The Major Fashion and Beauty Trends of the 2010s
How the 2010s Reshaped Style: From Influencer Culture to New, Fluid Ways of Expressing Identity
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Despite many big fashion companies banning fur this decade and pledging not to burn their deadstock, sustainable, circular, and transparent manufacturing processes very slowly caught on. Thanks to Greta Thunberg protesting against climate change inaction in 2018, the devastating collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory in 2013, and even Queen Elizabeth renouncing fur in her own wardrobe in 2019, we hope that sustainability will be the most defining trend across all industries in the 2020s.
• Fashion Goes Fur-Free: Fashion was forced to grow a conscience this decade: from the devastating collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory that took 1,134 lives in 2013, to the eye-opening reality of fashion being the second most polluting industry in the world, to the viral stat that it takes 2,000 gallons of water to make your favourite pair of jeans, regardless of cut or designer. Millions of consumers started demanding greater transparency from every stage of the industry's supply chain, from worker's rights to water waste, CO2 emissions, microplastic pollution, and most notably, going fur free.
The rise of veganism in the '10s was a huge catalyst for fashion to stop using fur and animal-derived materials. Many luxury fashion houses, like Gucci, Burberry, Chanel, and Versace, decided to ban fur. This major decision by the fashion elite to choose our planet over profits inspired big-name manufacturers like ASOS, Topshop, H&M, and Zara to follow suit. While it's still up for debate as to whether real or fake fur is less sustainable, the '10s was all about opening up conversations on being on the right side of history.