2010s in fashion


The 2010s was defined by hipster fashion, athleisure, a revival of austerity-era period pieces and alternative fashions, swag-inspired outfits, unisex early 1990s style elements influenced by grunge and skater fashions. The later years of the decade witnessed the growing importance in the western world of social media influencers paid to promote fast fashion brands on Pinterest and Instagram.
Popular global fashion brands of the decade included Abercrombie and Fitch, Adidas, Balenciaga, Ben Sherman, Burberry, Christian Dior, Coach, DSquared2, Dorothy Perkins, Fashion Nova, Forever 21, H&M, Hollister, Hugo Boss, Lacoste, Louis Vuitton, Marks and Spencer, Michael Kors, Monsoon Accessorize, Nike, Nine West, Off-White, River Island, Supreme, Topman, Topshop, Uniqlo, Under Armour, and Vans.

Designers and models

Early 2010s (2010–13)

1980s influences

Monochromatic and printed clothing

1970s revival

Early 2010s (2010–13)

Neon colors

Workwear and luxury sportswear

Relaxed look

Hipsters and steampunks

Hairstyles

Women

Women's hairstyles in the early 2010s had been fairly individualistic, although most British, Irish, Australian, Russian, Korean, and continental European women kept the simplistic, straight, long and natural coloured hairstyles of the mid 2000s. Many women also used hair extensions to make their hair look much longer and fuller. In America and Israel, volumized curly hair, perms and crimped hair were briefly fashionable from 2010–12, especially in New York City.
By the mid 2010s, straight and wavy hairstyles were dominant globally, especially the blonde dyed beach waves. Traditional and intricate styles such as a bun, chignon, French twist, updo, crown braid, French braid, and Dutch braid inspired by the Hunger Games' Katniss Everdeen, were also popular among young women and girls from 2012-16. By 2013 it had become increasingly fashionable for European, Asian and American women to cut their hair into shorter styles, such as the pixie cut, crop, bob cut or the undercut. Solid colored hair was generally considered the most fashionable in the early years of the decade, but from 2011-14 it became increasingly common for Western women to dye their hair in an ombré style, usually long and preferably parted in the middle, as the side part became associated with the previous decade aesthetics. Wavy hair began to decline in popularity from 2017 onwards, but bone straight hair remained common in Britain and Europe. A messy bun, often worn on the top of the head, has been popular in the late 2010s.
At the beginning of the decade, Rihanna started a trend of cherry red hairstyles for black women in America. From 2012-18, many African-American, Black Canadian, and Afro-Caribbean British women favored natural, Afro-textured hair and dreadlocks, opting for natural products to style their hair. Zoë Kravitz and Beyoncé helped re-popularize braided hairstyles including box braids and Fulani braids, which the media nicknamed "Lemonade braids", respectively.
During the mid 2010s, some curly haired American women also choose to wear weaves and wigs in imitation of celebrities like Lady Gaga or Rihanna, in order to avoid the damage of relaxers previously popular in the early 2000s. Cornrows which media outlets misnamed "boxer braids" due to their use by female MMA fighters and Hilary Swank's character in Million Dollar Baby, became popular among white American women from 2016 onwards, despite perceived cultural appropriation from black American women.

Men

In the early 2010s, men's 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s haircuts underwent a revival, with many British professionals aged 18–30 wearing businessman's haircuts with side partings, quiffs or slicked back hair. The undercut has been a particularly ubiquitous trend since the early part of the decade, seeing popularity across different social groups in both Western and Asian cultures. These gradually replaced the longer surfer hair and Harry Styles haircuts popular among teenagers and young men since 2010. In the Americas and the Middle East, the military haircut and buzzcut are relatively popular among balding men, or the side parted hair with some volume on the top, inspired by footballer Cristiano Ronaldo.
For African-American and black men in general, mohawk variants of the Afro, The 360 Waves, jheri curl and The Taper were popular in the early to mid 2010s, as are shaved patterns or "steps" into variants of the buzzcut. The High Top Fade, often with a bleached blonde streak inspired by Wiz Khalifa, came back into style among African American youth on the West Coast. Starting from late 2014, variants of tapered Dreadlocks and Hair twists hair styles became widely popular amongst many black teens and young men.
From 2014 some teens and young men wore their hair in a type of topknot or "man bun" reminiscent of the samurai hairstyles in wuxia movies. This trend was popularised by British and American celebrities including actors Orlando Bloom and Jared Leto as well as footballer Gareth Bale.
By 2017, the undercut hairstyle and buzzcut began to decline in the United States, partly due to the unintended popularity of these haircuts among supporters of the alt-right, such as white supremacist Richard Spencer. British hipsters frequently left their undercut unstyled in imitation of 1990s Britpop and early Beatles haircuts.

