90S STYLE I CAN ACTUALLY COSIGN

There is a really particular kind of vertigo that comes with watching your formative years suddenly becoming someone else’s “inspo.” I lived through the ‘90s. I wore the things. Sometimes I thought I looked cool, other times I’m sure I was nothing but cringe. And, now, here we are, watching all of it come back around on the runway and “For You” pages like a fashion boomerang. When Marc Jacobs opened NY Fashion Week with a collection that referenced his own 1998 show as well as ‘90s Helmet Lang and Prada, the internet lost their damn minds. And fair enough, if you’re going to use Björk as your soundtrack and show stripped-down minimalim front and center, you’re producing a love letter to a very specific slice of fashion history.

But here’s where I’m at: not everything in the ‘90s revival is worth revisiting. Some of it should stay where it belongs buried deep in a photo album I really hope no one finds. What I’m most interested in is the grown-up version of things. The pieces that actually translate into the life I’m living now. The refined, quietly cool, somewhat understated side of the decade that somehow escaped the cringe file and doesn’t make me look like I’m desperate to relive a time gone by. The good news? There is plenty to work with.

Let’s set the scene

Fashion has had a field day with ‘90s grunge and the Y2K excess that followed it, but the period between those two moments has been relatively under-explored. We’re talking about the pre-dot.com crash, pre-2001 (if you know what i mean), a strange window of optimism when minimalism was the language of cool. Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy was dressing like a walking exhale, Kate Moss made looking slightly underfed and wildly elegant into an art form. Julia Roberts was throwing a trench coat over everything and making it look like the only sensible option.

Fashion, as it always does during turbulent eras, is reaching back for something that felt simpler. But what’s happening now is'n’t a flash trend, it’s something that has been building quietly for a while. Minimalist brands like The Row and Totème have been speaking this language for years. Instagram accounts have been archiving the nostalgic street style of that era with a devoted and growing following. And now, with Sarah Pidgeon’s portayal of CBK in Love Story pulling a whole new generation into the CBK orbit, everything is fully resurgent on our screens and runways at the same time.

The interesting thing is, unlike grunge or Y2K, this particular corner of the ‘90s doesn’t require you to look like you’re playing dress up. It’s wearable. It’s modern. It ages extremely well both with clothes and the women who wore them originally, which frankly, feels validating.