Fashion Foreward: Clothing styles that were popular during the nineties and today.
90’s Fashion
The 'Rachel' haircut: The 'do' that Jennifer Aniston who played Rachel on TV's Friends wore. Many women saw women like Jennifer Aniston as cutting edge with choppy hairstyles that angled the faces of the wearers.
Adidas Wind pants: Light wind pants. Made noises every time you moved. Came in a bunch of colors with a white or black stripe down the side. Also had button down ones. Warm-up wind pants became trendy for both men and women within the country, as they sought to be comfortable during everyday activities.
Back-Pack Purses: Exactly what the name describes; a miniature back-pack used as a purse.
Baggy Jeans: Worn by girls and boys, the baggier the better.
Butterfly clips: These became popular in 1998-1999. Little plastic butterfly clips that girls of all ages wore by the gross in their hair. The typical way of wearing them was to part your hair in several different places and to clip each section of hair so that the butterflies would be all in a row on top of your head.
Canvas Shoes: Worn with much tapered pants, and scrunch socks. Best brand is Keds.
Caps With The Tag Still On It: In the early 90's baseball caps that still had the tag on it were in, whether it was the price tag or any type of tag.
Doc Martens: They were boots and sandals that were very popular. They cost around $100 a pair, but almost every teen had a pair in the late 90's.
Double Shirt: Kids in the 90's would wear 2 shirts: one regular long sleeve shirt and one button up shirt. The button up shirt would be un-buttoned.
Cargo Pants: Somewhat of a wide leg, with large pockets part way down the leg. Usually blue, black, whitish, or beige.
Fishing Hats: Floppy cotton hats like the type that has been popular with fishermen for years. Came in an assortment of colors, kaki, tan, cream...The brim nearly covered the wearer's eyes.
Fanny Packs: Purses that buckle on to the waste. Very popular in the early 1990's. Now it's considered to be a fashion faux pas.
Flannel shirts: Grungy, flannel shirts from dad's closet worn over concert T-shirts to complete the whole "grunge" ensemble.
Flare Jeans: Similar to bell bottoms with less of a flare!
Guess: Guess jeans come in various colors, even bright colors. They also have Guess shirts. They range in prices from $35.00 for jeans and $25.00 for the shirt.
Hawaiian Prints: Everything from shoes to necklaces to shirts and shorts, etc that had Hawaiian flowers or sayings on them.
Nike: The Most Popular sports wear for most of the 90’s.
Overalls: As I remember, over-alls came back into style. In the early 1990's teens wore their overalls in two ways: They wore their overalls with a belt, and let the 'front flap' and 'back straps' hang straight down. The other way, was to only hook together one side of the overall straps, and leave the opposite side open. The popular over-all styles were: light blue; or gray stone-washed; overalls, with lots of zippers and metal buttons down the sides.
Platforms: Shoes with large thick heels on them very similar to the look of the 60's and 70's. Some were made of plastic and some made of cork, even wood.
Polar Fleece: Everything fleece, vests, jackets, pants, socks, toques. Worn by everyone from little kids to senior citizens. Fleece hit the mainstream during the late ‘90’s, as was the stretchy lycra fabric.
Starter Coats: Pull over coats that were big and puffy.
Thigh-high Stockings: Basically over-the-knee stockings that girls wore with very short skirts. Introduced around 1995, the two basic colors were black and white.
Tommy: Tommy clothing is very hip and in style with teens in the 90's.
Tube Socks: Calf-high socks that didn't have a little seam where the heel went. We wore them with our sneakers and shorts usually kind of squished down so they'd wrinkle.
White Hair band: A narrow, elastic white hair band worn near the front of the hair by teenage girls and young women in the late 1990s.
Fashion Today
Uggboots: The latest fashion trend, are everywhere! It seems you cannot walk by the window display of any clothing or shoe store without seeing in it a pair of these trendy boots.
Louis Vuitton: Handbags and purses are known and recognized throughout the world as items of extreme quality, respect, prestige and luxury. It is one of the most well known luxury brands in the world, with many imitators.
Brooches: Your great grandmother probably wore these in her day. Now brooches have made a stunning come back. The most popular brooches are large and flowery, with a vintage look.
Camisoles: Wearing a pretty camisole under a suit jacket is very chic and adds the perfect touch of feminine glamour. Paired with a pair of jeans with heels for a sexy casual look or layered under a tee-shirt.
Prints: Polka dots, stripes, flowers, and paisley prints are popping up on all kinds of clothing items.
Leggings: Showing up under dresses and skirts and will continue to be big in warm weather.
Bermuda shorts: (which is being used as a catch-all phrase for longer shorts anywhere from right above to right below the knee) will be one of the most popular looks, paired them with the right top and shoes for a modern look.
Over-sized sunglasses: These sunglasses feature a wide-lens that is a very fashionable look in the past few years.
Pet fashions: Have become a big business. Pets were fashion accessories but now they have fashions of their own. Major retailers now produce lines of clothing and accessories for dogs and other pets and sell them at upscale boutiques.
