The Vibes Are #Back: The resurgence of mint and the nostalgia of the 2010s
Written by Aaliyah Smith
Are the 2010s making a comeback?
It started in the mornings. I'd wake up, start getting ready, and reach for something to put me in the right headspace. The music I kept returning to was not the“ modern” tunes you may be expecting. Rather, I’ve had“ Lean On” by Major Lazer on REPEAT. I’ve thrown a little Avicii and Calvin Harris in there too. I wasn’t putting these throwback bangers on for pure nostalgia, I was listening to them unironically. The songs are so good, too good actually. Something about those productions—that specific combination of drop and lift and euphoria—does something to your mood that almost nothing else does. It gets you out the door feeling like something good is about to happen, adds a little extra pep in your step.
Like the massive analyst I am, I wondered: why am I going back here? What does it mean that this is the music making me feel okay right now? Flashback to D.C., the end of the semester. There were so many 2010s theme parties. People showed up in neon fits, with mustaches drawn on their hands, those big black plastic glasses on, and snapback caps adorning their heads. There was some serious party rocking going down in there, but none of it was cringe. Instead, we embraced the corniness of the era. We were doing it the way you do something that actually felt good the first time around, with full commitment and with joy. I was standing there in the midst of it all and thinking:“ this is what fun looks like!”
The thing about 2010s fashion coming back is that it goes way deeper than the obvious. Yes, mint is back—that very specific Tumblr-era toothpaste green that lived on every mood board from 2012 onwards, that shade that meant you had an affinity for washi tape and a string of Polaroids above your bed. Mint is back and it brought her friends with her too. Wedges are also back. The braided sandal. The going-out top. The statement earring that takes up a third of your face and you wear it anyway because why not, it’s summer.
But what’s really back (and what I think people are underestimating) is the corniness. The sincere, unironic, high-vibes corniness of an era that hadn't yet learned to be embarrassed about wanting to feel good. These days, we pretend to be too cool, too superior to commit to anything. Too aware. Everything has to have a distance to it, a wink, a layer of protection between you and the thing you actually like. And now people are just...dropping that illusion. Showing up to the 2010s party in galaxy print, screaming every word to“ S&M”: that’s what I call a cultural shift.
I mean, just look at what Tyla is doing with A*POP. That rollout has a specific maximalist frequency to it. It’s not trying to be tasteful, not trying to be understated, just fully committing to a vision of pop femininity that is abundant and confident and loud. It reads Rihanna, early Rihanna—the Umbrella era, the Don't Stop the Music era. PinkPantheress is another artist that has been channeling nostalgia, threading early 2000s breakbeat and 2010s pop production into something that sounds like a memory you can't quite place, which is its own kind of genius. Zara Larsson has been living in that unashamedly mainstream, I-want-this-to-bang-in-a-stadium pop space that the 2010s built and nobody has quite rebuilt, not until now.
These aren’t women merely“ performing” nostalgia. They are using authentic experiences to connect to something formative, something that shaped how we move, something we reach for when we want to feel alive.
And Tumblr? Tumblr is back like it never left.
It makes sense. Tumblr was building visual identities, creating aesthetics from scratch, making mood boards as a serious practice years before any of the language we use now. The looks that came from Tumblr were weird and personal and specific and real.
I want that 2016 summer back, or at least something like it. I crave that summer energy where the music is right and the nights are long and it feels like the vibe could carry you through anything.
Luckily for me, we are coming out of a long period of quiet dressing, tonal outfits, quiet luxury and the idea that taste equals restraint. I think people are done with that. I think people want to show up again. I believe the 2010s are back precisely because the 2010s never learned to apologize for themselves and right now, that energy is the most radical and needed thing in the room.
SO, everyone go out and get your mint. Maybe dust one of those printed leggings. Be brave enough to rock that all emoji suit.
This summer, let’s be loud!
