1990's

Fashion of the 1990s has been quoted as “The decade fashion has forgotten.” Trends that peppered the 1990s were an eclectic mix of influences from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, and the combination of styles from the three decades can be seen throughout. 

The late 1980s fashion trends carried over into the new decade, as women continued to wear aerobic leggings and stir-ups in bright florescent colors, blue jeans with matching denim jackets in acid wash, baby doll dresses, over sized t-shirts, sweatshirts and sweaters, with slouch socks over high-tops sneakers and keds. The 1960s and 1970s styles were revived in the mid-90s with fashion taking on hippie style floral dresses, flowered floor length skirts, lace blouses, Gypsy tops and wedge heeled shoes. Another trend that began in the 80s is the Z Cavaricci pants, or parachute pants, which were worn by both men and women.

At the same time mainstream fashion looked back to previous decades for inspiration, another alternative trend developed. In the middle of the decade, with the influence of rock band Nirvana and their lead singer, the iconic Kurt Cobain and his wife Courtney Love, the new grunge era began. Cobain and Love were the antithesis of conservative and inspired fashion trends to adopt what is known as the 90’s grunge.

The new grunge was an amalgamation of punk, which began in the 1970s, and gothic (Goth). Some of the key elements of the 90s grunge are jeans that are ripped, patched with fabric, and/or drawn on with a permanent marker, long sleeved flannels, long sleeved cotton shirts with a rock band t-shirt over it, doc martens, skate shoes, chuck taylors, or any other type of boot. The main influences driving grunge fashion are comfort and creativity; your attire should reflect a desire to break away from conservatism and be free. In conjunction with grunge, another fashion trend that was seen in the 1990s was inspired by the influx of hip-hop artists as the sagging-jeans era began in the early 90s and carried through into the 2000s.