80's Fashion Trends

90s Youth Through Fashion

The 90s, with its ripped jeans, chain wallets, and Air Jordan’s was a time when fashion statements were bold and colorful with many of its trends still popular today. Many fashion trends during the time period were influenced by events such as the grunge movement, pop stars, and the media. Other trends spawned from hobbies such as skating while some relied on opposing mainstream ideas, such as Goth fashion. Regardless of where these trends and fashion statements come from, the 1990s was a time where youth relied on music, their hobbies, and global fashion influences to express themselves through clothing unique to their time and personality.

During the 90s, clothes were a clear and definitive way for one to shape a

The 90s era of hip-hop had many songs which featured lyrics focusing on money and fashion, such as 2Pac’s highly popular “California Love”, which likely had an influence on youth choosing to follow a “ghetto fabulous” fashion style.

Ghetto fabulous, described by the NY Times in 1999, is defined as “a style that merges ethnic eccentricities with runway chic” (Givhan). It is essentially inner-city youth’s way of appearing to have wealth while still living in poverty or not being able to afford higher end clothing. The same article mentions that famous artists such as Foxy Brown and Sean Combs were major influences on this type of fashion, due to their display of extravagance and excessive wealth which aspired youth to desire to dress like them.

Ghetto fabulous clothing can be described as clothing that has obvious branding from higher end brands such as Versace, Gucci, and Louis Vuitton. Clothes typically are “flashy” and often show the bearer as having lots of wealth due to the display of branding by more expensive brands. Leather of fine quality and fur coats made of real fur are possible examples for what may count as ghetto

In the 90s, in ura-Harajuku also known as Urahara, a small district in Tokyo, many shops were opening up which focused on fashion and streetwear in particular. These shops all had distinct styles of fashion, and some imported fashion from the west as influence for their designs. This part of Tokyo was highly popular amongst teenagers and was where many came to buy clothes as a way to distinguish themselves in terms of fashion through unique designs not seen anywhere else. This is also where NOWHERE started, a clothing shop owned by Jun “Jonio” Takahashi and Tomoaki “Nigo” Nagao, the founder of BAPE. Their shop as well as others nearby are largely responsible for the Japanese streetwear movement during the 90s, and they also played a major role in streetwear in the west as well with Japan-exclusive clothing being highly sought after in cities such as New York and Los Angeles, cities with thriving streetwear cultures