Srinagar : The 1980s have found a new audience in Kashmir, not through old photographs or film reruns, but through artificial intelligence-generated images that are turning contemporary pictures into portraits from another era.
Across Srinagar and other parts of the Valley, social media users are experimenting with AI tools to recreate the distinctive fashion and visual aesthetics associated with the decade. Bell-bottom trousers, oversized sunglasses, vintage hairstyles, colourful clothing and Bollywood-inspired settings have become recurring elements in the digitally created images.
Photographs taken in the present are being transformed to resemble portraits from the 1980s and shared widely across social media platforms. Images created by friends, actors and public figures are also being reshared, adding to the momentum of the trend.
The trend has extended beyond ordinary social media users. Several actors have posted AI-generated photographs depicting themselves in 1980s-inspired settings, while some ministers have also joined the trend by sharing similar images.
In Kashmir, the fascination appears to be linked to a broader nostalgia for the decade, remembered through Bollywood films, music, fashion and family photographs that continue to circulate across generations.
A young social media user from Srinagar said the trend had made an era familiar through films and photographs feel more accessible to the younger generation.
“We have grown up seeing the 1980s through old Bollywood films and family photographs. AI has made it possible to recreate that atmosphere and see ourselves in that period,” he said.
Another youth said the trend had generated curiosity about an era that was visually very different from the present.
“The hairstyles, clothes and colours of the 1980s are very different from what we see today. Creating these pictures is entertaining, but it also makes us curious about how people lived and dressed at that time,” he said.
A third social media user pointed to the accessibility of AI tools as one reason for the trend’s rapid spread.
“Earlier, recreating such a look would have required a photographer, costumes and editing. Now an ordinary photograph can be transformed within minutes, which is why so many people are trying it,” he said.
For younger users, the trend offers a way of engaging with an era they may know largely through films, photographs and stories shared by older family members.
The phenomenon also reflects the growing role of generative AI in everyday digital culture. Visual effects that once required elaborate costumes, locations, professional photography and extensive editing can now be produced within minutes using easily accessible AI tools.
What emerges is a curious meeting of two eras technology associated with smartphones and social media being used to recreate the visual language of a decade that predates both.
As the trend continues to circulate, Kashmir’s social media users are adding their own local flavour to the wider revival of 1980s nostalgia, bringing together popular culture, public figures and artificial intelligence.
The 1980s may be four decades removed from the present, but on Kashmir’s social media, the decade is once again in fashion.
