Home / Fashion / Fashion News

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly: Why Were We So Obsessed With These 90s Trends?

by Lareese Craig ,
The Good, The Bad, The Ugly: Why Were We So Obsessed With These 90s Trends?

Don't look back in anger is the saying, but really, when we look back at our wardrobe choices from yesteryear, our insides get all tied in knots from cringe overload. Turns out everything we wore in the 90s was ILL advised. Try as you may to snub these unsightly comebacks there's not a Spice Girl's fan anywhere that didn't experiment with a flared jean and a crop top combo. Love, learn and move on? Not without one last laugh...

Space buns

Yep, ya heard. Space buns, more at home on the head of Gwen Stefani or any member of B*witched, are back. And you know that they're in full fashionable swing when the person sporting them is fashion royalty Gigi Hadid. If they're good enough for Gigi, they're good enough for us (again).

Denim. So. Much. Denim

Flares, boot legs, pedal pushers - if it was denim it was destined to be cool. Irish girl band B*Witched fuelled the unhealthy jeans obsession and when they introduced the matching jacket and an ill advised smattering of sparkles. Wow. C'est la vie.

Stick on tattoos

At the time, a stick on tattoo that you applied with a wet flannel was the best idea since popper pants. In retrospect our mum's were right. They were shocking, grubby and painful to remove (cue the scrubbing and rubbing with that evil nail brush). Sporty Spice... we blame you.

Extreme body art

It wasn't enough to have a sleeve of transfer tattoo dolphins, love hearts and roses. If you were a child growing up in the 90s you wanted to have piercings too. Magnetic ones. Or screw on ones. Or stick on ones. Yep. We were extreme like that in those days. #nolimits

Mood rings

A mood ring indicates the emotional state of the wearer. Red means unsettled, black means stressed and mauve means romantic. Yep, that's right you were a restless romantic overcome with fear at the tender age of nine. Best bit of jewellery we ever bought.

Crop tops

Somehow it didn't seem to matter that you didn't have a six pack. Anyone could wear a crop top as long as you sang Britney Spears as you were doing it. Failing that, tying up your school uniform always worked.

Tammy Girl

Remember the first time your mum took you to Tammy Girl... that was when you realised shopping wasn't a boring grown up thing to do. Oh no. It was the opportunity to buy... tops with dogs in tiaras on them and fluffy pens. Hallelujah.

Toe socks

P.E. was always a great time for distinguishing between those straight laced kids with black trainer socks (yawn) and those with a habit for nicely separated toes. We'll never know what their true purpose in life was but we loved them anyway. Almost as much as our beanie babies and scented gel pens.

Jelly shoes

All hail The Jelly Shoe. Original meaning: A glittery collagen like shoe meant for splashing around in the sea safe of crabs, sand fish and the scariest thing of all, seaweed. Marine safeguarding - yes. Fashionable? Hell no. Those things rub like no a mofo.

Flashing trainers

Parents must have hated the rave ready phenomenon that was the flashing trainer. Was there any need to put LED lights in a shoe? Probably not. But it was too good an idea not to try!

Tattoo jewellery

Back in the 90s we weren't into ink. We were too young to dabble with the hard stuff. That's why we got so hooked on these special effect tattoo necklaces, rings and bracelets. You basically looked hard. Until they brought them out in girly colours. Yellow neck tattoo? Yea, we were fooling no one.

The bum bag

It was here, it went and now it's back again. Once upon a time the good old bum bag (or fanny pack as the states like to call it) was just for the car-booters and tourists but now it's teamed with disco pants and a crop top for a night out. If only Rihanna carried her shrapnel in her purse like a normal person this would never have happened.

This!

Why did we insist on having a spiral perm? You couldn't wash your hair for days afterwards. It went rock hard with styling products and grew out all weird. Plus no one looks good with a gel encrusted perm. No one. Not even Justin Timberlake. NOT. EVEN. BEYONCE.

Adidas

Oh god, that Adidas shell suit. The 2000s have got round it by calling it sports chic and nowadays it's sports luxe, but the 90s weren't that clued up. If you were really into your tracky bottoms you went for the classic popper pants. Failing that the double stripe was the next best thing. Who wants to look like a townie now? Not us.

Note - there are literally no nice pictures of Adidas popper pants, which kinda indicates how bad they really were...​

Which 90s trend do you love to hate? Tweet us @sofeminineUK

Lareese Craig
you might also like