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Growing up, I thought the chicest thing I owned was a light yellow Old Navy cardigan. This was last year. Just kidding! But honestly, the cardigan trend was really in full swing throughout my youth in the '90s. There were oversize cardigans for those adhering to the decade's grunge aesthetic, and then there were cropped varieties for those who wanted to turn up the sex appeal for sweaters. Then, with the advent of velour tracksuits, cardigans seemed to fall out of fashion in the '00s.
Earlier this year, I wrote a story about Bella Hadid's Lisa Marie Fernandez baby cardigan, and I thought, "Noted." Then, more recently, I noticed Margot Robbie paired her wide-leg jeans with a Chanel cardigan, and decided I needed a damn cardigan. I'm now the proud owner of a black J.Crew Jackie Cardigan, and things are going great! It has a way of making a relatively casual outfit look more work-appropriate, but throw on some blue jeans and moody lipstick and all of a sudden I'm Liv Tyler in Empire Records — in my mind, at least.
While the cardigan is just one of many '90s trends having a second life in this century, its comeback can also be attributed to brands like Miu Miu, Alexander Wang, and Tory Burch, all of which included cardigans in recent collections. Ahead, browse through proof in the form of runway looks and real-life inspiration and shop our cardigan selections.