The 1990s were full of music and the fashion image often derived from it. How did we go about it? Which artists were popular? What toys and gadgets were we working with? An ode to the 90's!
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The 90s are characterized by musical or non-musical subcultures. An innocent kind of group formation:gabbers, altos, cocks, farmers or sjonnies. That is disappearing. In this century there were the hipsters and goths, but hardly anyone talks about that anymore. The fact that young people no longer classify themselves or allow themselves to be classified on the basis of their music taste may be due to the changed music supply, and especially the way in which we achieve this.
The range of music from about 30 years ago was determined by the newspapers, radio, TV and record stores. They more or less determined what we were told. Just quickly listening to an interesting new but unknown artist from Chile or Australia, as we do now, was simply not possible. Breaking bands actually had all the space and a larger audience. Now – unlike in the 90s – every musician has the opportunity to spread his music worldwide. As a result, the music landscape is increasingly fragmented:there are many more artists with a somewhat smaller audience. This can also be seen at the festivals, for which very few real headliners exist.
But the offer was nevertheless large in the 1990s. You had the eurodance and other super catchy house music. You're Not Alone from Olive, for example. Moby was the king of the dance genre. Put Feeling so real up and you get those delicious spring jitters again. The much faster house was made by the gabbers:DJ Paul Elstak or more hardcore variants.
90s music was further dominated by hip-hop. dr. Dre, Ice Cube, 2Pac and Ice-T for example. And then there was the grunge , a label that was given to the Seattle collection of musicians after their massive breakthrough. "Grungy" means shabby, that's what many of the band members looked like. For example Nirvana, that with album Nevermind was a trailblazing pioneer. The cover of that record – the naked baby – is a symbol of 90s music. Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Alice In Chains followed in their slipstream. The European answer to this came in the form of Britpop:Oasis, Blur, Pulp.
As mentioned, the 90s fashion often matched what the artists wore. The aussies and Nike Air Max were the dress code of the gabber. While lovers of alternative guitar music were dressed in torn jeans and flannel lumberjack blouses. dr. In addition to being tough, Martens boots or army boots were especially useful in the mosh pit, a somewhat rougher variant on a dance floor. Now they are in almost every walk-in closet! Girls opted for Scottish skirts, band shirts and army trousers.
Those who dressed less exuberantly chose the Levi's 501. The presence of the red label betrayed whether you had paid the full price for it. The waistcoat, often worn over a t-shirt, also returned. The Oilily and Benetton brands were popular in wealthy circles. Other typical 90's clothing manufacturers were O'neill, Strongbow, Tommy Hilfiger and Timberland - you know, those yellow mountain boots.
Feyenoord defender John de Wolf also contributed to the 90s fashion, with the so-called noise blouse – this term was invented by Youp van ’t Hek. They were colorful, very striking blouses with motifs that you could only come up with on an LSD trip. To top it off, many footballers and folk singers wore a wool jacket in a primary color:bright blue or red.
Besides bald (gabbers), dreadlocks, long hair (altos) and shaved motifs (hiphoppers), there was the hockey haircut:medium length hair in a middle parting. This costume was also called curtains called, by the locks that hung on either side of the head. And what about the good old blockhead † Spines, cut in such a way that you literally got a square head. It was something different than the crazy flock of seagulls haircut from the 80s. Just type that into google!
The 90s fashion all in all caused a colorful street scene. Now all those styles are mixed up a bit, while some pieces of clothing are still popular:Miley Cyrus is an avid Dr. Martens wearer, preferably combined with a lumberjack blouse wrapped around the waist! And the bell bottom -pants? They come back into fashion every few years. Also this century, the wide legs have proved indestructible, thus also betraying the latest clothing trends for 2021.
The series Friends should not go unmentioned. Joey, Ross and Chandler didn't have any distinct taste, or they must have been their oversized sweaters. No, then Rachel and Monica! The latter wore the black leather pencil skirt that you now also see popping up a lot. A separate episode was devoted to her high boots, as well as to the rise of the tattoo. Rachel's haircut was copied worldwide. Shortly afterwards, in the Netherlands, you got the Leco look, with Caroline Tensen as the sign of stylist Leco Zadelhoff.
The Furby, the Slinky, the Tamagotchi, the Gameboy:90s toys may sound to young readers as a collection of sex toys. But of course they weren't. The Furby was a talking cuddly toy that made many wish lists, the Slinky a feather that you could let down the stairs and you played games on the Gameboy. It was a kind of pocket computer, just like the Tamagotchi all the rage:this egg-shaped device was a virtual pet, which you had to 'give' like the Hatchiwow. And in bags of chips we found the unsurpassed Flippos!
Back to the music for a moment:in the 90s you were king in the schoolyard with a discman, the successor to the walkman. You could play CDs on mobile! It only ate batteries, just like the Walkman. But with the latter you had a solution for that:during class you simply rewind your cassette tape with your hits from the radio with a pencil. Do you want to surprise today's children? Pull out an old cassette tape and show how it works!
