MARGO MILANOWSKI, REPORTER: Over the last few months to a year, a certain style of clothing, and even home decor, has cropped up called avant-basic. The term coined by Twitter user Emma Hope Allwood refers to the quirkiness of the trend in the first half but the saturation of the style and popular media in a second.
MELISSA SANTOYO, STITCH MAGAZINE STYLING TEAM: For me, immediately when I saw it like I saw what avant-basic entailed, I kind of thought like, okay, Memphis design movement, but like maybe a little watered down. That’s like this big style of like patterns that was really big in the 80s. Think like the McDonald’s sprite from like, the 90s, if you know what I’m talking about. So it’s like a repetition of like colorful patterns. Print mixing, I think most like where I’ve seen it most online, it’s always been like pastel colors like that pastel green. That’s really big right now, pastel purple. Yeah.
MILANOWSKI: That’s Melissa Santoyo, a Northwestern student and styling staffer for Northwestern’s fashion magazine Stitch.
SANTOYO: So it’s just kind of like these patterns that you think would be like, pretty far-fetched pretty out there. But because they’ve become so popularized by like, tik tok and social media. That’s kind of where the basic aspect comes in like everyone’s wearing these — so they’re less —I think it’s like a way for people to like express themselves without being like, too, out there.
MILANOWSKI: These pieces can be found on fast fashion websites that are constantly updated according to what’s trending, including popular clothing and accessory website, Shein, Instagram shops, and more. While the style is all over these stores and social media, many people have commented on how they don’t actually see this avant-basic style anywhere else for a host of reasons. From people not wanting to repeat outfits to people going out less during the pandemic.
SANTOYO: Yeah, so I definitely don’t see it in real life. And I just think that’s because we live in the Midwest. Um, like, I don’t know, Evanston is not particularly the fashion capital of the world. Or like, the fashion capital of like, Illinois. So yeah, I don’t see it much in real life. And I frankly don’t see it outside of Instagram or Tik Tok. It definitely feels like it’s being pushed heavily by influencers. Like, I am thinking of someone right now who I don’t want to butcher her name. But it’s like Rowi Singh, I believe. Her Instagram It’s beautiful. It’s full of like bright pastel colors, things like that. Like I’m looking at like her pattern pillows and her candles even, or like the shapes, you would see on the patterns of like avant-basic pieces.
MILANOWSKI: It’s unclear if this trend is here to stay or be quickly cycled through like many trends
SANTOYO: I like checked out Vogue’s predictions for, like, what fall 2021 is going to look like. And though nothing like screams specifically on basic, I still see a lot of the, like trends that have been popular even, like last fall, still cropping up in certain places. So I don’t know. I don’t think this is going to be particularly short-lived. But I think it also depends on like your media consumption and how much you like, buy into trends and stuff like that.
MILANOWSKI: For WNUR News, I’m Margo Malinowski.
produced and reported by Margo Milanowski
