A problem I always had when watching Disney movies wasn’t that we didn’t get to see the happy endings (were they actually happy?) or that Ursula deserved more screen time.
While these are strong contenders, my bone to pick with Disney was that the characters rarely did an outfit change, even if the narrative spanned months…years!
Of course, a younger me didn’t understand that animations (even those with big budgets) don’t factor daily outfit changes onto the drawing board. But it bothered me because I wanted more. I wanted to see an array of Jasmine’s outfits. I demanded a closet of Snow White’s best, and if I had the opportunity to watch a film where Cinderella walked me through everything she’d style her glass slippers with, I would’ve taken it.
There was something about the puffy sleeves, the exaggerated skirts and the droopy elegance of it all that shaped some of my first core memories of fashion — even if the teen version of myself wouldn’t have been caught dead wearing any of those styles in an act I once deemed ‘feminist.’
In my more mature years, I came to understand that being feminine didn’t mean being anti-feminist. I’ll admit, it took me many pairs of ripped jeans and high-top sneakers to get here, but we made it.
So, when I started noticing the same fashion from my youngest memories as a Disney-diehard circulating in the ‘edgy’ parameters of fashion or on the tomboy icons I loved, I couldn’t help but crack a smile.
Zendaya turned into Tommy Hilfiger’s version of Cinderella. Rodarte’s Spring 2020 collection looked like figures had stepped out of Rococo-era paintings, and suddenly Regancycore was a top search on Pinterest.
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Many of us had come to the same conclusion — being extremely comfortable in your femininity is perhaps the most empowering thing you can do. And in the last two years, ‘pompous fashion’, ‘Regancycore’ and a dozen other variations of the soft feminine (or dark feminine) looks Disney failed to give us, arrived.
How did we get here? I’m glad you asked.
Bridgerton galloped in
The first place many minds will travel when they think of Regancycore in pop culture, is Bridgeton.
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In late 2020, Bridgeton arrived like a pastel-coloured trojan horse. It schemed a mission to infiltrate the fashion worl– alright, that’s not exactly what its plan was. Still, its arrival meant a package of pastels, silks, exaggerated hairdos and gloves (not the surgeon-approved, at long last) had arrived, and the fashion world gladly answered.
Maybe it was the timing, the fact that we were all fed up with wearing sweatpants daily during the pandemic. Or maybe it was because no one knew what could possibly come next after we’d exhausted athleisure. Some pin it to escapism. Others to the inner child’s outburst. Regardless, it wasn’t long until the trend went from the few to the many.
We were all ready to be softer.
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A pastel palette
It’s not uncommon for a world coming out of a tunnel of dark times to find joy in colour. Like the 1950s celebrated a post-WW era with peachy tones, 2021 picked pastels.
Sorbet and bubblegum colours translated to fashion very quickly; especially with GenZ at the helm of trend-setting ships. And somehow, there was place for everyone. The minimalists were happy because they could still monochrome to their hearts’ content, and the maximalists were happy because they could colour-block with a whole new palette.
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Taking cues from Brigerton’s pastel-lens, decor and fashion both began to reflect the world’s obsession with all things soft. subtle pinks, baby blues, GenZ purple and of course 2021’s favourite — pastel green.
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The softer palette worked for the resurgence of the 70s aesthetic and extended to menswear too, with houses like Versace and Fendi branding pastel suits.
Fast forward to 2022, and the colour scene burned much brighter. Still, pastel pairings were the icing for many looks — especially when it came to Barbiecore’s obsession with every shade of pink ever discovered.
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ALSO SEE: The Barbiecore trend has painted the world pink, but what is it, actually?
Cue the Corset
From Billie Eilish’s 2021 British Vogue cover that saw an Alexander McQueen corset dress, to your favourite small business’s latest batch of bustier goods, corsets were back in circulation — and not entirely in the punk-satrical way (though these looks simply can’t be beat).
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Dresses, mini-skirts, wide-legged pants and even the humblest pair of jeans couldn’t be spared a corset feature.
And, in 2022, the corset became even more popular as fashion got bolder.
Dubbed more of a bustier, it emerged in every variation — from texture effects to faux leather.
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Exaggerated accessories
It’s no coincidence that Cottagecore frolicked onto the scene around the same time Regancycore did as something of an underdressed sibling.
ALSO SEE: ‘Cottagecore’ is the fashion version of going on a picnic
Regancycore invited us to do something the minimalists had frowned upon for too long in the late 2010s — accessorize, then accessorize those accessories, but in an elegant way.
Pearls charmed their way onto everyone’s necks from 2021–mostly those of men. From A$AP Rocky to your 18-year-old brother, the men around us were giving classy boomers a run for their money.
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The chokehold pearls had on society grew to have ‘Pearlcore’ become its own sub-niche. But that’s an article for another day.
And the gloves were on.
In 2022, long silk gloves were the main character when it came to accessories. From icons like Euphoria’s Barbie Ferreira to the runways of Saint Laurent and Valentino and Rihanna’s Fenty stocklist; it became clear very quickly that power-gloves were officially a thing.
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Princess dresses deconstructed
The School of Good & Evil had a third main character — Sofia Wylie’s gown.
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The droopy dress on its own isn’t the star of 2022 (imagine the chaos of this as casual wear?). Instead, its deconstructed elements, like the puffed sleeves and sweetheart cuts hopped onto most buyer and consumer radars this year, taking on edgier textures and pairings. And, don’t forget the new wave power skirt.
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So, whether you’re ready to step into your soft era, feel like polishing up looks you already love with a dash of Regancycore, or have already been unknowingly integrated into its gorgeous clutches — this is one trend that can make anyone feel like the main character.
Feature Image: @dritch
