America Googled Nostalgic Fashion Trends This Year Because the Present Is Pain

Google has long taken over what is probably a critical part of all our brains, like the one that encourages us to think in complete sentences when we have a question. (Catch me clumsily punching “roasted carrots oven 400 degrees how long” into my phone roughly once every few months.) The inquiries we pop into this trusty (but certainly not that trusty) search engine reveal our deepest qualms and basest desires for just about everything—and fashion is no different. Google released its top searches by country and category, and in the U.S., the top trending fashion-related searches, starting with the most popular, were:

• ‘80s fashion
• Grunge
• ‘90s fashion
• ‘00s fashion
• Meghan Markle

Fashionista points out that this is not surprising, given some of the loud colors, plaid skirts, and bold prints we saw on runways in the fall. I say none of it is surprising because our current existence is defined by human suffering and misery, and it’s more comforting to look towards the past and remind yourself of pleasant childhood memories.

Remember “popcorn shirts”? I would wear that again. Bootcut and flare jeans are back, and thank god, because another moment in skinny jeans and I was going to fall over. Tiny sunglasses? Frankly, I like them! (Sorry, Hazel.) As a kid, I wasn’t cool, and so I didn’t wear a lot of this stuff; as an adult, now I am cool, and why shouldn’t I be able to wear this stuff? Aren’t you supposed to have fun with your clothes? You may call it revisionist history; I call it… fashion! Heard of it, hunny???

It’s nice to see Meghan Markle scoring a spot on our Top 5 Google searches, too. Someone’s gotta scandalize the royal palace by doing things like wearing nail polish and inspiring others to also wear nail polish.