What 'looks' define the 90s and 'noughties'?

[spanglechick]

i was at uni and then teacher training during the mid ninties, and everyone i knew wore those clothes. literally everyone. except my parents, maybe.

everyone i knew who was in their twenties, anyway.


some of them were well into clubs and raves and E - but still they wore their retro-skinny tracky tops and adidas gazelles. 's a funny old world.

 

[such and such]

Wore what clothes?
Anyway, can't forget stupid pointless baby backpacks.

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

Can I just point out that not one fucking kid around me went for the Britpop look. I only noticed the thing because I went out of borough to a posher school, where the laughable sight of Southerners putting on accents and scally limps made it one of the most pathetic and short lived fashions ever.

When i was at Uni, in the second half of the 90s, Britpop was the main thing, amongst the people I was at Uni with, who were mostly ex-state school, lower middle class/upper working class from sort of home counties or sometimes the north.

Previously, when I was at a posh school, I'd say there was far less indie/britpop focus, and most people were more into acid jazzy type stuff

 

[dodgepot]

Wore what clothes?

i think she means the britpop style clobber.

 

[such and such]

Oh ok I'm from Melbourne so I know a bit but not that much about the whole brit pop thing.

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

I mostly think of grunge and crusty/hippy trance stuff as defining the 90s...

 

[D]

dock martens with a dress


(for the girls. Unless you are a male ninties grunge rock star, then you wear this look on stage)

handmade/hand-me-down 'dichotomous' trousers (a diff print on each leg)


blue lipstick (that was actually blue eyeliner)
entirely too much jewelry worn all at one time
beanies

by the by, that's what I wore in the 90s, but I don't think it was a widespread, uh, fashion

 

[kyser_soze]

and most people were more into acid jazzy type stuff

There's something to be said about the whole 'acid jazz' thing. It made it really easy to spot a cunt at 30 paces.

 

[dodgepot]

a lot of the acid jazz types weren't taht removed from the britpop types, though. trackie tops, flared cords, gazelles...

 

[kyser_soze]

Yeah, but they listened to acid jazz cos it was more 'sophisticated, man'. It extended into fashion. Not quite as detestable as Midlands/Northern glamour clubbing (nowt wrong with the dressing up, just the attitude that went along with it stank) but still nobs.

 

[D]

oops, I just accidentally edited my post when I meant to quote it

add back all that riot grrrl stuff

 

[spanglechick]

a lot of the acid jazz types weren't taht removed from the britpop types, though. trackie tops, flared cords, gazelles...

ahh 'makeup like glue / she danced 'round the room / to the sound of her corduroy flares'.

 

[Refused as fuck]

ahh 'makeup like glue / she danced 'round the room / to the sound of her corduroy flares'.

 

[jusali]

it annoys me that the popular conception is that oasis and similar bollocks is 'the sound of the 90s' when it was house, techno, hardcore and jungle for far more...

And I thought I was alone in thinking this. I remember hating Britpop with a vengeance What kind of youth scene allies itself with the government of the day FFS

 

[Onket]

And I thought I was alone in thinking this. I remember hating Britpop with a vengeance What kind of youth scene allies itself with the government of the day FFS

I thought it was the other way around, tbf.

 

[jusali]

I thought it was the other way around, tbf.

I take it you're referring to "Things can only get better" by D.Ream?

 

[May Kasahara]

1970

I would wear this look every day if I could

can't forget stupid pointless baby backpacks.

Guilty as charged Rave backpacks.

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

And I thought I was alone in thinking this. I remember hating Britpop with a vengeance What kind of youth scene allies itself with the government of the day FFS

Me too. Nirvana chimed far more with me, and later dance stuff more into the mid 90s...

 

[Cloo]

Anyway, can't forget stupid pointless baby backpacks.

Hey, they were not pointless! You could dance without having your bag swinging about or getting in people's faces, plus you could carry stuff and not have to put things in the cloakroom.

 

[Blagsta]

the 90's for me was combat trousers and hooded tops worn with army boots and dreads in the early 90's and trainers, a skinhead and bomber jacket in late 90's

 

[Ms Ordinary]

Hey, they were not pointless! You could dance without having your bag swinging about or getting in people's faces, plus you could carry stuff and not have to put things in the cloakroom.

And then 2 years later you could feel really liberated by carrying stuff in your baggy combat pockets & not needing a mini backpack .

Do people carry handbags these days or does one just stuff essentials in one's boots / bra? (is out of touch )

 

[monsterbunny]

Sportswear in the early to mid-nineties, workwear ever since.

 

[May Kasahara]

Ridiculously bright primary colours.

 

[dodgepot]

indigo double denim and nike air rifts.

 

[pengaleng]

90's - curtain haircuts. on blokes.

 

[bluestreak]

this thread makes me glad i never followed fashion really.

 

[Spark]

I have a feeling I will say lots, so apologies first if I ramble.

first - the OP suggested there are particular iconic looks for previous decades - I disagree. I think most decades have several looks associated with them. different people will see different ones as particularly assocatiated with that decade depending on what else they associate with that decated.

eg. with the 60s, there is the earlier sharp mini skirted, twiggy etc. look linked to related mod type looks for men (generalising here). There's also the hippy later sixties look. I think both are equally associated with the 1960s but some people will associate one more than the other.

for the 70s the reference has been flares etc. but punk was clearly part of the 70s and hence a style which was the antithesis to that can be seen as defining part of 70s style.

So, firstly i think most decades include several different iconic styles which could be seen as related to that particlular decade.

 

[Spark]

sorry for rambling - thought i'd try to split things up so part 2 now

a general thought i have had (and to stress this is just random mumblings and not put forward in any strongly argumentative way) is that styles do not relate to specific decades but instead style wise the latter part of one decade and the first half of the next decade often seem to connect more style wise than style within a strictly numerical decade.

for example - much of the 60s including the first half relates to the quite taylored styles of minis, sharpish tailoring etc. latter part of the 60s - looser, eg. biba and the like, those styles carried on to the first half of the 70s.

for the current discussion, much of the things which seemed to come in late 90s, eg. the ubiquity of boot cut trousers for women, started in late 90s and was persave into early 2000s.

 

[Spark]

Finally (all breath a sigh of relief)

for 2000 onwards i would say one key look/general style thing that's everywhere is accessories

for the last 5 years (or more) dramatic designer accessories and the focus on accessories in general. The trickle down to the high street has been noticeable - particularly oversized sunglasses, big handbags and shoes. I think the focus on these has been pervasive irrespective of the transient trends - eg. boho hence bags have fringes means you're expected to get a new bag.

I don't recall there being quite the same focus on accessories and bags/sunglasses being the same in previous decades.

 

[Cloo]

Oh, I agree there's more than one look for a decade, and I also think that the start of one always looks much the same as the end of another. But I do think a lot of people have one main picture in their mind when they think of the fashions of a specific period.