Distressed fashion is sweeping through New York City and beyond, transforming sidewalks into runways. From Gigi Hadid to Kendall Jenner, stars are flaunting ripped, stained, and weathered looks with confidence and style.
Today, distress goes beyond just ripped jeans and denim jackets. It represents relatable fashion—clothes that are comfortable, casual, stylish, and chic.
Brooklyn-based vintage shop owner Logan Troyer is among those embracing the trend, favoring garments marked by age, wear, and visible history. What might once have been considered damaged or discarded is now seen as “wearable art,” he said, emphasizing slashed garments as a statement rooted in the Renaissance era.
According to the New York Post, this growing movement celebrates individuality as rising costs push fashion lovers to think more creatively instead of choosing common, mass-produced designs.
Even luxury brands have joined the trend, making stained, asymmetrical, and ripped clothes and selling them for thousands of dollars as couture. They are trying to sell younger consumers the idea of embracing fashion that goes beyond strict traditional norms.
Designer Logan Troyer says she fell in love with the rugged style during the COVID-19 lockdown. Her collection, which includes items from the 1960s, is filled with pieces that resonate widely, and each one seems hard to replicate since it holds meaning. “Every piece is a one-of-a-kind. It’s unique,” she said.
Distress Fest, New York City’s annual vintage clothing extravaganza, will be held at 1896 Studios in Williamsburg on Sunday, March 28. It will feature pieces from more than 50 vendors showcasing heavily worn and uniquely aged items. The festival celebrates unconventional fashion and the individuality behind each piece.
The website says that the fest will feature vintage clothing with a unique perspective that not only allows you to purchase quickly but also allows you to carefully inspect each piece before paying for it.
Meanwhile, Troyer has been a vintage shop owner since 2020 and says she has attended the fest every year. According to her, the natural wear and tear, from stains to tears, carry a narrative that cannot be made artificially.
“There’s just something so special about it,” she said, “wearing something that took years and years and years to become the way it looks right now.”
Furthermore, mass production has become a trend to make up for the shift in the global economy due to inflation and financial strains that directly influence buyer behavior.
Social media has also played a major role in defining the trajectory of the trend. Unique designs that “shock people” and gain widespread traction are preferred by younger consumers, and influencers are favored over simple and sophisticated garments.
Major fashion houses are now attempting to make slashing, or otherwise “aging,” clothes as fast as they can and sell them to a mass audience who closely follow trends.
Instead of waiting years for garments to age naturally, brands are manufacturing distress into their designs. One relevant example is a luxury label offering an “antiqued” leather jacket priced at around $8,000, complete with artificial aging effects.
Other designers are also embracing the trend, producing jeans with patchwork repairs that look worn out from the start. Gigi Hadid appeared on the cover of Vogue Korea in ripped knee jeans.
Similarly, plus-size model Ashley Graham has been spotted wearing pre-torn tees, like the $72 Harlow Destroyed BFF Tee with a wrinkled neckline, asymmetrical detail and faded color scheme.
According to The Guardian, distress fashion has also made brands experiment with bizarre concepts. In 2014, Adidas produced trainers coated in “handcrafted mud,” while Japanese brand Zoo Jeans offered jeans pre-torn by lions, tigers, and bears.
Yet, the trend has faced criticism as people have associated the style with “poor dressing sense.” For instance, Mike Rowe, former host of Dirty Jobs, has slammed the muddy jeans style on social media, arguing they simulate work for those who have never performed manual labor.