The Influence Of The Music Industry Over 90’s Fashion
The last decade of the twentieth century was mainly characterized by
styles which focused on minimalism, often called the anti-fashion
decade. Anti-fashion was actually only one of many trends that saw the
light of day during the nineties.
Above anything else, 90’s fashion was intimately intertwined with the
music trends that permeated that decade, and as always rock’n’roll and
its many sub-divisions had a lot to say in this field of life in the
nineties. The first major trend to be observed in the nineties was
grunge, the style of music and style of clothing being brought to the
mainstream by the Seattle-based band Nirvana. Just like its name says,
someone dressed in a grunge style has a general unkempt appearance and
to a certain degree androgynous because grunge fashion asked for both
boys and girls to wear flannel shirts as well as other clothing which is
more typically for outdoor purposes. Grunge as a music style was however
short-lived. Even so, grunge fashion continued to linger for most of the
decade and many people tried to carry on the style. The beginning of
the nineties also saw the move to mainstream of heavy metal and hard
rock, thanks to bands like Metallica and Guns’n’Roses. These styles of
music also came with their own brand of 90’s fashion usually centering
on the wearing of leather jackets and slashed, faded jeans, and t-shirts
with various kinds of prints. While these fashion trends were somewhat
limited to those who listened to that type of music, they’ve never gone
out of style since. This is just one of the examples of fashion style
which didn’t disappear over night, as many of them do.
Another style of music that influenced how its fans dressed during the
nineties was rap, which then split into gangsta-rap which then became
hip-hop, being characterized by baggy jeans, bandanas worn on the head
and overly-large t-shirts, usually basketball jerseys. Moving onto the
middle of 90’s fashion, during that time retro influences started being
felt more heavily with platform shoes and bell bottoms becoming popular
once more. In Europe the floor-length dress was quite popular and they
were worn regardless of the time of day. Some of the greatest influences
on girl and women 90’s fashion were the Spice Girls, Princess Diana and
of course this was the decade of the supermodel when fashion models
became international celebrities. The last years of the decade saw a
large number of trends sharing the spot light, whether it was a trend
toward the revival of certain characteristics of the seventies, or the
punk and goth trends which continued somewhat into the next decade.
90’s fashion was mainly influenced by the music industry of that decade.
Like usual, celebrities were the tread setters, but the styles they
approached lived longer than most people expected. In fact, there are
many traces of 90’s fashion that can be noticed today. |
