That is a good question! I googled Utility Chic, which I feel was introduced for Fall 2016/Winter 2017... but it's like it wasn't taken up. But now, it's Summer 2017, looking toward Fall 2017, and I feel Angie has reintroduced it... and I'm happy, because I think that means it will take. But anyways, I see there was a little bit of an effort in 2016... and before that, the last time anyone talked about it was 2006, with sporadic mentions in between. I don't know if this is a ten year cycle, a gathering of steam, or an annual resurgence with more or less resonance!

I wonder if there is a bit of a 10 year cycle Rachy? The "boho", which I think I will now call "peasant", was really big in the early 2000s. ( Partly thanks to Sienna Miller at Glastonbury 2004 I have read.) When I took my girls, who were 14 and 11 at the time, to Oxford UK in 2005 as my sister had just had her first baby, my 14 y old eldest bought a long flowy gypsy-like fuchsia cotton skirt with little mirrors on. She loved it. I loved it as it reminded me of the 70s when I had been a 14 year old teenager myself, 30 years earlier in 1975.
Then 10 years later in early 2015, I bought a Vogue Australia with the most beautiful 70s inspired clothes in it. I got wildly excited about that type of clothing all over again. Here's to 2025?

Why the preference for peasant over boho? Do people really think that it's better to label an economic group of oppressed people rather than a region, lol?

It sounds like you make stylish choices. That's great for your budget!

Rachylou, sing it:

"I'm brilliant and I know it"

verse two "trendsetter and I know it"

You know this is friendly teasing, right? You are good at this.

Yes, boho/peasant/festival chic - I'm not sure if the trend is recycling, never went away, is new or old or peaking... in the past, I've found a ten year cycle to my clothes... but it was more like ten and absolutely done, not ten and returning...

When you get my age, styles return because you're old enough to have worn them before.

Fashiontern I began to feel uncomfortable with the term after the thread on cultural appropriation. I've realised I'm not doing any better with my reference to a gypsy skirt. It's that the French word Boheme came from the Roma or gypsy people and there's a lot of racism directed towards those people in European history. The worst I experienced of it was from a Romanian dentist I met perhaps 10 years ago, she was vitriolic towards the Romany gypsies and generally quite racist in a way we don't tend to be here ( not saying we don't have issues here, but this was blatant). And I thought maybe there are/were peasants in Europe, UK, Russia, China so it's a more inclusive term?
Sorry Rachy if this hijacks your thread! I am still not sure if it matters but maybe it does to some people of that origin, not that I know any personally...

Jenni NZ, i dropped the word "gypsy" long ago, so I understand what you are saying there. That is a different issue than cultural appropriation, which is about who has the right to use things from particular cultures, based on the presumption that cultures are separate, closed entities. Naming comes into play there when things are "invented" by renaming something that was taken from a different context.

Deciding what words to use for something something is a different question. What I was trying to point out with my comment on peasant vs boho is that both terms reference groups of people. Clothing is a "people" thing, after all. It's important not to slander or denigrate groups of people in our language, and avoiding that may take some learning. I don't think that claiming this style came out of the air or was invented by festival attendees helps anything. Clothing is a cultural artifact, there's no way around it.

Thanks FT! I re-read the thread on cultural appropriation while away from this one. I agree that festival chic had to have a background. I'll see how I go with what to call things. My own background is not very mixed at all- nearly all English with a little Irish and Cornish mixed in. Hubby's background is more Scottish. We both had ancestors who came to NZ in 1840 the year of our founding legal document. Unfortunately as early settlers they likely played their part in oppression
Maybe I would like some early Cornish dress?! Would have to Google it- some ancestors were tin miners I think so maybe the men's clothing wasn't very attractive!

Now you've got me thinking about Cornish game hens!

Rachy, I think we are seeing faster cycles. I also think that struggling retailers are clinging to boho and athleisure. Think about it: stretchy and floaty clothes that will accommodate a lot of bodies without having to really "fit" anywhere. Inexpensive fabrics, and less time consuming tailoring. Just a thought.

Your closet is unique, and I think your style is too -- I'm guessing the biggest problem in your closet is keeping it to the right size, and keeping things where you can see them while keeping them tucked away. Too bad you don't own a hipster store with a huge back room. You'd have alternative storage for your clothing, could sell cast offs as cool vintage, and could dress like an arty store owner.

I think I just found you a new career. Pay is probably awful, of course. But the hours would be better than the bakery!

I'm running out to NAS before it ends. By force of will am I going, because what I need to do is sleep and chores.

But Beth Ann - omg, that is EXACTLY what I need: a hipster store for my clothing. This is serious. Lol!! And I could make yarn dolls for it too...