Fashion of the 90s

The 1990s were shaped culturally by multiculturalism, alternative media, cable television and the World Wide Web — and youth movements such as grunge, the rave scene and hip hop spread around the world through that new technology. In fashion, the decade is remembered above all for a return to minimalism, and for casual chic: T-shirts, jeans, hoodies and sneakers worn as a deliberate style.

Grunge, Hip Hop and Casual Chic

The popularity of grunge and alternative rock brought the simple, unkempt grunge look into the mainstream by 1992: flannel shirts worn by both sexes, jeans, and an anti-fashion attitude that became a fashion of its own. Casual chic — T-shirts, jeans, hoodies and sneakers — was popularised at the same time and continued straight into the 2000s as the default dress of a generation.

Hip-hop fashion also went mainstream in 1992, with oversized baseball jackets, baggy jeans, bomber jackets, Baja jackets and tracksuits popular among young men as casual wear. Fluorescent clothing in blue, coral, orange, pink and yellow was the dominant youth fad at the decade's start, hoop earrings were everywhere, and children's fads included slap bracelets, light-up sneakers, jelly shoes and shoelace hair clips.

The Mid-Decade Turn and the Late 1990s

In 1994 grunge declined rapidly as fashion became more feminine and form-fitting: tailored skirt and trouser suits, short skirts and dresses, baby-doll dresses, animal prints, hot pants, slim pants, bright colours even in colder months, and high-shine fabrics — satin, metallics, sequins, microfiber, vinyl and silk — prominent in both clubwear and work wear. Jennifer Aniston's hairstyle on Friends, the Rachel, became a cultural phenomenon copied by millions of women worldwide.

From 1997 many British and American designers took cues from the disco fashion of the mid to late 1970s: black or dark red pleather pants, animal print, halter tops, metallic clothing, crop tops, tube tops, maxi coats and skirts, knee boots and boot-cut dress pants. From 1998 to 2000 the unisex casual chic look gained mainstream appeal — dark stonewash jeans, spaghetti-strap crop tops, tracksuits and sweatpants — while preppy clothing turned more casual than its 1980s form, built on khaki slacks, boat shoes, navy blazers, madras and gingham shirts and brands such as Gap, Old Navy and Abercrombie & Fitch.

Minimalism and the Marketing Decade

The 1990s paired its plainest clothes with its cleverest distribution. Grunge and casual chic looked anti-commercial while cable television, MTV and the young World Wide Web carried them worldwide faster than any previous style had travelled; marketing grew more segmented even as the clothes grew simpler. That combination — simple garments, sophisticated media — is the decade's lasting bequest: the 2000s inherited both the hoodie and the machinery that sells it, and modern streetwear still runs on the formula the nineties assembled.