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1990s



Sigh, the time of my early youth. I remember it like it was yesterday. I liked indian stuff like dreamcatchers, indian cloths or burning incense and candles. I was also very into Greenpeace, the 'peace' sign, black nail polish (or just wear a lot of black in general), wide jeans or a mini skirt with knee pads, a lumberjack shirt and a small backpack... what did you liked or wear back then?

The nineties was a more caring, optimistic decade. After the capitalists of the 80s, the world leaders were replaced by Bill Clinton and Tony Blair - they were more towards the 'left side' and young 'baby boomers', which gave the young population more hope to make a difference. People wanted to draw a line under the eighties and wanted to save the planet or just be with their friends (like the successful serie 'Friends' > and everybody knows the 'Rachel hair' coupe).

Absolutely everything was a backlash to the 80s. Greed was not good - glitter, glamour, excess or an obsession with wealth gave way to an equally strong obsession for things that were 'real' (like organic food, natural things, natural hair, real women eg. Oprah, reality tv, Starbucks, real folks 'losers',..). It became a return to minimalist fashion.


Kurt Cobain of Nirvana was the style icon of the nineties. Nirvana was a grunge band and extremely famous. Their look was a reaction on all the glamour in the music industry of MTV, like flannel shirts, long or cropped t-shirts, overalls, ripped jeans,.. it was called the 'grunge look'. It was so different from the 80s, so everybody adopted it, even the fashion industry.

The body ideal was skinny, scrawny shoulders, rib cage and hipbones sticking out eg. Courtney Love. Another body ideal was the supermodel body - supermodels were very popular back then eg. Claudia Schiffer.


There was a fashion trend, called 'Heroin chic' - the idea was to look like you were up all night, rejecting yourself with heroin. Everybody thought it was cool!

Another fashion trend was influenced by Rave music ('electronic/techno'). These trend was a revival to the seventies (eg. wide pants), with a lot of colors. Also Britpop (eg. Oasis, Spice girls,...) had a lot of influences in these fashion trends, eg. platform shoes.

Jewelry like chokers or 'mood rings' were also a big hype.


High fashion starts to disconnect from clothing and became turning into Conceptual Art. It became something to look at in a museum, not for wearing.

 

Check out Margo's beautiful drawings and know more about 1990s make up!


 

Credits

Book: Fashion drawing 2nd Edition - Michele Wesen Bryant

Book: High Fashion, The 20th Century decade by decade - Emmanuelle Dirix

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Hi there!

My name is Tinneke De Block,
aka Tinika. This blog* is a means of sharing my artwork, collaborations, studies & processes, mood boards, personal life posts, interior design, fashion (history), and lots of creative inspiration!

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