Less Pussycat Dolls, more primary school photo-day best.
It’s to the blissfully ignorant enthusiasm of Gen-Z and the somewhat more tentative enthusiasm of millennials that Y2K has had quite the chokehold on fashion of late. Maybe you are too scared by the Supre fitting room struggle of your teens, but if those of us who were there the first time can get over the unprocessed trauma of ultra low-rise jeans, there’s a good reason to embrace this trend. For one, the generous dose of texture, colour, playfulness and irony that many of us have been craving since our cosy-clad lockdown days.
Ruby’s second drop of their AW23 Gemini collection adds another thing to this list: nostalgia.
Alongside fresh takes on Ruby signatures, the new arrivals landing on August 17 are full of subtle nods to the wholesome elements of early ’00s dressing that are often left unexplored in favour of the era’s more outrageous hallmarks.
Strappy halter-top hybrids, business casual, layering and a definition of ‘low-rise’ that should hopefully safeguard against future photographic indignities, each piece promises to tug on the heartstrings of anyone who grew up with a poster of Hilary Duff on their wall, or commandeered the family’s only television the one night a week that The OC was on.
Poetically for astrology buffs, Gemini is all about duality, designed to be woven between warm and cool weather, party or home. It’s an apt homage to the decade that made us obsessed with the concept of day-to-night dressing, and that taught us the trick to making a cocktail dress ‘casual and cool’ was to simply pair it over jeans.
Case in point, the collection’s range of going out tops. From the Milo Bodice, to the matte halter Remi Bodice and the eyelet-fashioned Ariel Bodice, Ruby has breathed new life into this so-called wardrobe essential, playing with gently cropped proportions that would keep your (hypothetical) belly-button piercing under wraps.
Of course, tops and Y2K can’t be uttered in the same sentence without mentioning one very specific strap situation we became accustomed to at the time. That is, the halter and off-the-shoulder combination which Ruby has brought back in the form of the Calvin Top and it’s slinky counterpart, the Calvin Dress. Or, for a 2000s-inspired layering moment, try the Lollo off-the-shoulder long sleeve paired over the Lollo Tank.
A foil to floral and feminine dresses that appear freshly plucked from a rom-com, Ruby Gemini is proof that this season’s take on yesteryear’s dressing is not so much about slowing down, but rather softening.
It’s a micro move in a macro-trend that we’re grateful to see.