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I Love the 90s

Jenn

(website)

Veteran

So much 90s hate recently!

I was 16 at the beginning of the 90s, and 26 at the end. I was 27 when I had my son in 2001, so in a very real way, these were my coming-of-age years, a huge time in my life.

To me, the 90s were leggings under cutoffs, and hair dyed blue and green, torn flannel shirts, and chunky Doc Martens (I bought mine in London... I thought I was so cool). They were Kurt Cobain in his striped tees and cardigans and Courtney Love looking like a bad*ss. Lace dresses paired with the least refined toppers you could find. Prairie florals with leather jackets. Drew Barrymore vacillating wildly between rebel and sweetheart. Janeane Garofolo somehow giving voice to our jadedness, whilst still wearing ditsy prints. The freedom to not care.

Am I really the only one who loved this?

(All images pulled from Pinterest. Some are genuine 90s photos, and others are modern interpretations.)

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50 replies

Latest reply was from celia

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

I can see why you liked the '90s, Jenn!

I'm a '60s, '70s and '80s gal myself, although I heart Chris Cornel and Eddie Vedder.

Anonymous

Like Angie, I love the '60s, '70s and some of the '80s. The big problem I had with the '80s was the shoulder pads, which were sewn into virtually everything and looked ridiculous on me. Also, having to wear pumps to work did my feet no favors. Other than that, it was all good. I didn't hate the '90s. It just doesn't stand out in my memory as being anything special. Two of my DDs were born in the early '90s, and they both say they don't like the way I dressed them, even though I bought what was in style. That said, each person has a style or styles that they can rock, and it's great that the '90s worked so well for you.

Anonymous

Flannel shirts from the 90s still resonate with me

JAileen

Veteran

My formative years were the 70s. I wore Mexican peasant tops, overalls, and hiking boots to school. So even though I ended up kind of corporate, I still like that look. Hippie? Boho? I guess that's why I wanted a poncho.

I don't remember fashion from the 90s. I was in my 30s with a small child, and we had just moved to a mountain ski town. The ultra casual outdoorsy vibe influenced my clothing, I guess. I went from wearing suits to something out of an LL Bean catalog.

Firecracker (Sharan)

Veteran

Jenn, thanks for this little tour of 90s fashion and the great visuals. I have a real fondness for the era, too. I came into my own in a lot of ways in the 90s, found my true love and got married in 1993.
I'm inspired to wear something like Drew's look in #2 very soon (as soon as weather cooperates!

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Another who loved her Flannel shirts, 501s and Docs. EARLY '90s was good.

catgirl

Veteran

I like and dislike something from every era!

60s: love the prints and mod looks (the little a-line/Emma Peel scooter dress look), Beatles style and Jackie O...

70s: my childhood! It's hard for me to handle some of the appropriation of Indian clothes into the stoned grungy look, but I do love the Free People vibe even if i don't wear it.

80s: high school and college; a whole smorgasbord of things I love, with lots of musical influence - Duran Duran and Adam Ant style (like everyone, was enamored with all things British and New Wave), also punk (the Ramones, etc) and Madonna's OTT looks. HATED shoulder pads and giant hair. All that Dippety Do!

90s: love that first picture. The tomboy skater grunge thing is UWP's little sister. Beanies? Yes, please! I collected Docs and cherished them. But the Elaine floral oversized drop waist dress looks and the stonewashed jeans make me cringe.

Another favorite decade for me is the 20s - I think I would have rocked a flapper look!

Jenn

(website)

Veteran

Good point, Angie. I graduated from high school in 1991, so EARLY 90s was where it was at for me, as well.

Aziraphale

Veteran

Jenn, of course you're not the only one. I'll happily join you! I graduated from high school 1990, and passed the early 90s in university. I think many of us are nostalgic about that period of our lives when we come of age and discover who we are. I certainly feel that way about the 90s (especially the first half) and so I have a lingering soft spot for the fashion, too.

You won't catch me in babydoll shift dresses with a tee shirt underneath (I tried that look precisely once in the 90s, and it wasn't for me then -- it certainly isn't for me now!), but I still love stompy Doc Marten-type boots, oversize woollen cardigans, plaid flannel and Levi's 501s. It's not the mainstay of my wardrobe, but I always have a few of these pieces.

Chris Cornell still features on my playlists (his latest song is fantastic), and Nirvana is classic.

Jenn

(website)

Veteran

Yay Aziraphale! I wonder if part of the seemingly ubiquitous 90s hate is because we were a rather small generation, so there weren't quite as many of us who were at that magic age at the right time. (The t-shirt under a slip dress look wasn't for me, either. I associate it with Jennifer Aniston on Friends.)

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

I think there is something to like from every decade. I'm older than you, Jenn and had graduated from varsity by 1991. I was class of 1987 in high school. So the '80s hold a very special place in my heart. The '70s too!

