Decade Spotlight: Fashion in the 1990s
The 90s was a turbulent time for fashion, with a range of very different styles representing different eras within the 90s and different geographical locations across the Western World. Our designer vintage clothing here showcases some of the best of the long-standing 90s fashion garments which, especially in today’s fashion climate are still incredibly relevant (just check out Gucci’s new line!). We want to tell you a bit about fashion in he 1990s and give some context to some of our favourite designer vintage clothing here at Messina Hembry.
The 1990s was a turning point in the fashion world. Not only for shapes, patterns and styles but how fashion was portrayed to the world and how it was consumed.
Geoffrey Beene, one of New York's most famous fashion designers, predicted that fashion, moving into the millennium would “be a backlash against overdressing and ostentation. Economic conditions will change things, clothes will have to work for life.” With the 1980s famous for its focus on status, celebrities and opulence and clothing designers including Romeo Gigli and Christian Lacroix all celebrating the romantic aspect of high fashion, the more extravagant the better. It was all about height, decoration and volume, which, like all that goes up, must come down.
Following this, another compartment of 80s fashion which influenced the democratic style of the 90s was avant garden minimalism - clean, architectural, simple clothing. It was this that ushered in a new breed of fashion, particularly in women. In the 1990s, women brought down their big hair, removed the shoulder pads and embraced sexiness. Enter: slip dresses, pumps, suede boots, vest tops worn without bras etc. Calvin Klein noted here that “The eighties were a very conservative period, sexually and in so many ways. There’s a restructuring of priorities. It’s less about flash and more about people in the streets, the environment. People are becoming more real.”
In the 90s, because of this new movement of fashion, a ‘new brand of fashion intelligentsia’ established themselves, proving that the fashion industry was becoming forward-thinking and modern. More traditional designers such as Gucci and Chanel started to focus on more affordable aspects of their designs too which in fact, really helped to rejuvenate Chanel who had started to fall by the wayside. The 1990s showed a real shift in social responsibility and started to serve the public more than clothing - it became cultural and tied in the real world to what was being exhibited on the runway.
Because of all of this, fashion in the early 1990s was generally loose fitting and colourful (unless you were a follower of the grunge look which meant colour was the enemy!). T-shirts were big, shorts were long, Skidz pants were a plenty and Air Jordans were a must. With fashion becoming more homogeneous between men and women, baseball caps were sported by everyone, turtlenecks could be seen in every corner of a city and the beginnings of a new era was on the horizon.
Grunge style became huge in the 90s - tartan shirts, ill-fitting jeans with authentic rips and tears were all the rage and those under 18 kept their hair long, wild and free. Big, fat cotton t-shirts had completely replaced the skinny, tight blended t-shirts and in 1993, 80s t-shirts were not ironic (as we deem them to be so now!), just out of style. The focus was on green canvas, military style jackets and Nike Air Jordans, which have recently made a massive comeback due to the popularity of athleisure. Interestingly, whilst this vessel of fashion was working its way through the early 90s, the rise of hip hop artists became increasingly mainstream. Due to this, the growing popularity of hip hop music amongst the suburban community in America led these urban styles to be seen everywhere.
In the late 90s, it was the rave culture that triggered a more glamorous side to the relaxed, t-shirt and jeans led fashion of the rest of the 90s. This is when name brand designers came back with a vengeance and solid designs that were introduced then managed to stand the test of time and are still fashionable today.
Similarly, the recession-weary shoppers in the 90s opted to buy clothes that were more timeless in style and would be fashionably relevant for a long period of time. Because of this, the jacket became key to daytime dressing. Chanel was a big influence in this and introduced loose versions of the famous Chanel jacket slit vertically at the hem. This style was then jumped on by Giorgio Armani and Calvin Klein.
Designers everywhere began to focus on the jacket as the key to contemporary dressing. Denim jackets and leather biker’s styles appealed to younger people and for the sophisticated woman, there were long, gently curved jackets from the major designers. A standard way for women to dress for the office was to wear one of these longer jackets over a skirt that stopped short of the knees (a classic look!). All kinds of combinations were possible with this new focus on jackets; such as jackets with trousers, leggings, or tights. Jackets with shorts also gained acceptance in some areas for more formal daytime wear, as women wore shorts to offices during the hotter summer weather.
Thankfully for our beloved designers, a revival of the interest in made-to-order clothing occurred in 1990 when women realised that it wasn’t more expensive than ready-to-wear clothing - this surprised many fashion analysts and drew other designers to New York City, following the success of Arnold Scaasi.
In 1991, top designers had successfully reintroduced the long skirt but in 1993 a significant segment of the fashion-conscious public rejected the long skirt. Stored reported that calf and ankle-length skirt sold well, but women simply weren’t wearing them. Women frequently chose short skirts or pants instead. This was the beginning of the fashion world beginning to lose touch with what women actually wanted to wear in 1993. Some designers introduced styles as diverse as ancient Greece and Victorian England, but these clothes were highly unsuited to the electronic age so designers turned to top models such as Kate Moss, Claudia Schiffer and Christy Turlington to try and sell their clothes. However, early observers noted that the top models look great in anything, but “normal” women wearing the same style found it difficult to achieve the same effect - much like how it is now!
The 90s offered a huge variety of styles and trends that have more recently made their way back into our wardrobes and look to be staying there for the foreseeable future. We have a fantastic collection of 90s designer vintage clothing from a range of those fabulous designers who made it through the tumultuous times of the 90s trends.
