1990s Women’s fashions

Top 90s brands included Calvin Klein, Guess Jeans, Tommy Hilfiger, and Polo. Some of the sculpted, fitted looks of the 80s were replaced by natural shoulders and fluidly draped jackets, blouses and dresses. Oversized, loose-fitting sweaters and vests topped gathered skirts of varying lengths. Trousers were multi-pleated or gathered and cut with wide legs - harking back to 70s flares.

Aside from the "preppy" look, long dresses were teamed with wide belts, and splatter and sponge paint clothes with neon colours were popular among teens/young adults. Bright yellow, blue, teal, and hot pink knit tops, shirts, sweatshirts, pants, shorts, and dresses were simple pairings, usually with white or black bottoms/leggings.

Jeans - especially acid-washed - had pleated or paper bag waistband high rise / high waisted with a tapered leg. Gradually slim fit skinny jean (still with a high waist) and boot cut jeans came into 90s fashion in the middle to late years. The high waist dropped to hip hugger status too. These were often paired with crop tops.

Overalls were an effortless and casual style, considered a wardrobe staple in the decade, worn in a variety of ways and frequently paired with a classic white tee-shirt. They became popular after members of TLC wore them, and other artists added their flair to urban styles for women. A more edgy look pairs black linen overalls with a matching turtleneck and Doc Marten combat boots, accessorized with a mini leather backpack.

Hip hop had a strong influence on ‘90s fashion, and popular street style brands like FUBU emerged, making hip hop fashion even more mainstream. An iconic look inspired by Aaliyah’s sporty hip hop style included a bandana, athletic windbreaker, Calvin Klein sports bra, black joggers, and white Adidas. A Destiny’s Child-inspired outfit consisted of a Tommy Hilfiger logo top, low-rise jeans, and white sneakers.

Grunge fashion was inspired by icons like Courtney Love, Gwen Stefani and Kim Gordon. Foreshadowed by Madonna's "Desperately Seeking Susan" look from the 80s, it featured layers and had lots of attitude: feisty, edgy, and authentic. Flannel shirts and distressed jeans are one look, alternatives are mini slip dress with fishnets and leather boots; ribbed tops with patterned cargo pants and platform boots or for extra sass a crop tank top, low-rise jeans and suede creepers with hair styled in space buns.

My Top Thirteen 1992

1. Richard Marx - Hazard - 05-1992
2. Manic Street Preachers - Motorcycle Emptiness - 06-1992
3. Jimmy Nail - Ain't No Doubt - 07-1992
4. Sophie B. Hawkins - Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover - 07-1992
5. Guns N' Roses - November Rain - 02-1992
6. Freddie Mercury & Montserrat Caballe - Barcelona - 08-1992
7. Mr. Big - To Be With You - 03-1992
8. Bon Jovi - Keep The Faith - 10-1992
9. Def Leppard - Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad - 09-1992
10. Kiss - God Gave Rock And Roll To You II - 01-1992
11. Right Said Fred - Deeply Dippy - 03-1992
12. Shakespeare's Sister - Stay - 01-1992
13. R.E.M. - Man On The Moon - 12-1992


Bryan Adams - All I Want Is You - 07-1992
Michael Ball - One Step Out Of Time - 05-1992
Nick Berry - Heartbeat - 06-1992
Michael Bolton - To Love Somebody - 11-1992
Mariah Carey - I'll Be There - 06-1992
Cher - Oh No Not My Baby - 11-1992
Joe Cocker - All I Know (Feels Like Forever) - 03-1992
Crowded House - Weather With You - 03-1992
The Cure - Friday I'm In Love - 02-1992
Billy Ray Cyrus - Achy Breaky Heart - 08-1992
Deacon Blue - Your Town - 11-1992
Def Leppard - Let's Get Rocked - 03-1992
Del Amitri - Always The Last To Know - 05-1992
Celine Dion & Peabo Bryson - Beauty And The Beast - 05-1992
Genesis - I Can't Dance - 01-1992
Annie Lennox - Walking On Broken Glass - 08-1992
Brian May - Too Much Love Will Kill You - 09-1992
Metallica - Nothing Else Matters - 05-1992
Roy Orbison - I Drove All Night - 08-1992
Roy Orbison With kd lang - Crying - 08-1992
Pearl Jam - Alive - 02-1992
Cliff Richard - I Still Believe In You - 12-1992
Lionel Richie - My Destiny - 08-1992
Diana Ross - One Shining Moment - 06-1992
Bruce Springsteen - Human Touch - 03-1992
Lisa Stansfield - Someday (I'm Coming Back) - 12-1992
Take That - Could It Be Magic - 12-1992
Ugly Kid Joe - Everything About You - 05-1992
Luther Vandross & Janet Jackson - The Best Things In Life Are Free - 08-1992
Wet Wet Wet - Goodnight Girl - 01-1992
Vanessa Williams - Save The Best For Last - 03-1992

