionable or 'cheugy'. In fact, trying to enforce a binary of what is and what isn't on trend totally negates the point of sustainability. 'Cheugy' feels like a term that would have been coined by the likes of Cher Horowitz, Paris Hilton, or Regina George. And wasn't the message we learnt from 'Mean Girls' that you shouldn't sacrifice your originality for popularity and being mainstream? So heed my advice as much or as little as you like, but at the end of the day
"Stop trying to make fetch happen!"