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The 1990s are back in fashion, and here’s why we should all be grateful
- The ’90s was one of the best fashion decades of the past century. Now some of its best looks are making a comeback, from bias-cut skirts to oversized shirts
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For the past couple of years, I have watched as Gen Z had a field day with my era. Let them flash their taut abs, as they flit between festivals in their Y2K crop tops and low-slung jeans. Slip dresses and slogan tees? Enjoy.
They say if you wore it the first time around, you should give it a wide berth on all subsequent resurrections. Who are “they”? I mean, I am happy to oblige with anything low-rise – even if you have been diligently doing Pilates for the past two decades, there are more dignified ways to fill your days than flaunting your abs in an attempt to keep up with the 20-somethings.
But cargo pants and bias-cut midi skirts are way too good to be off-limits. Ditto vest tops, which strike a fuss-free note under a blazer.
The 1990s was one of the best fashion decades of the past century. I am unashamedly partisan here. I hated the ’80s and almost anything was going to be an improvement. But what an improvement the ’90s proved to be; the first time a panoply of options for all body shapes emerged simultaneously.
The ’90s brought a different kind of freedom. Bye-bye bling and clunky ’80s power dressing. Suddenly everyone looked 10 years younger, including Princess Diana, once she sloughed off the big, helmet hair and unflattering drop waists.
British fashion designer John Galliano, pre-implosion, was a major emerging talent at the start of the decade, obsessed with the ’30s technique of bias cutting, pioneered by French fashion designer Madeleine Vionnet – slicing across fabric to create languidly elegant clothes.
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