1990s Top Thirteen Movies

Following on from last week, here’s a more detailed look at my/our fave movies – all three of our kids have grown up with a glorious appreciation of movies and TV shows – when we got a copy of Scene-it the battles were hard fought, and both Jo and Steph quote lines at each other all the time – perfectly mimicking all the accents and able to remember entire scenes. And don’t get them started on Friends …

1. 10 Things I Hate About You '99
Fave scene/line: When Heath Ledger serenades Julia Stiles to Frankie Valli’s “Can’t Take my Eyes off You,” (you may know it by Andy Williams). Or when Kat (Julia S) gets Patrick out of detention by showing the PE teacher “the distraction plan.”

2. Strictly Ballroom '92
Fave scene/line: When Scott and Fran dance backstage to Doris Day’s “Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps.” Or the Paso Doble scene when the music stops and they dance just to handclaps.
Quote: Fran: “What happened to a life lived in fear and all that stuff? You really are a gutless wonder!”

3. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves '91
Fave scene/line: “Just taking a lady’s advice,” when Robin (Kevin Costner) is bathing in a pool. Side note – we walked behind that waterfall (at the back of a pub in Yorkshire), and also found the waterfall where Robin challenges Little John (Nick Brimble) and Azim (Morgan Freeman) advises him to “move faster.”

4. Hook '91/Mrs. Doubtfire '93
Bit of a cheat here, but these both show off the fabulous talents of Robin Williams and are proper kid’s movies.
Fave scene/line: Hook – the food fight scene “You lewd, crude, rude, bag of pre-chewed food, dude!”
Mrs Doubtfire - “Stu? It’s more of a thick soup than a name.”

5. Galaxy Quest '99
Fave scene/line: “I see you managed to get your shirt off.” A fabulously cynical Alexander Dane (Alan Rickman) to Tim Allen's scene-stealing hack (Jason Nesmith) after the fight scene with the rock monster.

6. The Mummy '99
Fave scene/line: Where Evie (Rachel Weiss) gets drunk around the campfire: “I may not be an explorer or an adventurer, or a treasure-seeker or a gunfighter, Mr. O'Connell, but I am proud of what I am. I... am a librarian.”

7. The Mask of Zorro '98
Fave scene/line: Where Elena (Catherine Zeta Jones) challenges Zorro (Antonio Banderas) to a sword fight and he cuts all the ribbons so her bodice collapses. Or the Tango scene.
Don Rafael Montero: "Did you recognize Zorro?" Elena: No, but he was young and vigorous. He was very vigorous, father."

8. True Lies '94
Fave scene/line: The one where Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis) rips off the frills from her dress, slicks back her hair and attempts to dance for Arnie (playing her husband). Or the Tango scene. And the quote: "Kids - ten seconds of joy, thirty years of misery."

9. Sister Act '92
Fave scene/line: When the choir first perform in the church, rocking up Hail Holy Queen, and the people walk in off the streets.
Quote: Dolores (Whoopi Goldberg) "How can you say that? I worked my butt off with these women! They've given up their free time to do this, and they're good! I mean, sister, we could, we could Rock this place!"

10. Independence Day '96/Armageddon '98
Another cheat, but I really couldn’t choose between them and they both tick a lot of high-octane boxes. Fave scene/line:Independence Day: “I picked a hell of a day to quit drinkin'.”
Armageddon: “Well, we all gotta die, right? I'm the guy who gets to do it saving the world."

11. Pretty Woman '90
Fave scene/line: I'm torn between the the one when Kit De Luca shows up at the posh hotel and the one when Vivian returns to the snobby shop assistant who snubbed her, showing off the dozens of expensive purchases from Rodeo drive. “You work on commission, right? Big Mistake. Big. Huge.”

