The '90s have hit us one more time

by Chloe Charlesworth and Lauren Cowley

For many of us, the idea of moving from teenager into twenty-something is a terrifying prospect.

It signifies the end of one phase and the beginning of another: adulthood and all the responsibility it brings.

With this comes a nostalgia for our childhood– a time when music was better, everything was not quite so politically correct and the Spice Girls were pretty much everywhere.

Yes, we are talking about the ’90s, and for some, it seems, it is all just coming back into fashion.

With Gary Barlow once again gracing our screens and Nickelodeon bringing back popular programmes such as Kenan & Kel and Clarissa Explains It All, it would seem that the ’90s are back in vogue.

Yet harking back to that decade is always a balancing act – somehow managing to invoke the good parts without recalling the mascara or velvet chokers.

Fashion

James Sephton, 19, a BA Fashion Design student at the University of East London, remembers: “The grunginess – the ‘I don’t care’ tramp look that was good and bad at the same time.”

Inspired by American musicians like Kurt Cobain, the baggy clothing and overalls were reminiscent of having just rolled out of bed with a careless, ‘anything goes’ approach to personal appearance.

With the revival of ‘it is cool to be un-cool’, it is unsurprising that Cobain continues to inspire street style in the present day. Looking dishevelled and just a tad greasy, young people were desperate to emulate the rock stars they saw throwing themselves around on MTV.

But it was not only musicians that we just ‘had’ to look like – Cher Horowitz, as played by Alicia Silverstone in the cult ’90s film Clueless, inspired legions of look-a-likes, complete with babydoll dresses and knee-high socks. In the same vein, shows from the USA like Beverley Hills, 90210 and Melrose Place created instant trends with puffed sleeves and slip dresses worn over T-shirts.

Carolina Kaufmann, 19, a BA Magazine Publishing student at London College of Communication said: “I had Clueless light-up shoes in pink; just to make them more girly. Clothes were more baggy than today and I had this super flowery dress that covered me from head to toe.”

A period recognised for its casual tendencies, denim was prolific in the ’90s. The brighter and baggier your jeans were, the cooler you looked – and nothing looked better than a colourful pair in red, green or indigo.

Originally made popular by rap and hip hop stars, denim became a staple in the lives of all ’90s kids that continued well into the 21st century.

But it was not just denim that came in a rainbow of colours; shell suits covered the entire spectrum from navy to violet and back again.

Footwear also walked in an entirely new direction, with chunkiness everywhere. Doc Martens, Mary Janes and platform trainers all embraced the height incline, and the Spice Girls became veritable poster-girls for Union Jacks on just about everything, including shoes.

Curtains were not just a piece of heavy cloth in the ’90s; they were also an extremely popular hairstyle. Thanks to David Beckham, boys across the globe sported this look while grungier girls leaned towards the quirky appeal of multiple topknots, inspired by artists such as Bjork and Gwen Stefani.

Then, from across the Atlantic, came the ‘Rachel’ cut, made famous by Jennifer Aniston, and soon, everyone from your older sister to the new teacher at school was rocking this now iconic look.

Television and film

But it was not just the hairstyles that translated; Friends memorabilia and the mania that ensued created one of, if not the biggest, shows of the decade.

A sitcom to rule all others, Joey Tribbiani, Ross and Monica Geller, Chandler Bing et al, exploded into our living rooms, creating their own trend of naming every episode after a notable occurrence – The One with the Princess Leia Fantasy ring any bells?

Shows centred on teenagers were also extremely popular, with programmes like Saved by the Bell and the Fresh Prince of Bel Air hitting highs in popularity and inspiring a slew of imitable catchphrases.

For those that were too young to appreciate all those hormones, Power Rangers and Doug were all the rage.

The era brought us many blockbuster hits like the CGI developed Titanic, Braveheart and Forrest Gump.

It also stapled cult followings for films like Wayne’s World, Dazed and Confused and the hit Quentin Tarantino movies Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs.

For some of us who were too young to appreciate these classics in the ’90s, you might remember films like Ace Ventura, 10 Things I Hate About You and Toy Story, which was the first Pixar animation created totally with CGI technology. The film was released in 1995 and became an instant hit.

Last year Disney and Pixar released the third installment of Toy Story, proving the movie is so iconic that no one seemed to mind the 15 year gap in the trilogy.

Toys

Toys in general remind everyone of their childhoods, whether it is opening them on Christmas Day or impatiently waiting for your dad to put the final stickers on your Barbie Dream House – everybody has a ‘90s toy they fondly remember.

 “I loved my Tamagotchi and Furby,” commented Zarah Darwood, a 23-year-old former student from London.

The Tamagotchi was a Japanese egg- shaped virtual pet you could carry around in your pocket. It needed a lot of TLC but, as most of us found, it also had a handy reset button.

Like many generations before us, collecting and swapping memorabilia was an essential playground activity. In 1996, Nintendo brought us the merchandising phenomenons Pokémon.

