The TV adaptation of Dolly Alderton’s Everything I Know About Love has finally hit our screens and is TikTok’s obsession with early 2010s culture brought to life. Set in 2012, the show is a masterclass in Millennial culture, from colourful faux fur jackets, American Apparel disco pants and fedoras to the birth of dating apps.
The series’ fashion and beauty looks themselves are straight out of the TikTok fashion lexicon. Maggie, the main character based on Alderton herself, is a blogger and writer who gets her first job as a reality TV producer. She’s also the personification of indie sleaze, with ombre brunette hair, a long fringe and a smudged smokey eye. #IndieSleaze currently has over 21 million views on TikTok, proving the trend has made a dent with Gen Z. Often seen in her short yellow faux fur jacket, Maggie struts around Camden in skinny jeans, band T-shirts, chokers and floating floral kimonos. For reference, her boss notably asks her not to come into work dressed as “the ex-wife of a French Prime Minister”. The colourful sequinned jumpsuit with a cropped leg, which Maggie wears on a days-long bender resulting in a late-night cab from London to Liverpool, also deserves an honorable mention.
You may also like
While Maggie gives us a lesson in indie sleaze, her childhood best friend Birdy epitomises another trend from the 2010s which has had a revival on TikTok – indie twee. The main character’s rule-loving sidekick wears floral skater dresses, Peter Pan collars and ballet flats, reminiscent of the ultimate indie twee girl, Zooey Deschanel. Like indie sleaze, twee fashion is also big on TikTok, with #TweeStyle raking up over 17 million views. Here, TikTokers share their twee years and give advice on how to achieve the look with a modern twist. Look to musician Dodie Clark and blogger Alice Catherine Haran for examples of a contemporary twee look.
It wouldn’t be the 2010s without a Topshop flex and Twitter is all over it. This Twitter user uses a Leonardo diCaprio meme every time she spies a classic 2012 Topshop look. Sophie Richardson, another Twitter user, wrote “Everything I Know about Love is bringing all the nostalgia of Alexa Chung/indie girl sleeze fashion and Topshop Kate Moss collab & I am only one episode in.” Topshop, though it no longer has physical retail stores, is a hot topic on TikTok as well – #Topshop has over 85 million views and creators like Sabrina Carder are dissecting the most iconic items from the brand in its heyday.
Dolly Alderton, creator of Everything I Know About Love, told Stylist: “I often would just go and hang out in the costume department [of the show]– all the clothes were so authentic. Basically, everything is from a high street shop in 2012 or from a vintage shop in Camden.”
The show takes place almost exactly a decade ago, and features noteworthy events like the London Olympics and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, as well as a moving portrait of female friendship. But it’s the fashion that has got the social conversation going because it’s tapped into the Millennial mainline: Everything I Know About 2010s Fashion.
By Dina Zubi, staff writer for CORQ. Picture credit: BBC.