12. Con Air '97
Fave scene/line: Poe (Nick Cage) comes across a dead body in the landing gear and tosses it out with a message for Larkin (John Cusack). He interrupts one of the convicts rifling through the cargo and is forced to kill him.
Quote: “Why couldn’t he put the bunny in the box?

13. Die Hard: With a Vengeance '95
Fave scene/line: When John McClane (Bruce Willis) and Zeus, (Samuel L Jackson) try to solve a puzzle involving jugs of water to stop a bomb going off.
Quote: Zeus: “Wait a minute. You mean to tell me I'm in this shit 'cause some white cop threw some white asshole's brother off a roof?”

1990s Movies

We had a tradition for several years when Bri worked shifts, that the kids would stay up until he finished work at 9pm on Friday. We'd have a carpet picnic including hula-hoops, mini cheddars and popcorn, but the star turn had to be the sandwiches with "billy-bear" processed meat. We always watched a movie - more often than not a Disney one, but many of those listed below found their way into our movie night.

1990 – Pretty Woman, Ghost, Home Alone, Kindergarten Cop, Bird on a Wire, Mermaids, Edward Scissorhands, Goodfellas, Dances with Wolves, Misery, Total Recall, Flatliners, Arachnophobia, Days of Thunder, The Hunt for Red October, Tremors, Die Hard 2, Gremlins 2, Godfather 3, Back to the Future 3

1991 – Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Hook, Hudson Hawk, The Silence of the Lambs, Thelma & Louise, Beauty and the Beast (animated), City Slickers, Point Break, JFK, Cape Fear, The Fisher King, The Commitments, Father of the Bride, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

1992 – Strictly Ballroom, Sister Act, Aladdin (animated), Scent of a Woman, Batman Returns, A Few Good Men, My Cousin Vinny, Basic Instinct, Wayne’s World, Death Becomes Her, Reservoir Dogs, Under Siege, Patriot Games, Malcolm X, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, Alien 3

1993 – Mrs. Doubtfire, Sleepless in Seattle, Jurassic Park, The Fugitive, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Schindler’s List, Groundhog Day, The Piano, The Firm, The Pelican Brief, The Remains of the Day, Philadelphia, Shadowlands, Cool Runnings, Carlito’s Way

1994 – True Lies, Pulp Fiction, Four Weddings and a Funeral, The Lion King (animated), The Shawshank Redemption, Speed, Natural Born Killers, Leon, Serial Mom, Timecop, The Mask, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Forrest Gump, The Madness of King George, Body Snatchers, Clear and Present Danger, Star Trek: Generations

1995 – Die Hard: With a Vengeance, Desperado, Toy Story (animated), The Usual Suspects, Twelve Monkeys, Get Shorty, Braveheart, Leaving Las Vegas, Apollo 13, Babe, Seven, Sense and Sensibility, Dead Man Walking

1996 – Independence Day, The Rock, Mission Impossible, Romeo + Juliet, The Hunchback of Notre Dame (animated), That Thing You Do!, The Birdcage, Secrets & Lies, Stealing Beauty, Michael Collins, Matilda, Trainspotting, Scream, Jerry Maguire, The English Patient, Star Trek: First Contact, Mars Attacks!

1997 – Good Will Hunting, Con Air, As Good as It Gets, Men in Black, The Full Monty, The Fifth Element, Contact, Face/Off, L. A. Confidential, Starship Troopers, Donnie Brasco, What Dreams May Come, Jackie Brown

1998 – Armageddon, The Mask of Zorro, Truman Show, The X Files, The Big Lebowski, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Saving Private Ryan, There's Something About Mary, The Thin Red Line, Pleasantville, The Negotiator, Antz (animated), A Bug’s Life (animated)

1999 – 10 Things I Hate About You, Galaxy Quest, The Mummy, Notting Hill, The Matrix, The Sixth Sense, She’s All That, Sleepy Hollow, Fight Club, The Green Mile, Analyze This, Eyes Wide Shut, Wild, Wild West, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Toy Story 2, Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, The Blair Witch Project, American Pie, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, Being John Malkovich, American Beauty, The Cider House Rules