I DO think - very generally of course - that fashion and the way people dressed started deteriorating in the '90s and we are still trying to recover. I don't know if we ever will though. The era of over casualization is here to stay.

Diana

Veteran

Me too! I was in high school (graduated '97) and college ('01) during the 90s so have quite fond memories of the styles. I always wanted Docs but only had fake ones. I got my first real ones a few years ago and still wear them.
I love me some plaid flannel and stompy boots and ditsy florals. Could do without the jeans I wore back then though.

Just for fun - random photos of me in the 90s. Elaine floral dress in #2 just for Una.

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Bonnie

Veteran

I loved the 90's, too. I was too busy going to school, working, and being a mommy in the 70s and 80s to have much time for fashion. My second life began in 1990 when I met my current DH. He indulged me and I had a beautiful, creative wardrobe that I loved. We gave that life up in 2000 and for the next fifteen years I was hiker girl with a wardrobe of hiking pants, tees, fleece, jeans, turtlenecks, and flannel shirts. 2015 was the year my life changed again and I got interested in fashion.

rachylou

Veteran

Lol...um, yes? Hehe. But no, my one workchild really misses her 90s. Her exact feelings, tho, sum up why I don't think there's anything to miss: She's (hilariously) bitter like Curt and Courtney and realises nothing happened to justify her bitterness. Someone sold her her punky grungeness and underminded her punky skaterness by making her wear helmets and knee pads. The 90s was The Great Dupe.

rachylou

Veteran

ps: It's not like it looked so bad, but just that you might as well go back to the 70s and 80s where it all came from...

Sara L.

Veteran

I also graduated from high school in 1991! I remember wearing 501's, flannel shirts, and black boots (although mine weren't Doc Martens) but that's about all I can remember. I wore cutoffs but not with leggings or tights underneath (would have been way too hot in southern NM). I must have had some dresses but I can't think of a single one. It's not that I don't like 90's fashion, I just can't seem to remember much of it.

Aziraphale

Veteran

Jenn, I haven't noticed a ubiquitous 90s hate, exactly. However, this forum is one place where the 90s doesn't seem to be the favourite, but that's because (I'm guessing) the ladies here are interested in fashion, and thus many are likely to value "dressing nicely" more highly than your average joe -- and Angie is quite right when she says the era of casualization really got rolling in the 90s, to the disappointment of those who like to dress up.

I also agree with you that we are a relatively small generation (1971 had the lowest birth rate in the US for the whole 20th century; I was born in 1972) so our tastes get overshadowed by the massive Boomer and Millenial cohorts. And I'm not unhappy that our generation kicked off a "casualization revolution" (sorry Angie!) -- it was just a reaction to the excesses of the 80s. In fact I'd say that's what our whole generation was about: rebellion. Even at midlife, with kids and mortgages, my friends all seem to have kept this attitude.

One thing I would bet money on: even if the general population moves back toward a dressier norm, you won't catch many of us who grew up in the 90s getting back on the "dressing up" bandwagon again, no matter how much we like clothes and fashion. We'll dress up for occasions, but we won't go to work that way -- or if we have to, it'll be kicking and screaming.

rabbit

Veteran

I'm another Gen X'er, graduated from high school in 1990. I think my worldview, distrust of corporations and advertising, mass media literacy, semiotics classes and all that jazz was very formed by the 90's. That's why I agree with La Pedestrienne in the other thread who said the 90's were about the conscious rejection of the idea of 'fashion':

Anti-fashion as a liberatory statement. With the kids, it all seemed to be about looking as thrown-together as possible. The grunge element, sure, but really just a sense of trying to look like you didn't give a damn -- about how you looked, about how you were seen.

So the 90's were kind of my default approach to dress as not-dressing, I was a skateboarder who made her own tie-dye shirts and wore cut off army surplus fatigues with high top converse (we were super proud when we wore a hole in the spot where the shoe hit the board when you ollie). Later on I lived in black leggings and engineer boots (couldn't afford Docs), and thrifted flannel with army surplus coats. My main fashion memory is perms. I went full on Julia Roberts in Mystic Pizza/Pretty Woman with the wild long mop - and that was kind of a late 80's hold over. Style icon I remember being idolized? Kim Gordon.

Also I live in the town where the dream of the 90's is still alive, or at least until it became the 1890s with the emergence of the beard and backyard farming, lol. Anyways I loved 90's music, I loved 90's rejection of all that happy shiny 80's stuff, but it took a long time for me to stop defaulting to elements of 90's dress (well into the 2000's cough), so that's why I'm not so eager to revisit just yet (I just left it behind ).

ETA: also nodding along with Aziraphale that for me dressing up is a choice, something I do primarily for fun and creative exploration and to pay respect at certain important events, I'd certainly balk at it being a requirement.

