- Feel Good
- 31st Jul 2024
- 0
- 4 minutes
From TV shows to fashion – why are we embracing 1990s throwbacks?
By: Jo Dunbar
Whether chortling at a Friends re-run, thinking about investing in a flip phone or Nokia 3310, or pulling on a checked shirt or a scrunchie – there’s no doubt that we are being influenced by the 1990s. We have even elected a Labour Prime Minister – last done in 1997.
At first glance, 1990s nostalgia could just be put down to trends repeating themselves. But it’s deeper than that. For those of us growing up in the 1990s, the popular culture explosion provides memories of either following cool bands in the Britpop era or, alternatively, screaming your lungs out at the pop explosion made famous by the Spice Girls and the boyband industry. They were great memories, made during school days or late teenage years: before a digital adulthood was on the horizon.
Pre digital times
Following, likes, pokes or DMs hadn’t been invented in the Nineties. You could fangirl endlessly or experiment with Nineties fashions and the only people making remarks were your mates (although anyone wearing platform trainers and plucking almost all their eyebrows off shouldn’t really pass comment).
So, is it any wonder that now these Nineties trends come back around, that so many of us are wholeheartedly embracing them? 30 years ago, we had our dress rehearsal, this time we know what suits us (no, put the bottle of Sun In down); we know what we enjoy watching and listening to so it’s no surprise that we’ve dived in and fully immersed ourselves in Nineties culture again.
The endless options of what to stream or download to hadn’t arrived in the 1990s, the choices were narrower. Perhaps explaining why TV shows like Gladiators re-captured our attention this year with a nostalgia kick on a Saturday teatime. Last summer, Barbie was a blockbuster. Jo Whiley’s 90s nights sell out up and down the country. Take That are still relevant, All Saints re-emerged, and Rick Astley’s come back was unprecedented.
The 90s Baby festival arrives on Newcastle’s Town Moor this weekend following a rapturous reception in Manchester. Ronan Keating, Blue, Peter Andre, Backstreet Boy Nick Carter and 5ive are just a few of the acts performing. Samantha Mumba, Eternal and 911 are also limbering up ready to share some 90s bangers. Buy tickets here.
Nineties makeover
Beauty looks have taken a Nineties swerve which works brilliantly when you remember applying them 25 years ago. Lip liner. Rimmel’s Heather Shimmer lipstick. Brown eye shadow. Iridescent eye shadow. Lacquered lip gloss. CK One. Even make up legend Bobbi Brown has cited the 1990s as some of her inspo for her latest innovation Jones Road Beauty. I’m yet to see hair mascara or smell much Body Shop Dewberry perfume but it could happen.
Nineties fashions are everywhere you look, too. Cargo or combat pants. Strappy dresses. Sweatshirts and cycling shorts. Low slung jeans. Disc belts. Baguette-style handbags.
Make up and clothes aside, there are deeper reasons why so many of us are enjoying this nostalgia hit, too. The decade in question represents happy memories; whether school days, partying with a Britpop backdrop or having young families.
The digital age – and the pressure that comes with it – hadn’t yet kicked in. Today, plenty of us are considering putting down our smartphones in favour of a “dumb” version – abandoning all the distraction and social media pressure our smartphones can bring for a simpler handset – just as 1990s tech delivered. Manufacturers of such handsets have reported spikes in demand, especially from younger users.
Some of Gen Z are sick of constant notifications and are choosing to leave smartphones for the working week then adopting a dumb phone as a weekend handset so switching off and sitting down are possible. So, it could mean a return to texting, phone credit and that other beloved Nineties pastime: games of Snake.
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