Brands due for a comeback

Would you shop at Victoria's Secret again?

For better or for worse, fashion is cyclical. As soon as something is deemed ‘uncool’ it is put right on track for it’s nostalgic rebound in a decade or two. I’m calling it the cool to lame to revolutionary pipeline. One day a modern trendsetter will pull the lucky items back out of the archives and the masses will follow suit once again.

Figure 1.

Let’s make it official with a little, nerdy model, shall we?

Figure 2.

& a timeline format if you prefer it.

Nothing is really new under the sun, but it can be new to us! Like my recent fixation with vintage St. John. I can’t hardly wear a thing without hearing from my friends/family with more life experience ;) about how they, “wore that 20 years ago”.

This reminds me that ‘timeless’ looks really *can* be achieved, just at the expense of always being cool and trendy. And is that honestly a very steep price to pay? I think many of us would agree it isn’t.

I’m re-calling the brands I begged for as a girl and I’ll say some of them are about ripe for a revival¹…

Lilly Pulitzer

I recently went down an Emilio Pucci rabbit hole and the label reminded me immediately of Lilly Pulitzer. That statement alone under-estimates the iconic work of Pucci who came first (I’ll probably do a whole letter on him soon to make up for it) but my point is if you are craving COLOR and psychedelic-ish patterns, I’d glance at vintage Lilly on eBay.

eBay search I used to find these: here

I upgraded my toiletry bags for $20 total and my grade school self is freaking out. Also- if you ever had the Lilly Pulitzer planner I know you were that girl and I would’ve been very jealous.

EOS lip balm

Speaking of grade school status symbols... did anyone else always have to have their current EOS flavor sitting on their desks? This lip balm was all me and my friends wanted for Christmas, and our parents were probably thrilled. In an age that has never been more obsessed with lip products, and given some recent EOS innovations, I’d be shocked if I didn’t start seeing this brand re-surface a bit more.

Vera Bradley

Emily Sundberg of Feed Me just mentioned this in her newsletter too. Personally, I’ve never stopped using my Vera Weekender bag. We are talking about high quality products here! And I think they are objectively cute patterns, whether everyone agrees or not simply depends on where we currently are in the endless minimalist to maximalist loop.

$32

$25

Vineyard Vines

With the rise of the East Coast Grandmother and the ‘oLd MonEy’ aesthetics, we have seen a lot of revitalized attention for LL Bean, J Crew, and Ralph Lauren. But I personally have not seen anyone talk about Vineyard Vines. Maybe the craze was just a little too recent? Are we traumatized from seeing that little pink whale everywhere about a decade ago? I can understand the hesitation, but I still think of VV, if you will, as a classic, relatively high quality label, and their return just might be inevitable.

VSCO girl vibes

Victoria’s Secret

I’m over Kim Kardashian and I’ve been over her. I think it was the nipple bra that did it for me. I’ve got SKIMS in my closet and it’s fine! But where SKIMS is clean and minimalist, Victoria’s Secret is hot and rebellious. Also, maybe I don’t always want to feel like my undergarments aren’t even there? Something I’ve been thinking about. I suspect people will be considering returning to their VS or VS Pink roots sooner than later.

pick your poison i guess

So I guess brands that start with a “V” are due for a revival and I’ll leave it at that (vans did almost make the list).

Nostalgia is a powerful force. What else would you add to this list, or take off? I’m curious!!

Happy SUMMER FRIDAY!

Xx, elle

1. not necessarily any endorsements here just observations <3.