The History of Headphones🎧
So, you may have noticed that you can't walk through a city or college campus without being bombarded with students wearing headphones, not airpods or corded earphones, no, full ear coverage headphones. But, how did we get here? How did we go from earbuds with cords from being disgusting, to cool? How did we go from airpods being all the rage to cheugy? And how are bulky headphones in style?
Headphones were invented in the 1800’s and up until the 2000’s they were produced in various unstylish technologically advanced models. Such as the Koss headphones and the Sony Walkman.
The 2000’s are when things start to get interesting.
In 2001 the iPod was invented. As said in the SSENSE article “The iPod’s light, smooth, white headphones served as an instantly recognizable, branded upgrade on the unremarkable earbuds that came with most portable music players.”
This is when music listening devices became a form of style.
And, in my opinion, up until the invention of the Airpods in 2017, that classic white cord was the pinnacle of head-phone fashion. It was sleek and symbolized wealth, and a sense of elite status, something that, unfortunately, is important in a capitalist society.
Source: Life and Style
Then airpods came onto the scene. And you couldn't be caught dead in anything other than the sleek white wireless bluetooth earbuds.
Airpods are substantially more expensive than wired headphones, but, as an owner, they are incredibly convenient and high quality, so I would say they are worth the price.
Source: Wired It Girls
Airpods have been the most stylish manner of headphones, until October 2021, when the Instagram account @WiredItGirls was created. The account features girls like Zoe Kravitz, Hunter Shafer, Lily Rose Depp, Bella Hadid and Dua Lipa, all wearing corded headphones, deeming everyone that wears wired earbuds a “Wired It Girl.”
Source: Vogue
Then came the rise of actual full on headphones, the headphone trend that is currently on the rise and that I referred to at the start of this post. Tik Tokers such as Ellie Thumann have coined the term “Therapy Headphones'“ that people can wear on their “hot girl walks” (Tik Tok has a vocabulary of it’s own.)
What's next in the ear wear trend cycle, only time will tell.
SOURCES:
https://www.headphonesty.com/2021/05/when-were-headphones-invented/
https://www.ssense.com/en-us/editorial/culture/a-history-of-headphone-design