Aziraphale

Veteran

@Rabbit: "I agree with La Pedestrienne in the other thread who said the 90's were about the conscious rejection of the idea of 'fashion'" -- YES. Precisely. In fact, the early 90s was about a conscious rejection of more than just fashion, but of all the 1980s excesses that we grew up with, and the fallout of all that: recession, divorce, Gulf war etc. GenX was all about rejection of a system that didn't appear to be working. We got out of school and the market was down, jobs were hard come by, many of our parents' marriages had failed, and the idea of having a higher standard of living than our parents was down the tubes. We still haven't recovered from this deterioration of expectations, much like the deterioration of fashion, as Angie put it. (GenXers still tend not to be particularly idealistic; all we care about is whether or not "it works").

I haven't dressed in a "grunge" style since the 90s, but 'm pretty sure I've expressed concerns here on this forum -- more than once, over the past five years! -- about not wanting to look like I've tried to look good. So clearly I've internalized and carried this 90s attitude to fashion along with me, without realizing it.

kerlyn

Veteran

Another 90s lover here! I graduated college in the early 90s, had my first real job, and met my hubby a few years later. So it's hugely nostalgic for me. Even the music still resonates for me. A common look for me was my boyfriends (hubby now) flannel shirts over leggings. And does anyone else remember the brown lipstick? That sort of raisin-y, brownish shade. Oh, I loved that look! The 70s and 80s just don't excite me nearly as much, even though I'm boho and the 70s should be "my" era.

Aziraphale

Veteran

Uh, I still wear it (the lipstick). Or, rather, I wear it again. I just found a new shade that reminds me of the 90s.

Diana

Veteran

I still love raisin lipstick too. Brownish purples are actually a lot better match for my skin tone than pinks or reds. A lighter shade is actually kind of nude-but-better on me.

ETA: but NOT the visible dark lip liner. That one can stay in the 90's.

Anonymous

It's funny what we remember , isn't it? All of the looks you listed and pictured? I wore not a single one of them, yet I was there too (albeit quite a bit older than you but still...) . I can't remember my frame of mind nor thoughts about clothing from that time, but I can bet I found it hard to dress in that time. None of that stuff appealed to me, still doesn't really. I am about the least authentic grunge-er and Doc-wearer ever- lol. However.......YES to brown lipstick! That was my introduction to Bobbi Brown's first foray into makeup : her initial lipstick line, only sold at Bergdorf Goodman in the US. I actually went there to buy that lipstick - and still have a secret tube of the classic Brown in my stash today . Ah, the good old days But the clothing ? ugh.

rachylou

Veteran

Ok. So this is fascinating to me. I'm Gen-X and I totally agree with Az's characterization of Gen-X, but I don't mark it as a 90s thing. I think the time of Gen-X was the 80s, which was excessive but in a decadent, depressive way. The 90s, to me, was this stuff winding down and giving way to something even starker: the reality of Millenials, which is post-apocalyptic bleak, IMO. I'm thankful I'm not a Millenial, to be honest. Gen-X was fiddling while Rome burned. Millenials, it's the Dark Ages.

Anonymous

The only thing I remember about shopping in the '90s was going to Chico's a lot. It was still fun to shop there, and the styles were much different than now (a more fun, funky look rather than bedazzled and blinged-up). The rest of the '90s is just a hazy blur, although I think I may have had a plaid shirt or two in the mix.

Jenn, I loved the photos -- esp the one with Kurt Cobain holding the baby bottle.

catgirl

Veteran

I have always worn brown lipstick. MAC Chestnut is a fave - I stocked up before they discontinued the lipstick, although they still have the lip liner.

Mochi

Veteran

I don't really remember the 90's (which kind of took place concurrently with my 30's). Just Clinton, and having a little kid. What happened with that decade? Post-college, pre-9/11, nothing emblematic for me at all. I do like the floral dresses with the stompy boots. Oh, and on edit, I live in a grungy, hipster-y neighborhood where all these different decades converge. Sometimes I feel like I'm back in college, in an alternate universe.

Jenn

(website)

Veteran

I am loving reading all your analyses. Totally fascinating.

Mochi, there is definitely something about having a small child that erases your awareness of the world around you for a while. I feel the same way about the 00s. I did dress myself during that time, but my awareness of trends was pretty negligible.

milehighstyle (Linda)

Veteran

I was 23 in 1990. I don't remember wearing trendy clothing to work - I wore pencil skirts and trousers and blouses. For play, jeans and tee shirts, ribbed turtlenecks in the winter. In the mid-90's I did wear a lot of plaid flannel shirts over leggings. I had a denim overall dress that I loved. I wore corduroy shorts and minis over tights. Didn't do the babydoll dresses, but the longer shapeless printed dresses. I didn't have actual Dr. Martens, but similar boots. I had a huge Birkenstock collection by the end of the 90's. I think the 90's was a no makeup phase for me.

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