In December 2024, actor and fashion icon Julia Fox stepped out on the street with a flip-phone buckle strapped across her chest, wires on her nails, and an old Discman-turned-compact mirror hanging from her wrist.
Fox didnât start the retro-tech fashion trend. Celebrities and internet fashionistas were already wearing iPod Shuffle Minis as hair clips and wired headphones as necklaces. But Fox did make waves online, showing off the Y2K-inspired collaboration from French Canadian artist Gab Bois and refurbished electronics marketplace Back Market â and plugging the Right to Repair movement â on her Instagram.
Much of this fashion channels nostalgia over the nascent days of the digital age â both aesthetically and philosophically. Bois previously designed fine jewelry using sim cards, a camcorder clutch, and a Nintendo DS Lite makeup palette.
â[Tech] was clunkier, slower, but also more tactile and charming,â Bois says. âThere was this sense of optimism, too. Everything felt like a glimpse into the future.â
Younger millennials and Gen Z latching on â largely online â seem to be yearning for those simpler times. Digicams from mid-aughts have already made a …
