After repeating trends of everything from the 20’s to the 80’s, the fashion world finally felt ready to take on the 90’s again. The last 4 years have gone through clubkids style, grunge, minimal, 90210 and Twin Peaks influences; even the techno/rave style can sometimes be seen in some rare cases. But how did it all start?
When speaking of fashion in the 90’s it is not only about one mainstream trend, but an explosion of influences from the rebellious eighties. To briefly sum it up the influences emerged from upcoming youth subcultures in terms of both music and social class. Genres like rock, pop, hip hop and electronica are mixed and matched and spread through out one powerful media who later gave name to this very youth: ”The MTV generation”.
The 90‘s was more about the attitude, then the actual way of dressing. As seen in all decades of fashion, the previous decade opposites the next one, and vice versa. Grunge as a music genre could be said to emerge from punk, indie rock and heavy metal, walking away from a consumer society and away from those perfect smiles of Beverly Hills 90210.
The grunge scene started in the U.S. due to the fact of a large amount of upcoming ”grunge” bands from the north westcoast, mostly Seattle. Icons like Kurt Cobain, Courtney Love and Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam, who’s fashion strived to be as non-consuming as possible, ended up having the entire world buying flannel shirts, Dr Martin boots and dress in layers in order to stand a night sleeping ”under the muddy banks of the wishka”.
After the revolution of acid house in the late eighties, club- and rave-culture became massive. Great Britain mad a huge influence on the world of fashion through key magazines like The Face and i-D. In the early 90’s big outdoor raves became hughly popular with names like Fantazia or Sunrise. At the same time the club culture exploded and it was the beginning of the super club era with names like Ministry of Sound and Cream. Young english designers like John Richmond and Michiko Koshino embraced the principals of ”do it yourself” and got famous for their designs.
Michiko Koshino 2005
Pics from
The TribuneThe androginity of the 90’s can be seen both in club culture and in grunge, where the skinny heroine chic look was crucial. Photographer Corinne Day discovered a young Kate Moss who turned out to be the actual face of the 90’s; slim, ”unperfect” and rebellious. This was a huge contrast to the american way of raising super models to the sky like Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Claudia Schiffer and Helena Christensen. Kate Moss would however join that group, adding a new image to the world of beauty.
Kate Moss in The Face from 1990
In the United States the 90210 look competed with other alternative styles, but a common thing in contrast to the depressive grunge style was the fresh healthy look as a spring off from the fitness movement from the 80’s, which can be seen in bicycle shorts, levi’s 501, bellyshirts and non fitted jeans.
Side by side with this look a major sporty influence could be seen. Brands like Nike, Adidas, Fila, Champion, Fruit of the Loom and Kappa got a huge appearance on the market. It was common to mix sporty with dressed up, such as long skirts with sneakers or hoodies with high heels. This particular style could later be found in the gangs of L.A and New York, where youth gangs created styles of 80’s fashion mixed with loose fit trousers from the hip hop movement, huge golden earrings and t-shirts showing the belly together with bulky sneakers, sometimes with high heels in rubber. Excessive make up was not an exception.
Massive golden earrings
Above: The infamous Buffalo shoe.
The RnB and Hip Hop movement was another influence on the 90’s fashion. Groups like Bell Biv Devoe (formerly New Edition), SWV, Color Me Badd, TLC and Neneh Cherry were just some to mention. After the original old school hip hop a new, fresh trend emerged in hip hop with groups like Arrested Development, A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul, moving away from the gold loving gangster style to a more down-to-earth expression.
The next post I will dedicate to a true 90's icon: Sherilyn Fenn a.k.a. Audrey Horn from Twin Peaks.
(ALL PICTURES BY LI ANDERSSON OTHER THEN MENTIONED SO. PHOTOS OF AND FROM THE FACE TAKEN FROM THE ACTUAL MAGAZINE)
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