TIER LIST: Worst Beauty & Fashion Trends of Every Decade
The Worst Beauty and Fashion Trend of Every Decade Tier List
Welcome to MsMojo, and today were counting down our picks for the most egregious style statements from the last ten decades that should have never seen the light of day. Join us as we rank these aesthetic low points from tiers S through D; S being the equivalent of a dumpster fire and D, the lesser evil.
The 2010s
Call it recency bias or denial, but The Tens were rather tame. The cool kids club turned to subtle offenses, like rocking harsh dip dye in the name of ombré. They completed the look by slipping on some shutter shades channeling Kanye West, which, we now know, wasnt the flex we made it out to be. However, it was another trend that tainted the 2010s. When Kylie Jenner shook the internet with her newly filled lips, it sparked a movement powered by insecurity. The rise of duck lips profited cosmetic surgeons and KJ, who capitalized on her impact by launching lip kits for overdrawing your pout. Although pervasive, the new look elicited no more than an eye roll. So, this decade gets a D.
The 2000s
The aughts had a revolutionary sartorial identity. Fashion today owes its low-rise jeans and rimless glasses to Y2K. However, with timeless wins came disastrous fails. One such 2000s wardrobe staple was the velour tracksuit, courtesy of Juicy Couture, because if Paris Hilton was wearing them, they had to be cool, right? Wrong. Elevated pajamas are not a serve. Another Hilton-led craze was flaunting tiny dogs as accessories, which sometimes led to their abandonment when the fad passed. Still, nothing compares to the tragic trifecta of Uggs with miniskirts over pants. Even the mighty Beyoncé fell victim to the curse of the Ugg and styled it with a skirt. How could mere mortals like us stand a chance? This trend is going straight to tier A.
The 1990s
This decade oscillated between extremes. Slinky slips and baggy grungy fits were all the rage, but the dark side of nineties style was confusing at best. Youd imagine life was all sunshine and roses, with how prevalent blossom hats were. The absurdly large millinery was the embodiment of toxic optimism. Simultaneously, the bleak heroin chic aesthetic was in vogue, promoting the unhealthiest beauty standards. However, participants in these trends still had hope for redemption, which wasnt the case for enthusiasts of the infamous skinny brows. Nineties kids who gave in to the temptation of plucking their eyebrows down to a pencil-thin line only for the hype to fade will never recover from the trauma. For this, off to tier A the nineties brows go!
The 1980s
The final boss of unforgivable fashion choices during this period was preceded by a few weaker villains. The eighties perm left unsuspecting victims with irreversible chemical damage for life. Similarly, rubber bracelets never looked half as fabulous on ordinary people as they did on Madonna. However, the fashion industry really set us up for failure when it gave us the MC Hammer pants. These saggy messes popularized by the eponymous rapper were a test to see how far humanity would go to fit in. Needless to say, the results were disappointing because people couldnt get enough of them. So, the MC Hammer pants must be buried deep in our collective unconscious and never spoken of again. Were banishing them to the S tier.
The 1970s
Something strange was afoot in the fashion world during the disco era. Punk rockers like the Sex Pistols had fans sporting safety pin piercings all over their faces. Meanwhile, renowned designers were pushing their shoulder pad agenda down womens throats. Neither of these had the X factor to make them truly repulsive though. Thats where patchwork skirts came in. Now, we get that patchwork garments popped up during desperate times, and their seventies iteration was born out of a preference for sustainability among hippies. However, with all due respect, were here to hate. So, we just cant ignore how aesthetically challenged they were. As zoomers would say, theyre painfully mid. So, tier B is where they belong.
The 1960s
The defiant, nonconformist energy of the counterculture decade has our respect. However, girl groups like the Ronettes making white lipstick a thing took the rebellious spirit a bit too far. This pale makeup was a jarring contrast to the vividly patterned tights that became a must-have during this time. That said, the real centre of attention was a different beast entirely. Ladies donned beehives on their heads, or thats what they called the supersized bouffants they hauled around atop their crowns. The big hair illusion was created by teasing ones locks to death and setting them in place with gravity-defying hairspray. Naturally, hair health was severely compromised, and for that, this trend deserves to be in tier A.
The 1950s
Post-war fashion in the West saw much hullabaloo over the ideal feminine silhouette. Diors New Look, which originated in the forties and was favored well into the fifties, presented an hourglass shape. As a response, Chanel came out with the more relaxed tweed suit. There were also a few hard misses like the poodle skirt. However, many women found personal hell in the eternally uncomfortable bullet bras normalized by sweater girls like Marilyn Monroe. Despite their disturbingly conical shape, these undergarments were absolutely pointless, serving no purpose other than catering to the male gaze. However, just because it would be a generalization to suggest that all women who adopted this style were sexualized against their will, well relegate this trend to tier C.
The 1940s
This was a dark time in world history. So, innovation in fashion came mostly in the form of utilitarianism. As resources became scarce, accessories like hats were impacted. Thus, smaller designs like fascinators and doll hats were favored over more flashy options. However, in this attempt to make the best of whats available, menswear-inspired hats were shrunk into comical miniature versions. You couldnt possibly take someone seriously when they were serving Charlie Chaplin realness with their tiny derby. That said, as this was a fashion faux pas influenced by wartime restrictions, well go easy on it and place it in tier C.
The 1930s
Inspired by Hollywood stars who sold an escapist fantasy, one group of women during this decade opted for the fanciest Greek Goddess drip. In the wake of the First World War, the other half started going out to work. A significant way this affected fashion was by causing the decline of gloves. As these inefficient accouterments left the spotlight, manicures took their place. However, snobs associated painted nails with being unkempt. In response, the girlies reached for the half-moon manicure, where the base of the nail and its tip were left devoid of lacquer to prove they were well-groomed too. The style caught on, even among celebrities. In hindsight, though, it looked incomplete and was screaming for validation. The lukewarm tier D is calling its name.
The 1920s
The spirit of the Jazz Age was characterized by liberation from societal expectations and corsets alike, thanks to the popularity of pretty little flapper dresses. However, such freedom wasnt found in the beachwear department. The fact that swimsuits were even a thing back then was radical. But conservative codes of conduct dictated their design. Thus, the bathing dress made of tacky taffeta was born. Now, modesty is understandable, given the era. Yet, whats baffling is that a lady could go right to jail if her swimsuit was supposedly too short. Besides, they had to be paired with stockings and shoes. That feels like the real crime, and so, tier A is where itll go.
In conclusion, after careful deliberation on the edge of crashing out, we have our fashion and beauty trend tier list. In the unholy S tier, sit the cursed eighties MC Hammer pants that wed delete the existence of, if we could. The twenties, sixties, nineties, and two-thousands are in the acutely aggravating A tier. The seventies deserve a bombastic side-eye, and so, we put them in tier B. Meanwhile, the forties and the fifties are in the mildly annoying tier C. Finally, we werent too pressed about the thirties and the twenty-tens, which leaves them in tier D.
Funnily enough, were only halfway through the twenty-twenties, but we can already see some contemporary trends that could potentially shake up this ranking. From soap brows to buccal fat removal, and caterpillar lashes that crawled straight out of an eldritch nightmare, this decade might just be the W.O.A.T. a.k.a. the worst of all time.
Which trend from the 2020s do you think is a hot mess, and have you hopped on that bandwagon? This is a safe space, so feel free to confess in the comments down below!