Belts: Many add a dash of funk or prep to their look with this key accessory. Thick or thin, and many belt clips to choose from.
Boho (Bohemian): A decidedly downtown image. Today, boho chic defines a pervasive, yet upscale, trend in modern fashion. It’s a global yet earthy look. Boho Chic is an eclectic mix of ethnic and vintage-feel items.
Jeans: Buying them already ripped is popular for adolesents these days, for both boys and girls. Ripped, rugged, or tinted; that's the style.
Accessories: Headbands, long layered necklaces, dangly earrings.
Teen Fashion Poll:
Q1. What is the hottest fashion item this winter?
Result:
Ugg Boots 51.3% (20)
Cord Jeans 28.2% (11)
Furry Scarves 17.9% (7)
Cool Beanie 2.6% (1)
Total Votes: 39
Q2. Which would you most likely get done to yourself?
Result:
Piercing 51.5% (42)
Radical Hair Color 17.8% (13)
Tattoo 13.7% (10)
All 9.6%
Shaved Head 1.4% (1)
Total Votes: 73
Q3. What would you wear to a formal event?
Result:
Gorgeous dress 52.2% (12)
Cool Suit 21.1% (5)
Outrageous Costume 13% (3)
Jeans and a t-shirt 13% (3)
Total Votes: 23
Q4. What color do you wear the most?
Result:
Blue 31.1% (14)
Pink 28.9% (13)
Black 26.7% (12)
Other 4.4% (2)
Green 2.2% (1)
Red 2.2% (1)
White 2.2% (1)
Purple 2.2% (1)
Total Votes: 45
Q5. What shoes do you like to wear when going out?
Result:
High heels 37.5% (18)
Sport shoes 18.8% (9)
Thongs 18.8% (9)
Boots 12.5% (6)
Flats 10.4% (5)
Bare feet 2.1% (1)
Total Votes: 48
Q6. How much time do you spend getting ready to go out?
Result:
10-20 minutes 25% (8)
20-40 minutes 25% (8)
40-60 minutes 18.8% (6)
More than 60 minutes 18.8% (6)
Less than 10 minutes 12.5% (4)
Total Votes: 32
Q7.What's your favorite accessory?
Result:
Bag 27.9% (56)
Jewelry 26.4% (53)
Sunglasses 23.4% (47)
Mobile Phone 17.4% (35)
Hat 3.0% (6)
Watch 2.0% (4
)Total Votes: 201
Q8. What do you like most about Winter Fashion?
Result:
Everything 26.7% (28)
Boots 21% (22)
Coats & Jackets 17.1% (18)
Scarves 14.3% (15)
Beanies 9.5% (10)
Nothing 6.7% (7)
Ponchos 2.9% (3)
Jumpers 1.9% (2)
Ski Clothes 0.0% (0)
Total Votes: 105
Q9. What color is going to be hot this spring?
Result:
Pink 34.2% (39)
Aqua 14.0% 1(6)
Green 14.0% (16)
Brown 10.5% (12)
Coral 10.5% (12)
White 6.1% (7)
Black 5.3% (6)
Yellow 5.3% (6)
Total Votes: 114
Q10. What is the biggest fashion brand name?
Result:
Roxy 27.1% (38)
Nike 23.6% (33)
Billabong 18.6% (26)
Von Dutch 17.1% (24)
Levi Strauss 9.3% (13)
Bonds 2.9% (4)
Doc Martens 0.7% (1)
Rusty 0.7% (1)
Total Votes: 140
Q11. How many sunglasses do you own?
Result:
One 33.6% (40)
None 20.2% (24)
Two 19.3% (23)
Three 11.8% (14)
Five Plus 10.1% (12)
Four 5.0% (6)
Total Votes: 119
Many adolescents lost interest in fashion in the late 90’s as necessary and important to their lives when school and work rules for dressing relaxed. Emerging adults living from home became common. By the edge of the 21 st century dressing down in every aspect of life became an acceptable norm. Ordinary retail clothing sales, textile manufacturing industries and stores all declined from a less active more casual marketplace.
Teens participare in youth culture to different degrees- some not at all, some moderatly, some intensely. Each distinctive form of image and demeanor in youth culture symbolizes certain values and beliefs that distinguish youth culture from adult society. Youth culture offers a collective identity, and provides cognitive material to develop an alternative script... it represents a free area to relax with peers outside the scrutiny and demands of the adult world.
The range of fashion goods available was huge in the 1990s, but no one knows the real answer why retail sales were often sluggish. The main thrust of fashion was the striving to achieve individuality. Fashion proliferated as fast as it could be relayed by the media and Internet and only by styling oneself rather than slavishly following a particular designer's fashion look, could individuality be achieved. Rapid dissemination of information and a more relaxed attitude to clothes has led to a certain inevitable uniformity in cities thousands of miles apart. Comfort dressing with stretch, accounts for many sales today.
This site was created for FCS 2150: Adolescent Development
by: Erica Shelton on April 01, 2006