2016 Outfits: 15+ Looks That Are Actually From 2016
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The invitation says 2016, and the fun of 2016 outfits is that the year had more than one look. One is loud and has words on the shirt. Another is all choker and flannel. Each of them hangs on a single piece, so you only have to get that one right.
I dug through Pinterest’s 2016 boards for you and came back with 15+ looks, from the theme party to something you could wear to class tomorrow. Somebody always takes a group photo at these parties, and it’s a good feeling to be the one in it who got the year right.
The 2016 Outfits Every Theme Party Starts With
Start with the version the whole room gets in a second. It’s the shirt with words on it. A Keep Calm tank, short shorts and a flower crown were the set I kept running into while I collected these photos, and three of the first four looks below wear that print.
That set is older than the invitation says. On Google Trends, the Keep Calm shirt peaked in March 2013 and the mustache shirt in November 2012. That’s three to four years early.
At a party that doesn’t matter. The print does the explaining for you.
1) Keep Calm Tanks, Neon Snapbacks, a Cut-Up Tee
This collage is the whole party on one page. You get Keep Calm tanks, neon snapbacks and a tee sliced into strips across the back. If you’re going as a group, I’d give each of you one loud piece, the way the four friends at the bottom did with their matching fringed tanks.
2) Pink Birthday Tank, Flower Crown, Patterned Shorts
If it’s your birthday, the shirt can say so. This pink fringed top reads “Keep Calm It’s My Birthday” under a thin flower crown. Your friend goes in white lace from the tee down to the shorts, and the two crowns in one photo are what turn two outfits into a theme.
It’s a costume from head to toe, though. Nothing in it works the Monday after, and by daylight the neon looks a lot louder than it did at midnight.
It also needs a party around it. For a school hallway at eight in the morning, the same years had a quieter uniform.
2016 Outfits for Spirit Week and Throwback Day
For a throwback day you’ll want the daytime version, and it’s built on sweatpants and a printed tee. You can sit through six classes in it. It still gets the theme across the moment you walk in.
3) Keep Calm Tee, Pink Flared Sweatpants, Flip-Flops
Here’s the party tank on its day off. A white Keep Calm tee is cropped over pink flared sweatpants, with flip-flops and big black sunglasses. Leave the wired earphones hanging. They date the look as surely as the print does, and the whole thing would get you through first period without a single change.
4) Striped Baby Tee, Low-Rise Jeans, Sheepskin Boots
I’d place this one earliest of all. A red striped baby tee sits over ripped low-rise jeans, with sheepskin boots and big white headphones. All of that belongs to the years before the Keep Calm shirt.
It’s the comfiest answer on this page when the theme just says throwback. If that earlier decade is the one you’re after, I collected it in my 2000s fall outfits.
Flared sweatpants drag on the floor. On a wet day the hems are grey by lunch. This pair of looks is also the least exact on the year, and a strict judge at a 2016 contest could mark it down.
Every piece so far had its moment before 2016. The year itself wore something else.
What Did 2016 Outfits Actually Look Like?
A real 2016 outfit had four parts: a choker, a flannel shirt, ripped jeans and white sneakers. The choker is the piece that dates it. In the same Google data, searches for choker necklaces doubled from 2015 to 2016, and all four looks in this section and the next have one on.
The white sneaker of that summer was the adidas Superstar, which hit its search peak in August 2016. A plain white low-top like the canvas pair below does the same job in a photo.
5) Red Buffalo Flannel, Denim Cut-Offs, Over-the-Knee Boots
Here the flannel is the jacket. It’s a red and black buffalo check shirt, and it hangs open over a dark green tank and denim cut-offs while black suede boots climb over the knee. A thin choker sits above two gold chains. I’d point you to this one if a slogan tank isn’t your thing.
6) Black Crop Top, Flannel at the Waist, Ripped Jeans
This photo has the whole uniform in it. The flannel is tied at the waist over ripped, cuffed jeans. Up top it’s a black long-sleeve crop top and a choker. White canvas sneakers finish it. If you asked me for one outfit that’s accurate to the year, I’d send you this picture.
The flannel at the waist is the part that looks most dated now, and it adds bulk right where a crop top shows skin. Ripped knees also get cold from October on. As a costume it’s quieter than a Keep Calm tank, so somebody at the party may ask what you came as.
All of that is daytime. After dark, 2016 switched to a smoother uniform.
