Prepare to Swoon: 2021's Best Fashion Trends, as Demoed by BTS

This picture just offered to tutor me in the library after dinner until my GPA is 4.0.

For Festa 2021, BTS’s annual anniversary celebration, the idols tried out a dark academia concept featuring dark tweeds, luxe corduroys, cosy sweater vests, rich suedes, and preppy ties all from Ralph Lauren. I must admit, I was fighting for my life when these pictures came out. The Bangtan men look so expensive and brilliant in their dark academia aesthetic that you can almost smell the old books and hear the crackling fireplace in the reading room of Gryffindor tower.

As the world began to mitigate the threat of COVID with vaccinations in 2021, employers began to safely roll out return-to-office plans which means a lot of us swapped out our sweatpants for business casual. Suiting was “in” again as we dressed for real life and not just for Zoom calls.

BTS also returned to suiting and appeared at the American Music Awards in Louis Vuitton power suits. The move was a multi-layered flex. Firstly, they all look gorgeous – Bangtan in suiting just hits differently, doesn’t it? Secondly, check the label because this is your friendly reminder that the biggest band in the world are also Louis Vuitton ambassadors. Thirdly, this was their post-quarantine return to live performance as they basically turned the AMAs into a BTS concert by performing both “Butter” and “My Universe” alongside Coldplay. Finally, BTS picked up three huge awards that night: Favorite Pop Song, Favorite Pop Duo or Group, and Artist of the Year. Can’t wait to see how they top it at the next year’s AMAs.

As any sneakerhead will tell you a gorgeous, hyped up sneaker will never go out of style but 2021 was a particularly good year for great shoes. Each member of BTS boasts an enviable sneaker collection, but my favourite hypebeast moment came from the 3J subunit’s surprise choreo drop of “Butter” featuring Megan Thee Stallion’s slick verse.

In case you want to cop the pairs from these looks, Jungkook is wearing Alexander Wang’s stadium sneakers ($325), Jimin is wearing the sock runner sneakers from Rick Owens collab with VEJA ($306), and j-hope is wearing Off-White’s neon canvas sneakers ($310).