Meet 'kindercore'—why every cool girl on Instagram is dressing like a six-year-old

If your Instagram feed feels like a chaotic crossover between a Bratz slumber party and a preschool craft fair, you’re not hallucinating. Remember when your biggest fashion dilemma was whether to wear your glitter jelly sandals or your Powerpuff Girls tee? Congratulations, that's the look now. We're calling it Kindercore. Jelly sandals, Hello Kitty tees, sticker earrings, cartoon-print nails, and beads everywhere: on bags, phone straps, and even eyebrows. This is the fashion trend that’s pulling hard on your inner child’s pigtails.

Let’s call it what it is

This isn’t Y2K 2.0; it’s even more chaotic—Y2K on steroids, if you will. A hyper-nostalgic mix of mid-2000s cartoon merch, schoolyard accessories, and the kind of outfits that once got you sent to the principal's office for "too much personality," it’s what happens when Gen Z raids their own childhood memories, then turns the dial to “camp.” So, here are the pieces everyone's wearing (again):

Jelly sandals 

The squeaky shoes of your childhood, now in neon, metallics, and even as platforms.

Cartoon crop tops

Care Bears, Hello Kitty, Bratz — your faves from 2003 are back, now fitted and TikTok-famous. Equal parts cute and ironic, they’re the unofficial flag of Y2K revivalists.

Beaded phone straps

Think summer camp bracelets… for your phone. Often handmade, often chaotic, always adorable.

Cartoon nail art

Your nails are for Saturday morning cartoons.

Butterfly clips

If you didn’t have these in third grade, you’re getting your redemption arc now.

Cute as a coping mechanism

Fashion has always mirrored the mood of the moment, and right now, that mood is: “Please give me something that sparks serotonin.” In a world that feels chronically heavy (hello, climate anxiety, infinite workdays, and doomscrolling), Kindercore offers a playful escape. Gen Z and younger Millennials are reclaiming childhood joy in the form of tactile, glittery dopamine dressing. There’s safety in softness, rebellion in being unserious, and power in rejecting "adult woman chic" in favour of chaotic colour palettes and nostalgia-fueled self-expression. What’s more healing than dressing like life is one big sleepover?

It’s giving childhood, but make it chic

At first glance, it might feel like fashion’s losing its mind — but it’s actually doing something radical. In a world that demands women be polished, professional, and Pinterest-perfect 24/7, dressing like a kid is a rebellious act. It says: I don’t exist to be palatable or practical, I exist to have fun, I exist to feel joy. Dressing like a kid lets you flirt with identity without the pressure to define it. It’s a rejection of adult burnout and a celebration of everything unfiltered and joyfully juvenile. Fashion isn’t growing up—and it doesn’t want to. The closet is a playground again, which is exactly the kind of emotional support dressing we all deserve.

Lead image: Getty Images

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