There is something inherently moving about flipping through old photo albums. The inevitable nostalgia of remembering how different you once were, how much you have grown and changed, and the pleasant surprise of finding those parts of you that have resolutely stayed the same. Each moment becomes recollectible, a bite-sized taste of your childhood, even if you can no longer remember it on your own. A missing front tooth brings you back to age six, a wonky cake crammed with candles signifies twelve—the years that make up all that you know, everything that you are, laid out in tableaux of mismatched socks, sparkly tiaras and the occasional faded shirt still sitting in the back of your closet. 

In the past year, I have found myself grappling more than ever with this notion of “growing up”. I feel older and, dare I say, wiser than I have ever been, yet it is precisely this newfound wisdom that also makes me more aware than ever of how utterly unprepared I am to confront the unknown. After all, isn’t that fundamentally what growing up is? A continuous confrontation of all the growing you still have to do. The passage of time is thrilling in its promise yet nonetheless daunting in its uncertainty, and as much as I may look forwards with hope, I cannot shake the natural anxiety that comes when faced with the endless, bokeh stretch of horizon that lies before me, exhilaratingly indiscernible. 

But the future has always been unknown, and childhood ignorance, when wilfully reclaimed, becomes adult courage. My 1-year-old self never made any self-conscious, anxious attempts at intellectualising her first steps—she simply put one foot before the other, falling again and again, until eventually, she was walking. Flipping through those dust-covered photo albums was reassurance that sometimes, we can worry less and simply do. I saw clothes that would have felt ridiculous a few years ago now whispering back with surprising relevance—a heartening reminder that the future isn’t only about growing out of things, but growing into them again, too.

I’m far from the only one to be taking inspiration from childhood. As we barrel towards the future at unprecedented speeds of advancement and production, the world has been seeking comfort by looking back to the past in various ways. (Economists may conclude that this is a recession indicator, and whether it is or not, I’ll leave for them to talk about.) 

 

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Dua Lipa donning butterfly hair clips.

Fashion has been no exception, with old trends rapidly reviving themselves. The Row, Jimmy Choo and Bottega Veneta have all partaken in the controversial resurrection of jelly sandals, those squeaky shoes from the 2000s that are just a little bit ugly and a lot of fun; babydoll dresses are all the rage for the summer, especially after their reappearances in Loewe and Versace’s SS23 collections; and the 90s revival after the pandemic brought with it the return of colourful butterfly clips, which have since been donned by the likes of Dua Lipa and Bella Hadid. I’ve found myself reaching for silly, cartoonish tees that my high school self would have moaned in embarrassment about having outgrown, embracing colourful embroidered cardigans and jeans with rhinestone-embellished back pockets as I mature out of that irrational, childish but perhaps all too universal fear of being too much. 

It’s not that these things just so happen to be “coming back” in style, so much as that we are bringing them back—and with them, the shameless, unburdened childhood delight that comes with doing whatever we’d like. To wear what you once loved, not necessarily because it’s back in style, but because it reconnects you to the fearless version of your childhood self who wore it first.

In the spirit of sharing and connecting, then, here are some things I wore as a child that I would wear again now.

Floral cardigans

Bonus points if your cardigan matches with your hair clip!

Ballet dresses and tie-up flats

I used to take ballet lessons, too, and while that skill may be long lost to my stiff bones now, I can still dress to pay homage to that little dancer within.

Butterfly-patterned dresses

This look was a favourite back in the day, and were I still to have it, it would likely be a favourite now, too.

Pink bow with matching pink trackies 

Please note that my boots have pink pom-poms attached to the ends of their laces. How absolutely delightful is that?

Jeans with embellished back pockets