Upon reading the blog post today, I realized that I perhaps have more fondness for 90s style than I usually acknowledge.

For me, the 90s were a mixed bag. I worked full time and completed a masters degree, but I also went to lots of live music events and had a very healthy social life. I also struggled very much with depression after my father passed away. So I have a very complex set of emotional responses to that era — a mixture of nostalgia and relief that it’s over. I met my husband in 1997, and that year was quite fittingly a turning point in many ways — new home, new job, new relationship.

Stylewise, I walked a line. I worked simultaneously in a conservative private school and a progressive radio station. It was like having two identities. My clothing choices and tastes already skewed more toward wearing a lot of black, so I stood out a bit in the preppy private school world. But I always kept it professional, and had a tendency to “dress up” a bit more than my peers, even as far back as high school.

So what do I remember wearing? I remember that every pair of shoes and boots in my closet was black. Summer, winter, all black footwear. My skirts and dresses were either long, swishy midis (remember those broomstick skirts?) or straight minis, maybe just a few inches above the knee, never shorter, and always worn with black hosiery or opaque tights. I had a special favorite black mini (again, only a very few inches above the knee, enough that it was work appropriate), that had a slight slit in the front. I remember the slit started to rip after I wore it for the millionth time and I had to retire it.

I also had a favorite jacket — a long tailored black blazer (I could swear it was from Express?) that I wore over pretty much everything. I retired that when it started to get shiny. Somewhere there is a photo of me in my office wearing that with a long black and white skirt and black lace-up booties.

And remember the short crop tops of the time? Again, I had a black one that only showed a tiny sliver of midriff that I wore to go out clubbing. It was a very “Friends” look. Ah, youth.

Funny that a sea of black clothes actually brings back good memories, but it’s always been that way for me. I could happily wear some of the same things now that I wore back then. I’ll leave the short skirt and crop top behind.

How about you? Any style recollections or favorites from that era? How does it translate for you now, or does it?

(I’ll have to add some photos from the era when I’m home and have access to them...)