The Biggest '90s Style Icons (2024)

FAQs

Who was the style icon of the 90s? ›

'90s Style Icons: Drew Barrymore

Her clothing style varied, from double slip dresses to boyish jeans and cropped tees. Mona May, who worked with Barrymore on Never Been Kissed, The Wedding Singer, and Santa Clarita Diet, says she has always loved how Barrymore has a joie de vivre that always comes out in her style.

Scrunchies, acid-wash jeans, tube tops, and capri pants reigned supreme among '90s style trends, along with crimped hair, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, and punk rock.

The music and film industry influenced popular trends that came out of the decade, styling grunge looks, denim overalls, mini skirts, and cropped cardigans. Trends from the 1990s continue to influence fashion today, as athleisure and streetwear remain popular.

Famous hip-hip artists like MC Hammer, Tupac, N.W.A., and Public Enemy had a heavy influence on 1990s fashion. These looks featured wide leg jeans, tracksuits, bomber jackets, gold chains, and snapback hats.

The 1990s saw advances in technology, with the World Wide Web, the evolution of the Pentium microprocessor in accordance with Moore's Law, rechargable lithium-ion batteries, the first gene therapy trial, and cloning all emerging and being improved upon throughout the decade.

Fashion in the 1990s was defined by a return to minimalist fashion, in contrast to the more elaborate and flashy trends of the 1980s. One notable shift was the mainstream adoption of tattoos, body piercings aside from ear piercing and, to a much lesser extent, other forms of body modification such as branding.

The 1990's look suggested that women should be extremely thin with bones protruding out from the skin. Collar bones, ankles bones and other protrusions were glamourized. This ideal included height, in that women who were very tall were considered more beautiful.

According to The RealReal, Jean Paul Gaultier and Thierry Mugler take the crown as the most sought-after designer names for '90s vintage.

Baggy pants first broke through into the mainstream in 1990 when MC Hammer released the seminal hit, “Can't Touch This”.

Who was the most famous designer of the 90s? ›

The famous fashion designers of the 1990s include Vivienne Westwood, Miuccia Prada, Jean Paul Gaultier and Thierry Mugler. In the world of furniture design, Achille Castiglioni, Ron Arad, the Campana brothers and Philippe Starck were widely known.

Slip dresses, bomber jackets, scrunchies and plaid flannel shirts were all the rage during the '90s — and many of these fashion trends are working their way back into vogue (although some of these pieces may have never left your closet).

The 90s era was all about grunge-style outfits. Opt for edgy pieces like leather jackets, chokers, combat boots, and ripped jeans if you want to come across as a grunge goddess at the 90s party. These outfit ideas work great for all body types, too.

There were so many different trends and styles to choose from, and everyone had their own unique sense of style. It was a time when people weren't afraid to experiment with their looks, and that's why 90s fashion was so awesome.

During the 1990s, retailers began to introduce trendy, cheaply-priced, poorly-made clothes on a weekly basis, intending to match the breakneck pace at which fashion trends move. Style became cheap, convenient and consumable.

Lionel Richie, Michael Jackson, Prince all had fewer and smaller hits while Janet, Whitney and Madonna consolidated their power and became even more popular in the 90's. New female superstars rose to the occasion like Celine, Shania and Toni Braxton,but one would dominate them all:Mariah Carey.

1990 saw a dramatic shift in pop, and an unexpected classic becoming the year's biggest single - Unchained Melody by The Righteous Brothers.

Smartphones, the digital camera, targeted Internet searches and the World Wide Web itself, emojis, even SnapChat and Instagram are all built on the ideas that came about in the 1990's. Read on to discover some of the best technological advances of the '90s.

What are the coolest things about the 90s? ›

90s Grunge

Inspired by underground rock culture, this trend was all about breaking the rules of traditional graphic design, including elements such as: Dirty backgrounds. Distressed textures. Torn edges. Hand drawn doodles.

The Jazz design is considered an icon of 1990s culture, often being associated with the decade. The design ultimately became a meme, and gained a cult following.

Welcome back to the era of brown lips, dewy skin, grunge liner, and shaggy cuts. At the Spring 2023 runway shows, models' faces were a minimalist blur of velvety taupe, beige, and brown—spiked with smudgy eyeliner—that conjured the Supers (Christy, Kate, Cindy, Linda, Naomi) and made it official: The '90s are back.

