Different decades in popular culture have given way to innovative creations and interesting trends throughout the years. As an example, the 1990s brought scrunchies and plaid, the 2000s introduced denim-on-denim fashion and autotuned songs, but the 2010s spawned…. not much, in actuality. Although many revolutionary events coincided with the 2010s such as the spread of the Ebola virus, the legalization of gay marriage, the countless hurricanes and earthquakes and more, the lasting effects of popular culture in the 2010s were somewhat forgettable. 

The most significant fashion styles in this era were definitely inspired by previous decades, most importantly the 1970s, the 1980s and the 1990s. The rise of thrifting in both physical and online stores such as Poshmark and Mercari contributed to the recent rise in clothing from the 1970s and the 1980s. As for the nineties, chokers, plaid, denim jumpers, hoop earrings, crop tops and more trends resurfaced in this decade. In fact, the 90s fashion brand named Baby Phat made a large-scale comeback in June 2019, shocking consumers worldwide. 

Personally speaking, the 80s and 90s fashion trends were the most influential to my own personal style. The blue overalls, boho pants, graphic tees, ripped jeans and plaid are all fashionable favorites in my wardrobe. When it comes to North Forsyth, scrunchies and Doc Marten boots are especially popular due to the current VSCO girl trend of 2019. Regardless, these decades were certainly reflected in the most popular fashion styles of 2010-2019. It unfortunately seems, as it comes to fashion, that there’s little to no originality left.

When it comes to entertainment, numerous high school students remembered iconic cartoon and live-action television shows that greatly influenced their childhood. “Hannah Montana,” “iCarly,” “Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated,” “Shake It Up,” “Victorious,” and “Big Time Rush” were all television shows that were mentioned by Sophomores Madelyn Ingmire, Cailee Jackson, Allison Van Epps and Yesenia Del Villar. Van Epps thought that “Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated” had an “overarching plot that’s actually good and interesting.” Meanwhile, Del Villar loved “iCarly” because “[the show brought] back childhood memories.”

In this particular decade, I was–and still am–an avid fan of numerous children’s cartoon television shows. I specifically loved watching “Winx Club,” “Adventure Time,” “Regular Show,” “The Amazing World of Gumball” and “Totally Spies.” Surprisingly, children’s television shows have tackled mature subjects in an approachable manner, such as toxic relationships and jealousy in 2018’s “She-Ra and the Princesses of Power.” Although there have been countless remakes of previous works, like the aforementioned “She-Ra and the Princesses of Power,” the Scooby-Doo franchise and literally all of the live-action Disney remakes, animation has improved for the better in 2018-2019.

Other than fashion and entertainment, many important national and international events occurred to change the tide of our society and culture for decades to come. For starters, President Obama and President Trump’s two presidencies notably changed the way Americans interacted with one another and the world. Other than politics, the end of the Mayan calendar in 2012 proved that the world really didn’t end just yet–in fact, the 7.7 billion human population is still kicking it. Meanwhile, the development of augmented reality and CRISPR, or Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, proves that science and technology is changing to impact our world for the better… or the worse.

Although the 2010s was a decade of remakes and unoriginality, I can’t deny the positive progression that has occurred in this decade, whether it be from politics to science to technology or even to animation. All of these advances have certainly shaped the way we all view and experience the world for the better. Regardless, it’s been a great decade, and let’s rejoice to our next era: the 2020s.