2016 Outfits for a Night Out
For a night out, 2016 put a bomber jacket over something tight. The bomber is the piece that dates this version, and its yearly search average more than doubled from 2015 to 2016. Under it you’d wear skinny jeans or leather pants, and the choker stays on.
If black isn’t your color, the year had an official one. Pantone picked two shades for 2016, a pale pink called Rose Quartz and a pale blue called Serenity, and it was the first time the company chose a pair. A bomber in that pink says 2016 without a word printed on it.
7) Black Bomber, Denim Shirt, Ripped Skinny Jeans
You can copy this one straight from the fitting room. A black bomber hangs open over a denim shirt, with a wide black choker and skinny jeans ripped at the knee. Denim on denim under a bomber is the simplest version to put together. I’d keep the jacket on all night.
8) Bomber Off the Shoulder, White Tee, Leather Pants
Look at the orange lining first. It comes from the MA-1 flight jacket, where the inside was made bright orange so a pilot on the ground could turn the jacket inside out and be spotted.
Here the bomber slides off one shoulder over a loose white tee, with leather pants and a star choker. If you buy one piece for a 2016 night out, I’d make it this jacket.
This version needs the dark. Leather pants and a satin bomber look overdressed at two in the afternoon, and a jacket worn off the shoulder slips every time you lift your arm. Skin-tight jeans are also the part that sits furthest from what you’d wear this year.
For the way a night out is dressed this fall, my fall going out outfits pick up from here.
In the sun, the summer of 2016 had a costume of its own.
Coachella 2016 Outfits: The Festival Version
The festival version is lace, fringe and a flower crown. The crown is the piece that dates it, with a search peak that falls in May 2016, right in the middle of festival season. Four of the 17 photos on this page have one.
9) Off-Shoulder Tee, Leather Shorts, Fringe Bag
This is the festival after dark. A white tee slips off the shoulder above brown leather shorts, with tall boots and a bag that’s mostly fringe. Your friend’s crochet dress with a belt is the braver choice. I’d pick the outfit on the left for any outdoor party where you’ll be standing on dirt.
10) Flower Crowns, Cross-Print Crop Top, White Shorts
With two flower crowns and a peace sign in the frame, you can guess the year before you see the clothes. One of you has a black crop top with a pale cross print over white shorts. The other is in black with pink flowers.
Both tops are small and dark under a pale crown, so the crown stands out. We collected more costumes for two in our BSF Halloween costume ideas.
11) Three Crowns, Satin Cami, Fringe Boots
For a group of three, give every head a crown and let the tops differ. Here that means a floral set, a printed crop top and a purple satin cami with lace trim. Copy the boots first. They’re fringed, and they carry the theme from the knee down.
It’s the loudest costume here and the hardest to wear again. The crown slides, so bring a few bobby pins. Lace shorts and fringe boots were also made for 85 degrees, and that makes this a tough pick for a party in November.
Nearly all of this is dress-up now. A handful of pieces from that year are the exception, and you can wear them again today.
Which 2016 Trends Are Back in 2026?
Off-shoulder tops and lace-up tops are back, and on Google Trends both get more US searches this year than they did in 2016. Bomber jackets and chokers haven’t climbed back to their 2016 level yet. They’re still the two pieces that look current fastest once the proportion changes.
What changed is the proportion. In 2016 the leg was tight and the volume sat up top. This year the leg is wide, so the same short jacket looks current once it’s over baggy jeans.
Three things stay in the costume box, and they’re the slogan tank, the flower crown and the flannel at the waist.
12) Cropped Track Jacket, Barrel Jeans, White Sneakers
This black track jacket borrows the bomber’s cut. It’s short, and it’s gathered at the hem. Very wide barrel jeans start right where it ends, with chunky white sneakers underneath, and if you swap in a real bomber you’d have a 2016 jacket on a 2026 leg.
13) Taupe Bomber, White Tee, Baggy Jeans
A taupe bomber with a shirt collar goes over a plain white tee and very baggy jeans. Small black sunglasses and black boots keep it sharp. Your friend behind you makes the same move with a leather jacket.
The bomber still stops at the hip the way it did ten years ago, and everything below it is cut wider. If you only copy one current look, I’d tell you to copy this.
