One Dallas fashion blogger asserts that the “decade with no identity” is ripe for a revival. Fall runways and (ahem) Justin Bieber seem to back up his prediction. Could this mean a season of Dr. Martens and Rachel cuts in our near fashion future?
Dallas blogger Sean Charles posts his musings on fashion, trends, and general style at SeanInTheCity. Last weekend, the Art Institute student let loose with a prediction that knocked us clear back into the days of flannel shirts, post-Wham George Michael, pencil thin brows, and sitcom-mania.
Yes, the ‘90s seem to be making a comeback, and Sean, for one, is ready for the ride.
“One of the great things about the ‘90s, was that to most, it was a decade with no identity,” Sean wrote, pointing out such opposing poster girls as Jennifer Aniston’s chirpy Rachel Green and angst-rocker Alanis Morissette.
He continued, “[This gives] us the option to create our own interpretation of what the ‘90s meant to us.”
In other words, this trend can be as classy or as tacky as you want to make it.
In the classy department, Burberry’s Fall 2011 collection takes a cue from Amy Heckerling’s 1995 hit, Clueless. These bright, stylish plaid coats could have come straight out of Cher and Dionne’s walk-in closets.
Another much-touted harbinger falls into the ‘questionable’ category. When tween idol Justin Bieber sported a Kelly Kapowski tee at a recent awards show, the Saved By the Bell reference felt kitschy to some, just plain silly to others. (The tee is available for $24 at Urban Outfitters.)
It also wouldn’t be a ‘90s redux post if we didn’t mention the ‘Rachel’. Here, Jennifer Aniston sports the hairstyle named for her character on the sitcom Friends. Much like similarly trendy cuts inspired by Meg Ryan and Victoria Beckham, this tricky ‘do only looked good on the girl it was named after.
Finally, we love Sean’s question about where this trend is headed. He asks, “Will we be more confident in ourselves to take what we learned in the ‘90s, what we loved about them, and make them our own?”
…Or will we simply sport silk-screened parodies of the decade on cheap, mass-market tees in a lazy attempt at fashion irony? Only time will tell.
