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"Very 90s" -- Is this good or bad?

CocoLion

(website)

Veteran

When I read a 90s reference on YLF, I often read it as a pejorative, a negative aspect of a garment. (Not really coming from Angie's blog but more from the forum).

Yet, I have seen posts on Chictopia with young women referring to 90s garments as "vintage" and incorporating these finds in their outfits.

How do you feel about the 90s? There is definitely stuff I like. I like the late 60s thing that was going on mid-decade. (Think Anna Sui.) I also love the Armani power suits. Then there is stuff I disliked. Jumpers/dresses with a t-shirt underneath, worn baggy, midi length and with bobby socks. (Think Meg Ryan.)

15 replies

Latest reply was from Aida

ironkurtin

Veteran

I think there's another thread on this...?

I loved Helmut Lang, Donna Karan, and their more monastic, severe, "uniform"- y looks of the 90s. My image of how I want to dress is 100% formed by a spread in Harper's Bazaar in the mid 90s - edited by Liz Tilberis - that was all lean trousers and red-soled heeled ankle boots and spare, effortless, classy, edgy cool.

That is what I think of when I think of the 90s. It's still how I want to look, actually. I don't even remember the looks of the rest of the decade!

CocoLion

(website)

Veteran

Interesting Ironkurtin. I subscribed to Harpers in the 90s, it too influenced my style.

I'll look for the other thread, my attendance on this forum isn't as regular as it used to be.

Fruitful

Veteran

CocoLion, I don't think of nineties as an insult, for the reason you mentioned (the more fashion forward will be plundering a more recent decade, one still deemed dated by the mainstream).

But I don't know if I personally would reach for many 90s outfits, because

1) I didn't wear many of them at the time (clothes used to be expensive, I didn't have a job for most of the nineties, and a lot of them just didn't suit me)

2) The ones I did wear feel enmeshed in that time in my life; I'm not sure if I want to feel like 14-24 year old me.

I don't like: grunge style and heroin chic, the "Friends" look, baggy t-shirts tucked into mid-wash jeans, fabrications (there was a lot less stretch in the early 90s, so dresses and pants often didn't fit my pear shape).

I do like: dance/club based fashion (colourful trainers, fitted t-shirts and tanks, glow in the dark clothing, phat pants); platform shoes, platform runners; some of the sixties inspired stuff; some of the looks Bjork was doing (which appear to have been inspired by rave culture). I also like some older hip hop looks.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

I blogged about this, Denise. As with every fashion era/decade, there is a good and a bad. This is how I feel about the '90s:

http://youlookfab.com/2010/01/.....n-a-break/

Fruitful

Veteran

Very interesting (and fun) blog post, Angie!

I've gotta tell ya, I love a nice midriff baring top with a low rise flared jean

Anonymous

Mmmmmm that might have been me making a recent derogatory comment about the 90's! I think I just did not have the right body type for a lot of the clean lines and lack of feminine detail in the suiting.

I could be wrong, but what comes to my mind are heavy heeled high-vamp loafers, short skirts and long jackets, monochromatic looks (twin sets/matching your shirt to your jacket exactly, dresses with matching long coats).

I'm very plain looking without a lot of curves, and I often feel like I need ALGO to look right. This was not my favorite decade for clothing silhouettes, but that shouldn't keep anyone from loving it and working the 90's styles.

goldenpig

(website)

Veteran

Hahaha, I was just thinking about this because whenever I post some of my old pre-YLF clothes (or anything new but that is vaguely similar) Rita (modgrl) "busts" me for wearing 90's stuff. I think of her as my 90's fashion police!

Angie, thanks for that post (and also Fruitful for talking extensively about '90's fashion in an earlier thread). I had no idea what was really in fashion in the 90's so it's hard for me to know what to avoid. But I would love to see more of Fruitful and ironkurtin's old pics from the 90's...I bet those pics still look super-fashionable even now!

CocoLion

(website)

Veteran

What is interesting to me is that everyone defines the 90s slightly differently. That low rise flare jean with a crop top (and a big blingy belt buckle), I think of as Frankie B from the early 00s, not the 90s. I was probably just late to the party.

The rise got lower in 1995. I remember this very well because it was Tom Ford for Gucci who had an ad campaign with this silhouette. It was worn with an Equipment style silk shirt.

In the 90s I had the money to buy high quality garments, many of them made in Italy. They were beautiful. I chose the minimal suits for work. I had some very funky patterned pants and cool velvet jackets for party wear.

Angie's blog post made me laugh -- I had that cream colored power suit. It had a long jacket and long vest.

I used to wear those jeans, belted tight at the waist and paper-bag style, along with a crop top. That is one look I probably won't revisit.

Anonymous

I LOVE 90's looks Right now, I'm really liking plaid, flannel, florals and chunky shoes. I do think they have to be interpreted intelligently to avoid looking dated, but I think that's true of most retro looks.

Fruitful

Veteran

CocoLion, I think you are right about the low rise flare jean being more 00s. I think it started right at the end of the nineties then went mainstream in the 00s. Britney broke in 1999-2000 with Baby One More Time and it became quite a signature look for her (and a very handy one for pear-shaped lasses with a pre-pregnancy stomachs! :D)

Ali

Surely our feelings about trends and eras are influenced by our experiences?

So to me 40's fashion looks glamorous, whereas my Nana disliked it for it's association to the war and immediate post-war austerity.

For the 90's the Donna Karan-esque fashion from that era is aspirational because I couldn't have afforded it at the time, but the grunge is flashback-central to teen angst....

Oh and anyone referring to 90's fashion as vintage is pretty young surely?

Heather

Veteran

Denise: the 90s--best decade ever.

rae

(website)

Veteran

I love the 90s, but I understand that there is a difference between resurrecting 90s trends and dressing like you haven't seen a mall since '92. Maybe that is where one might use 90s as derogatory. There is also the fact that not EVERY trend from the 90s is making a comeback... I feel like there is a very particular attitude that is carrying over from the 90s, and if you happen to be channeling something else, it might end up reading as dated. For example, I don't get the sense that the big, sunflower-applique hats from the show Blossom are regaining popularity.

Dashrashi

Veteran

Agh, I can't do 90s. I'm 26 and it makes me feel OLD AS HELL. Like, how can ditsy floral slipdresses be back? That was the stuff I was SO FREAKING EXCITED ABOUT when I was shopping for back to school stuff in 4th and 5th grade, so when it took over half of Urban Outfitters while I was in law school, and all the college girls were like, "Oh, this is so fun and retro!," it just made me feel incredibly old. I think the Chictopia girls are just young enough that this is their first go-round, and at the same time, this is my first experience with trends coming back around on me (so for me, it's off limits).

ETA: That said, I still wear plaid because I have always loved and will always love plaid.

Aida

Veteran

(90s being "vintage" is just people doing the "if it's 20 years old it's vintage" thing. So by that definition, 1990 and 1991 are now vintage.)