Wear plaid, and lots of it.

Plaid button-up shirts, plaid skirts, and plaid dresses were '90s staples. Try layering a plaid button-up over the rest of your outfit (leaving it unbuttoned), or wrap a plaid shirt around your waist. Try finding plaid as worn out as possible, giving it the grungy look.

Patterns, Colors, and Textures. The 90s featured patterns, colors, and textures that can only be described as attention-grabbing. They were noisy, loud, vivid, and boasted a multitude of geometric shapes. Here's a look at memorable patterns, colors, and textures that defined pop culture back then.

Designers such as Cristóbal Balenciaga, Digby Morton, and Norman Hartnell, however, utilized oversized fashion practices in their early 1940s collections to manifest the consequential happenings of the war. While men were abroad taking up arms, many women took on their positions in factories and offices.

Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel, later known as “Coco” to the world, is perhaps the most iconic and influential fashion designer of all time. She learned to sew as a teenager in an orphanage, and her vision of simple and functional, yet classically stylish, women's clothing has made the Chanel brand coveted the world over.

Key elements of a 90s-inspired outfit for women include high-waisted jeans, crop tops, oversized clothing, grunge-inspired pieces, tracksuits, Doc Martens, and chokers. To create a 90s-inspired look, a fashion brand can mix and match these elements to reflect a woman's personal style.

Hammer pants are modified baggy pants, tapered at the ankle with a sagging rise, made suitable for hip hop dancing. They were popularized in the 1980s and 1990s by American rapper MC Hammer.

What are the 90s baggy jeans called? ›

JNCO-style jeans. For those unaware, JNCOs are super-shapeless, super-wide-legged jeans favored two decades ago. They were seen on teens in iconic '90s films like Clueless and Can't Hardly Wait.

Model Twiggy Lawson has led the tributes to designer Dame Mary Quant, who has died aged 93. The fashion legend passed away "peacefully at home in Surrey", her family announced on Thursday.

The real change occurred in 1990, when a wildly talented young designer named Tom Ford entered the picture. Initially, he oversaw Gucci's ready-to-wear collection, but became the fashion house's Creative Director in 1994.

Denim jackets, jeans, and even hats are going to be your best bet when dressing for the 90's. A classic and unbeatable look that represents the 90's is double denim. Pair some washed out straight leg jeans with a denim jacket and some retro trainers and you've transported yourself back to the 90's.

What Are 90s Jeans? 90s jeans mimic the style of the decade in all its variations: mom jeans, baggy jeans, tapered jeans and even the occasional pair of flares.

The 1990s' most popular genre, action, channeled anxieties about global threats such as AIDS and foreign terrorist attacks into escapist entertainment movies. Horror films and thrillers were on the rise, but family-friendly pictures and feel-good romances netted big audiences too.

According to The RealReal, Jean Paul Gaultier and Thierry Mugler take the crown as the most sought-after designer names for '90s vintage.

This year, the Daily Front Row will be giving away an award titled Fashion Icon Of The Decade, and they have named Kendall Jenner as the recipient.

Slip dresses, bomber jackets, scrunchies and plaid flannel shirts were all the rage during the '90s — and many of these fashion trends are working their way back into vogue (although some of these pieces may have never left your closet).

Coco Chanel is undoubtedly one of the most influential fashion icons of all time. She revolutionized the fashion industry with her unique sense of style and design. Chanel is best known for her classic designs, including the little black dress, the tweed suit, and the quilted handbag.

Who was the biggest fashion icon in the 2000s? ›

During The Simple Life years, Nicole Richie and her pal Paris Hilton became fashion icons and emblems of early 2000s pop culture.

' Frasurbane, a satisfying portmanteau of the show Frasier and urbane, is the wonderfully specific aesthetic of late '90s interiors of people who want to come across as sophisticated and worldly.

Fashion in the 1990s was defined by a return to minimalist fashion, in contrast to the more elaborate and flashy trends of the 1980s. One notable shift was the mainstream adoption of tattoos, body piercings aside from ear piercing and, to a much lesser extent, other forms of body modification such as branding.