Nicky's Rag Tales

Up at an ungodly hour I headed to the RTE radio headquarters in Donneybrook this morning and with Deirdre Mc Quillan had a long chat with Ryan Tubridy looking back at the noughties. The researcher had sent me a list of questions last week which got me thinking back over the last nine years.

Peppered with re-inventions from the past no new trends emerged but fashion changed on a daily basis and it was a both exhausting and liberating period. Sex and the City launched onto our screens and we couldn’t get enough of those four friends. ‘Monolo’s and Jimmy Choo’s became household names. Corsages were on every lapel and we learnt how to experiment with our clothes. We learnt to mix vintage with new. Wear evening for day and use accessories. Is there anyone who doesn’t have a name neckchain?

Those girls

At the beginning of the decade many Fashion websites launched and flopped and no-one thought you could sell clothes on the Internet. Digital photography got better and Net a Porter and My Wardrobe along with ASOS grew to enormous online businesses. We could shop or window shop from our living rooms in the click of a button.

Celebrity endorsements grew to enormous proportions, Victoria Beckham shed her WAG tag and was photographed in that Roland Mouret Galaxy dress, which shot through the stratosphere. It was followed by copies in every high street store. Talking of the high Street, Zara copied all the key trends and had them on the hangers in a matter of weeks. Other High street chains were quick to follow Designer collaborations gave us affordable fashion which started with Karl Lagerfeld for H&M continued by Stella McCartney and a whole host of others.

The Strokes launched their album ‘Is this it ‘ in 2001 and the skinny jean took off. Jeans got lower and lower and the thong toppled over the edge. Jeans were huge and we paid more and more for the latest ‘It’ style. Talking of ‘It’, Mulberry brought out the ‘Bayswater’ big bag and the ‘It’ bag was born with every luxury brand bringing out a new and more expensive one each season.

Kate Moss sloshed around Glastonbury in those shorts, waistcoat , wellies and mud while Beyonce wore bling.

Kate Moss at Glastonbury

Boots worn over our Skinny Jeans and shoes in every colour bar black. Heels got higher and higher (bunions grew bigger and bigger!) and ballerina flats were pulled out of those big bags when we couldn’t take the pain any longer. Ugly Uggs and Comic Crocs were everywhere and Gladiator shoes made our legs look like tree trunks.

We slathered and then sprayed on the fake tan and had too much flesh on show. Little girls dressed like their mothers and leggings became and remain a staple worn with tunic tops and allowing those oldies to wear shorter dresses. This was the decade of the dress and we wore them in all shapes and throughout the day and night. Before 200o you could only get evening dresses. Opaque tights were and continue to be a fantastic addition which meant we didn’t have to shave our legs all Winter.

Irish women embraced all the changes, glued to ‘Off the Rails’,’ Trinny and Susannah’ and ‘Gok Wan’ we discovered shapewear. Spanx and now Yummie Tummie let us wear those beautiful sheath and shift dresses without showing all those bulges. Size 0 and 00 was huge news and a very ugly moment. Kate Moss snorted Cocaine and got away with it and we all learnt the name of the ‘Stylists’.

Ethical fashion was just starting to become serious when the recession hit and now it’s all down to Price, Price Price. As we travelled the world we bought tons of Fakes, Bags, Jewellery, shoes.

Oscar Wilde said fashion was ‘A form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months’. It seems that in the noughties that was every 10 minutes.

As we enter 2010 we are somewhat poorer but one thing’s for sure we will still be trend watching and buying whenever we can.