90s Film Fashion

In contrast to the flamboyant 80's, the 90's was a decade that saw fashion become more minimalistic, grunge and stylishly casual with the welcoming of plaid patterns, gingham two pieces, tartan, acid wash denim and an extension on floral prints. As a 90's child myself, in this post I have gathered a selection of my all-time favourite films or television shows in the 90s and the dominant styles that featured throughout them. You may notice that some of these styles have been recycled over and over in the past 25 years.


Clueless (1995)
Clueless is probably the biggest iconic film of all time when it comes to 90's fashion. Styled by costumer designer, Mona May many of Cher, Dionne and Tai's outfits in the film are ones that are still influencing current trends in today's fashion industry, whether it be day to day wear or even evening outfits that walk down the catwalk. Not only that but Cher's iconic yellow plaid two piece costume is even worn as a Halloween costume by fans who try to nostalgically embrace the 90's look. Even though her style signals a school girl motif and can be seen as slightly immature and naïve, Cher's costumes signify the innocence of a girl during her teens who has status and money.

However, although we are immediately drawn to the main character, Cher and her wardrobe, Dionne's costume are also significant and extremely culturally conscious when it comes to 90's fashion. Dionne's style has two egos; one resembling Cher's outfits but in different colours and shapes (especially the plaid look we see in the first scene which symbolises the strength and value of their friendship). Dionne's other style is hip hop and reggae inspired and symbolised by her Rastafarian braids and animal prints to channel a black culture. Furthermore, this distinctive look partially asserts herself away from the white American style that Cher adopts.




Before I move on, there is no way I could talk about Cher's costumes in Clueless without obviously discussing Iggy Azalea's channelling of the 90's film in her 2014 music video 'Fancy'.

Azalea herself even confessed why she chose the Clueless narrative for her music video suggesting that, "Growing up, Clueless to me [Azalea] was that stereotypical L.A. Valley Girl movie, and it was very hard for me as a kid to know what was real and what wasn't real. [I wondered], 'Is that really how people in L.A. dress? Do they really all talk like that?"





She's All That (1999)
For anyone who has seen this film, you may agree the fashion choices of Laney are not completely what you would call stylish at the beginning of the film. However, as we look back, many of her costumes have been regurgitated into trends of the 21st century such as the denim dungarees, floral paisley shirts and thick rimmed glasses to depict a casual, retrospective and preppy 90s fashion.





Romeo and Juliet (1996)
Baz Luhrmann's modern day adaptation of Romeo and Juliet was another key film that used costumes to establish the fashion of the 90's decade. Not only did the costumes signify the 90's trend but they were also symbolic of the social class of each character. Romeo Montague, played by Leonardo De Capri and his gang of friends can be seen to wear bright coloured Hawaiian printed shirts with neon hair (a common experiment with identity in the 90's) and a bad boy attitude connoting their lower class dishevelled male identity. Whereas, Juliet Capulet's garments are mostly white connoting the purity and innocence of her character. Furthermore, this use of immaculate white depicts an elite and prestigious status for her character in comparison to Romeo, whose costumes are filled with colour and graphics to depict events of turmoil and struggle in his life due his lower class. We eventually see Juliet's costume darken to a monochrome attire towards the end of the film when it reaches the anti-climax of despair, judgement and heartbreak. However, her outfit is still conservative and graceful.

Furthermore, during the scene of the party, although the film does depict 90s fashions, in this specific scene, the costumes have historical references as they have similarities to garments that were worn during the time period when the original story was set. This fashion statement makes the film even more interesting as the stylist has created a juxtaposition between traditional historical garments and contemporary clothing in the 90s era and the differences are easily noticeable.





                  

Empire Records (1995)

Similarly to the fashion in Clueless, Liv Tyler's character Corey Maison, in Empire Records also opts for the preppy plaid skirt look. However, unlike Cher, Cody mixes her outfit up by pairing the skirt with grunge combat boots and a cropped cool blue mohair jumper to portray that rebellious youthful look in the 90's. Furthermore, by styling Cody in this outfit, it signifies juxtaposition between a sexualised edge (cropped jumper) and a virginal representation (plaid skirt) to maintain the innocence of Cody's teenage character but to still depict her as that alluring love interest in the film.




Deb's costume (positioned on the far right) in the film also represents an unconventional grunge style in the 90's due to her shaven head, acid grey graphic vest and loose cut artistic flared pants.


The Doom Generation (1995)

Although this 90s film isn't as memorable as the others I have included, unless you are a fan of surrealist cult teen movies of course, it still includes one of the most iconic film costumes of the 90's. The costume which Amy Blue(Rose McGowan's character) picks up at a charity store in town whilst on the run, along with garments for Jordan White and Xavier Red (James Duval and Jonathan Schaech) consists of a transparent raincoat, a peach dress and a pair of cat eyed white sunglasses. The change of costume arguably represented a shift in the movie and a possible symbolisation of Amy's emotional transparent personality which comes to light as the film goes on (especially her reaction to the killing of a dog on the highway) in comparison to her first all-black outfit which symbolised the darkness and narcissism of McGowan's character. 




Rose McGowan's character, Amy, in The Dooms Generation may not have completely invented this look, but its one that we have seen many high street brands take inspiration from in the past couple of years such as Top Shop and Glamorous.



 

Saved By The Bell (1989-1993)
If Saved By the Bell wasn't your favourite TV show as a child growing up then you were definitely doing it wrong. With Jessie's love for patchwork vest, Kelly's combination of crop tops and denim high waist shorts and Lisa's colourful printed co-ords, the fashion of the TV hit series couldn't have depicted three different female fashion identities in the 90's better. Jessie's style resembled her role of class president- independent, dominant and mature with her slouchy blouses and kitschy waistcoats styled to fit her proud character. Whereas Kelly's style portrayed the sweet natured, all American 'girl next door' stereotype with her bold floral prints and off the shoulder tops. As for Lisa's, the aspiring fashion designer of Bayside, her style was experimental, confident and daring to reflect her obsession with all things on trend.