Walking into BHS you will see black Adidas Sambas, wide leg baggy jeans, wide leg sweatpants, UGGs, babytees, low rise clothing – clothing that if you are old enough, you might remember MTV stars like Britney Spears and Destiny’s Child wearing in the 2000s. 

Vera Finkenzellar ‘26 sells clothes on Depop. She says the brands and styles she sees at BHS are the same ones that flood social media.

“I can’t go a day in school without seeing Boston Birkenstocks or Sambas or Dunks,” Finkenzellar said. 

Associated Press reporters Haleluya Hadero and Anne D’Innocenzio discussed how social media platforms, mainly TikTok, fuel trends. They say that after Covid, Y2K trends began to resurface again. 

“[At BHS] baggy clothes, loafers, baby tees, butterfly clips, low rise and in general oversized clothes [are common],” Finkenzellar said. 

Biology teacher Marion Boa graduated from high school in 2010.  She agrees that these trends were common back then and “there was a maximalist look that you had; everybody was kind of covered in glitter.” 

Boa said when she was in high school, teens would watch MTV videos of stars like Britney Spears and Destiny’s Child to get their fashion look. In fact, “heroin chic” was a term used to describe one of the trendiest looks of the mid-90s to early 2000s: gaunt thinness akin to that of a hardcore drug user.

“Our beauty standards as a culture were unhealthy and toxic [in the 2000s], but now they’re more healthy,” Boa said. “I think that we are coming out of a period of time where it seems like [being] skinny is not the first thing that is important to be trendy.”

Social Studies teacher Bowen Stephens graduated high school in 2008. Bowen believes students are a lot less likely to judge people based on their fashion choices today. 

“I see students who come in and are dressed to the nines and I see that same student the next day coming in in sweatpants on a hoodie, and it’s super normalized,” Bowen said. “And it’s super wonderful that styles are made for people of all different body sizes.”

Esther Lokossou ‘26 agrees.

“[I] feel like people are more inclusive because they are seeing different bodies on social media,” Lokossou said.

Bowen says she loves how this younger generation is more accepting than her classmates were.

“I feel like the appreciation for choice is huge,” Bowen said.

Finkenzeller says that when any of her friends post about their fashion on Instagram or TikTok their friends comment supportive things.

“When people compliment my outfits in comment sections it makes me feel good”, Finkenzeller said.

Finkenzeller that people are more accepting of outfits now because people see other kids across the country’s outfits online instead of just celebrities.

Boa said that as the trends from the 2000s return, like low rise jeans, she hopes we can do it in a way that is inclusive, healthy and celebrates diversity, as opposed to trying to minimize it.

“Everyone is different,” Finkzeller said. “But I think most students just wear clothes that they can express themselves in. I can’t express myself when I’m wearing skinny jeans and an athletic sweatshirt and I feel more comfortable in myself when I’m wearing baggy jeans.”