Bum Bags
Whether you call them bum bags, or fanny packs (oh go on, it’s still funny), the connotation is always terribly unflattering. Think rotund tourists in Hawaiian shirts and, er, rotund tourists in Hawaiian shirts.
Though to be fair, they were quite big on the rollerblading scene in the eighties. Like many others though, I had one when younger, in which I carried everyday girl necessities like troll dolls and matchbox cars.
According to British Vogue, bum bags, along with their similarly ostracised friend, the ruck sack, are back, and everyone from Jonathan Saunders to Top Shop Unique are doing them. They’re shiny, embellished and best of all, leave your hands free to dance. So start stocking up on troll dolls, stat.
Double Denim
Like me, you likely wore double denim when you were twelve and thought you were basically the coolest person in the world, and you probably were. But since then, double denim, you were told, was pretty much the worst “fashion crime” ever.
You can have the last laugh. The resurgence of double denim has been well chronicled, with everybody from Zac Efron to Maggie Alderson (I read her tweets) doing it. Even Alexa Chung has been snapped in double denim.
To stop you looking like a friendly truck driver or cowboy (unless that is your want) you should just go for contrasting colours in your choice of denim, and avoid both large belt buckles and cowboy boots. Super cool twelve year-old me is thrilled.
Clogs
Did you ever have a relative or friend bring you back those hilair over-sized wooden clogs from Holland? If so, you are so lucky. I always wanted some of them. I did have a normal sized pair of pooh brown clogs that I adored when I was a “tween.” So versatile, they went with all my legging and matching jumper sets.
Now, I’m still terribly fond of a woodeny, clunky, sturdy heeled kind of shoe. So the re-emergence of the 1970s favourite, the Swedish Hasbeen, has me super excited. Sarah Jessica Parker has been snapped wearing them in scenes for the upcoming Sex and the City 2 movie, so hopefully they’ll stick around a bit longer.
Though it must be said that even Swedish Hasbeens don’t excite me as much as those novelty clogs still do.
Socks
Oh I know socks are always around, but socks aren’t just socks anymore. Fashion shoots have long been doing the socks with heels look, which evokes a certain kind of innocent whimsy combined with naughty schoolgirl that I just adore.
Celebrities such as Leighton Meester and Chloe Sevigny have been snapped in the look. Then there is the resurgence in the collective conscious of frilly socks - guaranteed to induce fits of nostalgia among girls who wore these socks with their patent Mary-Jane shoes.
And the school boy-esque thigh-high socks as seen on the fall collections of labels such as Karen Walker and Thakoon, well they’re just swell.
Velvet
I once owned a top that was made out of crushed green velvet the colour of algae and sick. But I will always remember that top fondly because at swimming camp the boy that looked exactly like Zac Hanson and who we were all love with touched my green velvet sick top and said that it felt nice.
He singled little pudgy me out of all those washboard ab swimmers and I only have velvet to thank. So imagine my delight that velvet is back. Everyone from Lover to Sportsgirl are doing it, and while it’s more sophisticated and grown up than my crushed velvet from swimming club days, I’m sure it feels just as nice.