2023: the year of nostalgia

Nostalgia is all about that familiar feeling. And from cinema to street fashion, plenty happened in 2023 to trigger memories of the not-so-distant past. Gen Z and Millenials lead the pack as the two most nostalgic groups, and much of the year's trends reflected that, according to a 2023 GWI report. Here's a look at how nostalgia made 2023 a year to (re)remember:

Super Mario, a Disney Princess, and Barbenheimer

Nostalgia has been pervasive in the film world for the last few years, and 2023 was no exception. In the spring, "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" brought one of the most beloved video game series to life, setting a new record for the biggest opening weekend of an animated movie in history, surpassing 2019's "Frozen II." After the movie's massive success, Nintendo announced plans to release a live-action adaptation of another classic game, The Legend of Zelda. Disney also stayed on the nostalgia train, reviving one of their classics with a live-action remake of The Little Mermaid, starring Beyoncé prodigy Halle Bailey. 

This year's Oscars season "is already displaying a rather particular relationship with nostalgia," Joe Reid observed in Vanity Fair, "a push-pull between what's appealing about our past and what deserves to be dismantled." Leading the pack are last summer's blockbuster duo, Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer" biopic and Greta Gerwig's "Barbie," "neither of which has a simple relationship with nostalgia," Reid added. The former "takes direct aim at American righteousness in everything from our triumph over the Nazis in World War II to the morality of scientific progress." The latter takes on "everything from patriarchy to the impossible expectations placed on women to Matchbox Twenty." Both movies challenged our complicated relationships with romanticizing the past. 

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Regardless, "the Barbenheimer phenomenon itself was nostalgic, a much-needed throwback to a time when the movies had something for everyone," Reid opined. Last summer was a rekindling of "a time when people went out to the movies because it was the thing to do," he added. "Few things in modern-day Hollywood are more nostalgic than that."  

Y2K and 70's sleaze take over the streets

The early aughts and Y2K fashion continued to trend throughout 2023. Vogue named Y2K boho-inspired denim maxi skirts one of the year's defining fashion items. Girlhood was another returning trend that "has taken over with a new force," Refinery29 reported. From the pink parade of last summer's Barbiemania to the resurgence of the balletcore aesthetic, "the fall/winter 2023 trends were all about relics of childhood dressing," the outlet noted.  

An evolution of 1970s trends permeated men's fashion, Men's Flair reported. Big collars, relaxed fits, flared pants and statement shirts made a comeback. Accessories helped men top off the '70s sleaze vibe, like brow-bar glasses, heeled boots and a "revival of '70s sneaker icon, the Adidas Samba" through a collaboration with British designer Wales Bonner. 

The healing power of nostalgia 

Experts say that indulging in nostalgia could have a number of health and wellness benefits, but there was a time when nostalgia's beneficial aspects weren't clear, Time reported. The concept of nostalgia has a "complicated past", beginning in the 1600s when a a Swiss medical student coined the term to describe the homesickness soldiers in European wars felt. Because that homesickness triggered anxiety and physical ailments, nostalgia "was originally thought of as a brain disease," says Clay Routledge, a psychologist who is vice president of research and director of the Human Flourishing Lab at Archbridge Institute, a nonprofit research organization, told Time. Eventually, that understanding of nostalgia has evolved, and recent research, including studies led by Routledge, suggests that "yearning for the past has an upside," the magazine noted. Studies show that nostalgia can help people build stronger interpersonal relationships, lower prejudice against marginalized groups and increase our capacity for providing emotional support.

Through studying nostalgia, Routledge discovered that when people share nostalgic memories, many of those memories signify as much about the future as they do about the past. "It's looking backwards," Routledge said, “but it's because you want ideas for how to move forward."