The anime super-animals were brought to our TV screens from Japan, and then went on to conquer the globe, with movies, stickers, clothing and playing cards — you just had to catch them all!

City College Norwich student Chloe Amos, 19, said: “I loved swapping Pokémon cards at school, but I hated those light-up yo-yos everyone went mad for, I really couldn’t do it, ever.” Similarly, playground trade frenzies for sticker books, TAZO Pogs, and PEZ sweet dispensers ran riot through the ’90s school lunch breaks.

Music

For those of you old enough to remember cassette tapes, you will appreciate the adventurous music of the ’90s – from Snap’s dance anthem Rhythm is a Dancer to Aqua’s cheesy tune Barbie Girl.

Music always defines an era, and the ’90s was no different. It saw the epic rise of RnB Dance – think TLC, Eternal and The Honeyz – and Techno Trance, now serves as today’s Dubstep influences, alongside the bitter-Brit feud between Oasis and Blur.

Shop assistant at at MD Music Soho, Rachel Mcinnes, spoke to Arts London News about ’90s music: “The song that reminds me of the ’90s would be Shy FX & UK Apache, Original Nuttah, because it coincides with me moving to London and to Hackney and the beginning of my party days. I still hear that track being blasted out of people’s cars.”

Food

The ’90s also brought us a plethora of new food trends. Some worked, some definitely did not.

It was sort of a trial and error era for children’s sweets.

They were high in E-numbers, and drinks were packed with undesirable ingredients ­– we all heard about the kid who drank so much Sunny Delight he turned orange ­– and unlike today when child obesity is a hot topic and nutritional guides are plastered over every product in the supermarket, food seemed to be pumped full of bright colours and came covered in dubious packaging.

For nostalgia, do you remember foods like Onken Frufoo yogurts with a toy in the middle? And Um Bongo juice drinks, famous for their slogan ‘Um Bongo Um Bongo they drink it in the Congo’?

Or other ghastly foods such as Baby Bottle Pops, full of sugar and strange additives – which you can surprisingly still buy today – and Space Invader crisps that were a staple on the shelves of most local newsagents and school tuck shops.

We thought we had bade farewell to the ’90s in the new millennium, but with clubs hosting ‘We Love The ’90s’ retro nights, and double denim now an ubiquitous look for hipsters, fashionistas and celebrities alike, it is no surprise that we are nostalgic.

But while the memories remain and styles are re-interpreted, we can only hope that Vanilla Ice, goatees and barbed-wire arm tattoos, not to mention crushed velvet scrunchies, stay firmly in the past.

FIVE ’90s things we love to hate

• Hey Macarena! – The song and the dance were both so catchy and so annoying. Does anybody actually know the words.
• BAFTA Winning BBC show Live and Kicking – It woke us up early on a Saturday morning, much to our parent’s despair for ruining their lie-in.
• Hair Mascara – It came in glitter and neon colours and smelt like nail polish remover. The applicator wand got stuck in tangles and it dried hard, but whatever, it was a statement school disco piece.
• Stick-on earrings – For those whose parents would not let them have pierced ears, stick-on earrings were a life-saver. However, most of us put them on our forehead or by the corner of our eyes in an attempt to look like No Doubt.
• Fad Slap bracelets – A small form of pain created by the toy industry for children in the playground. The bracelets were pieces of metal springs covered in fabric which were then forcefully slapped into a coil on your wrist – but oh, how we loved them.

Christmas number ones of the ’90s

These are the Christmas number ones of the ’90s, the songs that irritated, elated and ultimately defined a decade of Decembers

• 1990 – Cliff Richard, Saviour’s Day, spent one week at number one although it was actually Cliff’s 13th number one!
• 1991 – Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody/These Are the Days of Our Lives, was originally released in October 1975 but landed at the top spot in 1991 following the death of Freddie Mercury.
• 1992 – Whitney Houston, I Will Always Love You, an instant classic that spent a massive 10 weeks at the top of the charts, helped in part by its inclusion in the soundtrack to the film of the same year; The Bodyguard.
• 1993 – Mr Blobby, Mr Blobby. This self-titled single peaked at number one, performed by character Mr Blobby from TV show Noel’s House Party.
• 1994 – East 17, Stay Another Day, turned out to be the band’s first and only hit.
• 1995 – Michael Jackson, Earth Song. This socially conscious tune, from the late King of Pop, clung to the top spot for six weeks.
• 1996 – Spice Girls, 2 Become 1. This was the iconic band’s third consecutive number one, sealing their debut album Spice as a commercial success.
• 1997 – Spice Girls, Too Much. Starting to see a pattern here? This second consecutive Christmas hit from the girl band clung to the top spot for two weeks.
• 1998 – Spice Girls, Goodbye. As spice-mania began to wind down with the departure of Geri Halliwell, this parting ballad spent only a week at number one.
• 1999 – Westlife, I Have a Dream, this ABBA cover sealed its position at the top of the charts for a whole month.