“Everyone becomes the journalist of their own life, it’s exhausting.” the return of paparazzi aesthetics.

The similarity is unusual. In a paparazzi photo from the 2000s, Kate Moss walks the streets of London in a white fur vest and skinny jeans, accompanied by two of her favorite accessories: dark glasses and her city bag from Balenciaga (Nicolas Ghesquière era), the bags of the decade that she popularized. In 2024, the supermodel reenacts the scene in front of the paparazzi, walking her two dogs through the streets of London’s Notting Hill district.

In his sunglasses (in the middle of the night), a white fur coat and black thigh-high boots, he radiates like a rock star. In the crook of his arm, a new city reimagined by Demna, Balenciaga’s current artistic director, and whose muse he is. These two photos are separated by 24 years, but the style icon reminds us that her unique look remains a timeless reference. And that 2000s look is making a triumphant return.

Fashion is back

Remember: In the 2000s, Kate Moss was the queen of street looks. Social media didn’t exist back then, and Brindle’s photos, followed day and night by the super-powered celebrity press photographers of the time, infused the fashion aesthetic. Kate dictated the trends with these sneaky photos of her boyfriend, trash can Pete Doherty. Her dress code. Slim jeans/leather or fur jacket/stud bag. Having fallen out of favor for a while, this rock chic look is now making a big comeback, with younger generations calling it genius.

This is also evidenced by the unexpected return of the ballerina, which Sienna Miller showed in all the paparazzi photos of the 2000s. In their posts, they take mimicry to the point of reproducing the street style aesthetics of “paparazzi” in a complex version. As a result, twenty-somethings on TikTok are now passionate about this shoe.

Indiesleaze:the appearance of the rock was resurrected

A new keyword brings together this 2000s Gen Z craze: #indiesleaze. A dedicated page with a large following on Instagram (190K) brings together photos of appearances, parties and rock star artists of the time (The Strokes, The Libertines, The Kills…). Contraction in between indie (indie rock) and weaken (vulgar), the term is now one of the trends that excites the trendsetters. This 2000s comeback, Thomas Zilbermann of Carlin International, knows well. “We’re in the second moment of the 2000s comeback, we first had what we called Y2K, basically the low-rise jeans look… Trend indiesleazeit’s really a return to a rockier look. We’re once again seeing nails and fringes on the catwalks, like Isabel Marant’s latest show.”

For the pundit, we’re witnessing the end of a cycle of omnipotent streetwear; “Rap has dominated the music industry for years. The world of luxury has absorbed this imagination, which has saturated our performances. This has led to all these successful collaborations between rappers and luxury brands. And Pharrell Williams, head of menswear at Louis Vuitton.” In the face of this form of “undermining” of streetwear, the old rock cousin seems to be restoring coolness, and thus desirability, through a pendulum effect.

The era of pre-smartphones

For our expert, the appeal of the 2000s, now vintage, can also be explained by a very simple thing: the absence of social networks at that time. Since Instagram was born in 2010. “Today there is a kind of saturation effect with the dominance of social networks, which are perceived by young people as a real limitation,” analyzes Thomas Zilberman. For them, this pre-smartphone period is a type Terra incognita, a golden age, a moment of freedom where one could let one’s individuality express itself without the normalizing steamroller of networks. In an anxiety-inducing age where our every move seems scrutinized and pointed, the years of celebrity press and Tumblr, by contrast, seem very refreshing…

We are therefore swimming in the midst of ‘exostalgia’, an era of nostalgia for this phenomenon we didn’t know… ‘Life today is just one big one; catwalk” agrees Gabriel Gauthier, head of advertising agency Jesus & Gabriel. “With social networks, everyone becomes like a journalist of his own life. it’s exhausting.” He recalls that in the 2000s, stars relied more on the paparazzi to capture their “outfit of the day,” like Lindsay Lohan or Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, ultra-stylish to go for a latte macchiato on Rodeo Drive… Bottega Veneta travels is with this “paparazzi” aesthetic for one of his latest viral campaigns (titled “Readymade,” a nod to Marcel Duchamp). We see rapper ASAP Rocky strolling the streets of Los Angeles in full BV look…actually a real paparazzi shot bought by the brand.

True-false aesthetics

For Gabriel Gaultier, even if this real-fake aesthetic is nothing new, “this production calls to mind the street-view images of 2000s genre star photographer Sartorialist.” There’s no doubt that stardom in the middle of the Los Angeles street is on the rise. And a central figure in pop culture infuses the zeitgeist: Paris Hilton. For Céline’s summer 2024 show, Hedi Slimane offered a miniskirt/fur boots silhouette that Paris 2004 wouldn’t deny.

As for Demna for Balenciaga, her fall-winter 2024 collection offered nothing less than pink jogging pants, the iconic look of the blonde heiress, she says, a critique of the superficiality of American celebrity culture. Coincidence or conspiracy? The American press is announcing the imminent return of Paris Hilton and her BFF Nicole Richie in a new TV show, twenty years after the cult reality show that made them famous. A simple life. 2024 is the new 2004…