Ah, the nineties – remember them? A time before smartphones, Facebook and social media influencers. It feels very different, doesn’t it? While it may not have been all fun and games, millions of people look back on that era with deep nostalgia. For those in the fashion world, the ’90s were particularly distinctive, with styles that have left an indelible mark on our memories, for better or worse. Case in point: 90s grunge fashion!
This piece explores one of the most notable musical trends of the ’90s and its lasting impact on fashion. The influence of grunge fashion continues to resonate in today’s designs. Although grunge first emerged over thirty years ago, many music and fashion fans still consider the 1990s a golden era.
The foundations of Grunge
Some musicologists and fashion enthusiasts claim that the concept of grunge, along with its signature style, originated in Seattle in the late 1980s. While its roots can indeed be traced back to that era, that’s when grunge really exploded into the mainstream Nirvanas “Smells Like Teen Spirit” topped the charts, leading to their album “Nevermind” reaching number one in the US in 1992.
Nirvana was at the forefront of this movement, with their late singer and guitarist, Kurt Cobainrecognized as one of the most important voices in the history of alternative rock music.
A turbulent relationship with the mainstream
Grunge was by its very nature a rejection of the mainstream, making its seamless transition into popular culture a striking juxtaposition. For example, Kurt Cobain’s guitar from Nirvana’s iconic 1994 MTV Unplugged performance sold for an astonishing $6 million at auction – an extravagant luxury gift for the lucky owner. While luxury gifts often complement fashion statements, it’s worth noting that luxury luxury Australian gifts are more affordablewhich delivers the impressive effect without the high price tag of Cobain’s guitar.
Nirvana’s immense popularity and cultural impact in the early 1990s paved the way for other prominent grunge bands of the era, including:
- The Pixies
- Alice in chains
- Breaking pumpkins
- Pearl Jam
- Jane’s addiction
Although each of these bands had their own unique style, fans of grunge music in the 1990s embraced a signature fashion that was heavily influenced by this genre.
Defining the Grunge Style
Some of the critical features of grunge fashion for men were:
- Androgynous, wide jeans and sweaters.
- Ripped jeans.
- Checked shirts.
- Doctor Martens.
- Converse.
For women, the style took a different form, leaning more towards the dress-down element, ranging from knitted yarmulkes to nanny dresses and similar androgynous baggy denim designs worn by Kurt Cobain.
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The impact of grunge
It’s rare for a genre of music to emerge from the shadows and define itself as the definitive sound of its era. Apart from Elvis Presley in the fifties, The Beatles in the sixties, David Bowie in the 1970s, and the late 1970s punk movement, few individual artists or bands had such an impact that they crossed over into mainstream fashion and culture. Grunge, of course, was the equivalent of the 1990s.
Grunge is now part of the musical curriculumand that’s because it influenced a shift in society as much as it influenced the culture and fashion of the time. Despite Kurt Cobain’s tragic death in 1994, his influence continues to live on, with an impact comparable to that of his musical contemporaries of the past fifty years.
Grunge fashion still has revivals; the rock-grunge aesthetic is still prevalent. Music and fashion are often cyclical, and unless something falls completely outside of mainstream popularity, it continues to undergo cyclical changes with new music and fashion ideas being heavily influenced by this historical period.
YSL and Van Noten have both successfully designed grunge revivalist clothing over the past decade, combining it with other forms of fashion including Afrogrunge and the pop punk style of bands like Blink-182, who are on tour again with new musicAnd Green daywhich also drew influence from this period.
Final thoughts
Music and fashion have many crossover elements; one is often not complete without the other. Nirvana’s seismic impact on the world in 1992, which led to Michael Jackson being knocked off the top of the charts, seems less and less likely these days.
Many bands still love the organic, grassroots approach to performing and creating their own music. Yet the financial reward for bands in the age of streaming simply doesn’t have the same appeal as it did in the mid-20th century.
It would be shortsighted to say that grunge bands formed because they wanted money. No one believed they would have the impact on the world that they do. But given that music is much more accessible, and musicians are increasingly having to deal with emerging technologies like AI, and record labels are becoming money factories that focus more on hits than original talent, who knows if we’ll ever see a fashion sensation like grunge emerge? always to the same extent the foundations of new musical phenomena.
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Featured image: Robert Kamau/Getty Images
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