Fluoro Chic
Yes, I hate that name too, but it’s what I’m going with for now. The anxious and (at least relatively) poor Millennials and younger yearn for the security of sprawling 1970s-era Brutalist institutional buildings, dress codes, cubicles, and pension plans. It may be the look for the latter half of the 2020s.
The obvious current example is the popularity of Apple TV’s Severance, and the influence it’s already starting to have on the runway. It’s likely, in my opinion, that it’s not going to go away when the watercooler buzz from this one show dies down.
GQ has focused on the antics of typical hype-chaser Balenciaga and similar company, who seem to have decided that blue collar cosplay isn’t enough- why not show how rich you are by doing deliberately inauthentic white collar?
That said, the look isn’t confined to clickbait fashion. Photoshoots with Paloma Wool and artists like Pale Flare have also been playing with the powerful, eery yet comforting sterility of the aesthetic.
The appeal is easy to understand- it’s cross-political, calling to mind either government or corporate institutions which, although stifling and faceless, are vastly preferable to the gauche, moronic tyrants in our headlines and workplaces today.
Economic anxieties are nothing new to us, but recession fears are sharpening again. The late 2000s and early 2010s saw a big increase in all-day office wear, and of course hemlines are among the most famous of recession indicators. Currently, pencil skirts seem to be joining other heralds of doom.
Another reason Fluoro Chic has for taking off is the “liminal” label. While it’s become a pretty heavily diluted term due to the churn of video essayists, it does fit well with the general dreamlike strangeness on display. The teenagers who grew up on Backrooms threads are starting to find themselves buying grown-up clothes for grown-up jobs- or at least interviews. Expect more editorials, influencers, and other advertising to take advantage of the familiar unfamiliar.