\n<\/p>\n
As someone who came of age in the Bush, Jr. era, the 2000\u2019s revival has been\u2026interesting to watch.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The passage of time has revealed the unpredictability of fashion, and many things I could never imagine being cool have become tried-and-true staples over the past few years. Like,\u00a0really?<\/em>\u00a0\u201cVintage\u201d Ed Hardy racking up hundreds of dollars on the resale market? Uggs and Crocs\u2014 two brands that were essentially punchlines 20 years ago\u2014aren\u2019t just cool but\u00a0wardrobe staples?<\/em>\u00a0Lest we forget, one of\u00a0the<\/em>\u00a0driving forces of the 2000s\u2019 reactionary aesthetics was irony.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve gotten Stockholm-syndromed hard enough by the ubiquitousness and convenience of Crocs that I\u2019ve contemplated buying a pair myself. Still, I do wonder if, like skinny jeans, this now-acceptable basic isn\u2019t immune to its own inevitable expiration date. Maybe Crocs are here to stay, and I\u2019m wrong to think they\u2019ll ever go back to being uncool, but every so often, one of their umpteenth collabs gives me flashbacks to seeing them on the fanbase I originally associated them with\u2014rural evangelical families. It\u2019s maybe the most quintessentially American audience out there, the kind that lives in McMansions and doesn\u2019t have access to much culture beyond the shopping centers and undead malls Bath & Body Works seems to be carrying on its back. And, well, those two deeply Western forces have come together to create\u00a0a really strangepair of shoes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n