Barbiecore, balletcore and mermaidcore are just a handful of trends that have cropped up in recent months alongside the still-popular Y2K look. Bringing bright and bold colours, sequins, silver, 00s-style graphic T-shirts and baggy trousers into our wardrobes, it’s certainly captured the hearts of many a fashion fan. But there may be more to these fun fashion styles than meets the eye.

The #DressingForMyInnerChild hashtag is starting to trend on TikTok, currently sitting at around 33,000 views. As all of these above trends seem to fall into this child-like fashion category, could this connection to the past be a reason for their popularity? Quite possibly. I caught up with two experts to help explain why. 

“Inner child relates to the child inside of all of us,” explains Lara Waycot, qualified counsellor (MBACP) and coach. “We were all children once, and in that childhood, we had experiences. Those childhood experiences, whether positive or negative, stay with us and can inform our attitudes, beliefs and ways of relating to ourselves and others.

“Inner child therapy, therefore, aims to connect with that child inside of us and give that child what they needed at that time,” she continues, explaining how the term has grown in popularity over recent years, thanks in part to the breaking down of mental health taboos.

But while common issues such as perfectionism, defensiveness and anxiety can all come up in the therapy room – which can be incredibly triggering, so needs to be done with a trained professional – having fun with our inner child and “allowing it to be curious, to play and to lose some of the inhibitions we grow as adults” is just as important, Waycot explains. Which is exactly where these fashion trends can come in. 

“How we dress is a way of expressing ourselves, our personality, interests and identity,” adds ​​Dr Carolyn Mair, cognitive psychologist, author of The Psychology Of Fashion and fashion business consultant. “Dressing for our inner child allows us to escape (albeit temporarily) from the demands and responsibilities of adulthood in a playful way. This becomes even more desirable when we are facing situations we find stressful, eg the cost of living crisis, climate catastrophe, negative news, etc.” Which, it seems, we could all benefit from right now.

Looking at the barbiecore, mermaidcore and balletcore trends, Waycot finds their rise in popularity incredibly interesting. “It’s like these trends are giving us an opportunity to reconnect with that inner child,” she states. “It’s giving our inner child freedom to play [and] enables us to gain a sense of freedom, to lose some of those inhibitions.”

Mair adds: “In addition to self-expression and escapism, cultural influences and nostalgic fashion trends have an important part to play.” While dressing in a way that resembles what we wore as children – bold colours, pops of pink and sequins – can evoke pleasant past memories, it can also be a way of “boosting wellbeing by facilitating a sense of security or validation that may have been lacking in our childhood”, she explains, adding that designers love to pull on nostalgia to evoke a sense of familiarity and security within us as consumers, often prompting us to purchase and therefore creating fashion trends that others just follow. 

“People may not be doing this consciously, but I don’t think you see someone dressed in barbiecore or with glittery eyeshadow who isn’t presenting in a positive way: smiling, approachable, childlike almost,” Waycot adds. So, whether we’re aware of why we’re drawn to the sparkly silver trousers, tutus or pretty pink co-ords or are just trying to find joy through fashion, let’s hope this expressive way of dressing long continues. 

Images: Getty