why is gen-z obsessed with the old hollywood aesthetic?

Is this what happens when you become sick of the constant micro-trends being pushed to you on your algorithms?

(Pictured above: Brigitte Bardot)

In the first week of 2025, Vogue published an article titled: “Old Hollywood Glamour Was Alive and Well at the 2025 Golden Globes”. The pattern was impossible to ignore. The old hollywood glamour look has made it’s biggest comeback. But why?

The header of the article featured a collage of Zendaya, Ariana Grande, Selena Gomez and Elle Fanning. All actresses seemed to be channeling the golden age of Hollywood or at least stars from the past.

According to Cosmopolitan, and other major publications, Ariana Grande was specifically channeling the late-Audrey Hepburn. Hepburn was a tentpole actress from the 60’s who starred in movies like “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”. Vogue reports that many stars, including Grande, are gunning down the role of Hepburn in an upcoming biopic. According to Vogue, the role is currently going to Rooney Mara but then they write, “—but whose going to get in Grande’s way right now?”

But before Audrey Hepburn, there was a golden age of Hollywood defined by stars like Marilyn Monroe, Brigette Bardot and Judy Garland. This “golden age” is often thought to have existed between 1915 and 1960.

In 1948, the Supreme Court ruled against the “Big 5” movie studios in an attempt to break up what they deemed an oligarch over the entertainment industry. It took about a decade for this ruling to have much effect but as a result, cinemas were able to show independent and foreign films in their theaters without retaliation.

You can learn more about the timeline of Hollywood’s “Golden Age” here:

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A 2022 movie by Damian Chazelle (the same director who made La La Land) about old-Hollywood’s plight from silent films to talking films bombed at the box office. I actually loved the movie, Babylon, but the public wasn’t interested in a 3-hour movie about Hollywood’s golden age.

So what changed between 2022 and 2025? What changed in the three years that shifted Gen-Z and the younger millennials attention towards idolizing the stars of the past?

While there are many factors as to why a movie like Babylon bombed at the box office outside of the general public’s desire and interest in old-Hollywood, I do think it is an telling benchmark in the shift of trends.

I will be discussing more about the growing obsession with the old-Hollywood aesthetic and celebrity examples in the rest of today’s trend report below ⬇️

The rest of this trend report will be in the paid portion below. You can become a paying member of my Substack and get access to the Friday Trend Reports + the extended episodes of my ad-free, marketing podcast every Monday by subscribing for $9-a-month.