Youth

For preteen and teenaged girls, and young women in higher education, the bangs and thin headband combination remained popular in the US and Europe for much of the decade. Dutch braids, twin French braids, side ponytails, and a single chunky side braid were popular styles for those with longer hair throughout the mid and late 2010s. Side parting was popular in America, and in 2019 ponytails with scrunchies were increasingly popular not only for sport and exercise, but also everyday. In the late 2010s middle veins were very popular especially in Britain, Ireland and the rest of Europe. The chin length bob cut, long hair with choppy side bangs, and straight middle parted longer hair were also popular styles in the US, Europe, New Zealand and Australia.
In the UK, Middle East, and Australia during the early 2010s, a type of short mullet haircut with buzzed sides and bleached blond streaks became popular among sporty male young people, teenage Irish travellers, and urban youths of Iranian and Lebanese descent inspired by The Combination crime film. By 2013, a long undercut or mohawk-like haircut, in which only one side of the head is buzzed, became popular among circles of ravers, hipster girls, metalcore, and dubstep fans in the US, inspired by Skrillex and various female pop stars such as Ellie Goulding, Tess Aquarium, Miley Cyrus, or Rihanna. The emo style fringes also went out of fashion around the same time.
By 2015 and 2016, the balayage - a softer version off the ombré - gained popularity, as well as having a blunt haircut instead of layered hair. The lob was considered a unique alternative to the long hair worn by most adolescent girls and young women in Europe.
For adolescent boys and young men, in the United States, Canada, Australasia, the UK and South Korea, the layered short hair style, the buzzed short hairstyle which is blended from the sides to the top, and the Blowout became popular during the mid 2010s due to continued interest in 1980s and 1990s fashion. Additionally the side swept bangs, the quiff, and the layered longer hair of the late 2000s remain fashionable among more affluent American young men.

Makeup and cosmetics

In Britain, the smoky eye look of the late 2000s carried on as a trend in many parts of the country. In other areas, this went out of fashion during the early and mid 2010s as women sought to imitate the fake tan and thick "Scouse brow" popularized by Kate Middleton, Cara Delevingne and the cast of The Only Way is Essex and Desperate Scousewives. Fake tan became the norm look for young teens especially in Ireland. Multiple layers of tan would be worn to give an orange effect.
In the West, contouring began to emerge. Several other more short-lived trends were born out of this, such as strobing in 2015 and 2016 which consisted of using glowy highlighters to accentuate the high points of the face. The early decade's "erased-mouth" and pale pink lipsticks were replaced by matte red by 2012-13, as sported by celebrities such as Taylor Swift and Rihanna. By 2015-16, mauve and brown shades of lipstick make a comeback from the 1990s, promoted by Kylie Jenner. Dark mascara, false eyelashes, dyed hair and cheek blusher were popularised by Instagram social media influencers in the UK, American and Dubai such as Olivia Buckland and Huda Kattan.
Unlike in previous decades, excessive use of fake-tans has become less popular in the United States, possibly due to tanning beds being linked to cancer.
In late 2016, minimalist, makeup looks and "dewy" natural skin saw a surge of popularity among young people, especially in New York City.
In the late 2010s, a softer, goth inspired, style of makeup came into fashion, this was called egirl makeup. This style of makeup included small, black symbols drawn under the eyes and winged eyeliner, both of these trends drew attention to the eyes. Another part of egirl makeup was large amounts of blush all over the cheeks and nose, finished off his highlighter on the nose.

Body modifications

Continuing on from the 1990s and 2000s, body modifications remained popular among many teenagers and blue collar men and women in the US, Britain, Japan, Israel, Singapore, New Zealand and Australia, especially traditional Japanese tattoos. Old school tattoos were popularised by female celebrities like Kat Von D imitating the pinup girls of the 1950s, and by men like footballer David Beckham, pop star Harry Styles or Justin Bieber aspiring for the "tough guy" look. From 2013-2019, the earrings, metallic bone tattoos, portraits of animals, relatives or celebrities, and tongue piercings that had gained mainstream acceptance in the late 2000s were joined by more extreme modifications such as stretched piercings, facial tattoos popularized by rappers like 6ix9ine and Post Malone, blackout tattoos, flesh tunnels, lip piercings, and nose piercings, particularly the nose septum piercing.

Facial hair

In many Western countries, the United States, Iraq, and Eastern Europe, the growing of a full beard became a popular trend amongst young men from 2011-2019, with some suggesting this was due to the influence of the hipster subculture, the lumbersexual ideal, and the Movember campaign. An increase in facial hair transplants was reported in the United Kingdom within the first three years of the decade, and the trend approached what researchers pr edicted would be a 'peak' level of desirability. Beards remained common for much of the mid to late-2010s, but by the end of 2016, many men favoured shorter, neatly-groomed styles.

Exhibitions

2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019