14) Off-Shoulder Floral Top, Wide-Leg Jeans, Pointed Shoes
The off-shoulder top is back in a tighter cut than the loose blouses of 2016. This fitted white tee with blue flowers slips off one shoulder, and very wide jeans balance it. On a warm afternoon I’d pick it over the two jackets, and you can copy the white pointed shoes too.
A short jacket over wide jeans is cold at the waist. It also depends on the jacket really ending at the hip, because a bomber that hangs past your pockets turns the outfit boxy. The off-shoulder top has its own catch, because it needs a strapless bra and it slides when you lift your arm.
A jacket is the big purchase, though. The easiest way back into 2016 sits a lot higher up.
2016 Outfits You Can Wear Now Start at the Neck
The choker is the smallest piece of 2016 and the simplest one to wear again. Six of the 17 looks on this page have one. This year’s kind is dressier than the plain black band, and it comes as a ribbon, a fabric rose or a short string of beads over a bare neckline.
15) Ribbon Choker With a Gold Brooch, Satin Cami
Up close, this look is all neckline. A dark ribbon choker carries a gold brooch with a red stone, above a khaki satin cami with a thin lace edge. If a black band feels like too much of a throwback to you, I think the brooch is the grown-up way in.
16) Rosette Choker, Black Strapless Top, Grey Trousers
A black fabric rose at the throat is the only decoration in this outfit. The top is strapless and black, and the trousers are grey and wide. It’s a 2016 idea on a 2026 leg again. You could wear it to dinner, or take it to a party with no theme at all.
17) Tie-Front Blouse, Red Beads, Cargo Jeans
I’d call the tie-front blouse this year’s answer to the lace-up top. This one is white and sheer with wide bell sleeves, and a single bow closes it at the chest. Red bead necklaces sit close to the neck where a choker would go.
Grey cargo jeans bring the wide leg. If you try one thing from this page before the weekend, I’d try this.
A choker has one real limit, and it’s the collar. Under a shirt collar or a turtleneck it disappears. It needs a bare or wide neckline, and a fabric rose also flattens under a scarf, so think of this as an indoor look once it’s cold.
That leaves the question of what’s worth buying first.
What to Buy First for 2016 Outfits
Buy for the occasion, because each version of 2016 hangs on a different piece. Here’s how I’d sort it for you.
- Theme party. You need a slogan tank and a flower crown. Everyone gets it, and it’s a one-night outfit.
- Spirit week or throwback day. Go with a slogan tee and flared sweatpants. It stays comfortable through six classes, and it’s the least exact on the year.
- Accurate to 2016. Get a choker and a flannel, and add ripped jeans and white sneakers. It’s quieter at a party, and it’s the one a 2016 yearbook would recognize.
- Night out. This is the bomber jacket. It costs the most, and it’s the only piece here you’ll keep wearing.
- Festival. A flower crown and anything with fringe will do it. It’s the loudest version, and it wants warm weather.
If you’d rather buy a single thing, I’d make it the bomber. It dates the real 2016 and it’s back this year. It also works at the party and on the Monday after. Our women’s jackets are where I’d start looking, and our women’s jeans have the wide leg to go under one.
If the party is tonight and there’s no choker in reach, tie a length of black ribbon at the back of your neck. In a photo it looks the same.
Then pick your version of the year. A tank and a crown are enough when the invitation just says 2016, and the choker is what makes it exact. Somebody will take that group photo either way, and you’ll know which year you’re standing in.
Whoever you’re bringing will want to know what guys wore in 2016. That answer is longer than you’d think, so we gave the 2016 outfits men wore a separate guide.
Questions About 2016 Outfits
Keep the choker and the bomber and change everything else. Black skinny jeans or leggings, an oversized sweater and ankle boots carry the year in cold weather, and a flannel fits under the bomber as a middle layer. Leave the flower crown and the cut-offs for summer.
Go for matte lips, strong brows and a lot of highlighter. For hair, a top knot like the one in look 8 or loose waves is enough. Hair and makeup can push a plain outfit toward 2016 faster than another piece of clothing can.
Y2K means the years around 2000, with low-rise jeans, baby tees, butterfly clips and velour tracksuits. 2016 sits higher at the waist and runs darker, with chokers, bombers, flannels and ripped jeans. If your invitation says Y2K, looks 3 and 4 on this page are closer than the others.
Yes, and it works best in a group. Pick the loud version with slogan tanks and flower crowns, because people get it from across the room. Add one prop from the year, like wired earphones or a selfie stick.
