And I Swear That I Don't Have A Gun

I have decided its time to stop blinkering myself with neon colours, cringey girl bands and fanatical 90s fun. I have decided its time to look into the darker side to the 90s. I feel since doing my project I have only been focused on the typical '90s' style that is tacky, bright and OTT and it was about time I looked into something more laid back, effortless and a style that was just as important; Grunge! Grunge has always been a style that has fascinated me, the idea of putting effort in to look scruffy and almost bad is something I find extremely weird and wonderful. When looking into grunge in the 90s, with no surprise , grunge legends Nirvana made quite a few appearances. After becoming slightly obsessed again with Nirvana I decided I had to make a crop top inspired by them to contrast my super tacky Spice Girls one!

  Using the two iconic Nirvana colours, black and yellow, and tie-dyed the tee to give it that second hand, scruffy, laid back appearance. I then waited for it to dry, and luckily the colours came out a lot darker and dingier than I thought, giving it a realistic grungey feel. However I felt more needed to be added to make it unique and totally Nirvana. With thoughts of ripping it or studded it I finally came up with the idea to sew Nirvana lyrics into it!

Having the reference to the band I felt made it so much more realistic, also the way in which the writing was scruffy and hard to make out also made a connection back to the style of grunge its self. Now to pick my grungiest friend for the photo shoot... 

SPICE UP YA' LIFE

So in one of my earlier posts I mentioned creating my own range of 90s inspired crop-tops, all expressing different themes from the 90s. After getting loads of great feedback from my questionnaires it was super clear that there was one very big recurring theme... The Spice Girls. And to be honest I don't think I can think of anything quite as 90s? So after a little bit of research into the band (although embarrassingly I already knew quite a lot) I got together some basic ideas for my top.

I wanted my top to have different elements on it to represent each member from the band, starting with sporty, which I felt was covered in the sporty 'crop' top style. I then dyed my top pink in honour of baby, embellished the neckline with pearls for posh and used leopard print fabric and union jack print fabric to make a scary and ginger inspired sleeve! Now all I have to do is find a willing Spice Girls fan to model it for me. Hmmm...

Under-exposure

Okay so mastermind number two! Cathy Kasterine! Worked first as a fashion assistant for British Vogue and then became a freelance stylist in the early 90s and has worked mainly for famous fashion mag i-D! When looking into fashion stylists from the 90s, as you can imagine, loads caught my eye, but one shoot in particular, from Cathy, stood out. In June 1993 Vogue published a shoot with Kate Moss, under the ultra intriguing name, 'Under-exposure'. As soon as I saw the images I understood why they had named the shoot what they had. A beautiful, fresh faced Kate stood venerably in tiny Hennes (now H&M) laced knickers. Her face portrayed innocence and sadness as she wraps herself in a pastel lilac duvet against a exposing white background. Corinne Day, who shot the images, later reviled that Kate had been crying earlier that morning after a split with her boyfriend, giving the images an even more intense feeling. To me this shoot was perfect, not only did Kate make the underwear look beautiful but it told
a story also, allowing a connection between the viewer and the images. It was also really lovely to see a softer and less harsh view of the 90s with pastel shades, simple clothing, and stripped back photography.




















When looking deeper into this shoot, I found it to be very well known within the fashion industry and apparently is was an extremely controversial in the 90s. The fact Kate was known for being a stick thin heroine chic, who was not afraid to let lose and party and was then made to look baby faced and innocent, I guess was slightly ironic? However no one could deny the simplistic beauty of the images, clearly displaying early 90s fashion creeping into everyday, mainstream fashion, pure genius.

From Sidewalk to Catwalk

So I haven't written on here in a couple of days as I have been busy researching into, what I believe to be, very important fashion masterminds of the 90s! To be frank it became a bit of an issue finding anyone singing the praises of fashion stylists, photographers and designers of the 90s as most people seem to be utterly repulsed by the colour clashing cults that thrived in the day. After a little bit of research and a heads up from my tutor I came across Ted Polhemus; a writer and photographer who specialises in fashion, anti fashion, identity and the way a person expresses themselves through style. When finding out Ted based a lot of his work on the 90s, I ran to the library only to find his book 'Street Style' published in 1994!

Instantly I couldn't put the book down, from b-boys and flygirls to ravers and indie kids. This style dictionary had every thing a girl doing a project on 90s fashion could need! I instantly connected with Ted's writing style and I fell in love with his photography. I was amazed by how each image seemed so natural and showed the nitty gritty of the 90s, not just a clean fake portrayal of the 90s.                                                       

When looking deeper into Ted's work I became more and more aware on how important street fashion was in the 90s. It seemed to give people some sort of freedom and a right to say what they want through the way they look. What with social and economic times being hard, I think people started to have a 'I don't care' attitude or 'How much will it take to shock you?' opinion. These ideas are captured in Ted's work. I love the idea that ordinary peoples styles from the street influenced some of the biggest names in fashion and this then changed the catwalk. How amazing is that? Looking at 90s 'Street Style' has given me huge inspiration to create realistic, natural 90s fashion shoots. I don't just wanna capture fashion I want to capture feeling, emotion and power. 

Nothing 90s About That Nightmare

So just like I said I would, I went to the 90s party at Wonderland Maidstone, and I am sad to announce last night didn't feel very 90s at all!

Me and Ally Rocking the 90s look

Okay so the occasional tune came on where me and my friend would reminisce good times but apart from that, the evening was very much 2013. I don't know whether its just me but when I saw the dress code I got super excited. The fact I got bop around in my babycham trainers with pedal pushers and crop top on was beyond amazing! So why didn't anybody else kick of there heels, slip out of there figure hugging body-con dresses and join in?! It just got me thinking, how much do people really hate 90s fashion? Is it that embarrassing?
Today I have decided to go back to the drawing board, so to speak, and have a look into 3 big artists from the 90s; Ted Pothemus, Mario Testino and Gianni Versace. Hopefully they will make fashion in the 90s a little clearer.

Born in the 90s?

Walking through college today I spot this poster! Its almost as if someone has made this event specially for my project?! I got out my laptop and found the event page on Facebook. As I read in intrigue I became more and more excited! 'Expect to hear Alanis Morrisset, Backstreet Boys and Blink 182' count me in! I then found the dress code section which got me even more hyped. 'Air Max, Reebok Pumps, Adidas Poppers, Shellsuits, Denim, Kangol Hats and Grunge wear all OK!!' I had to go! So tomorrow me and my friend, who I am dragging along with me (probably kicking and screaming in a pair of disco pants and high tops), are going to be dancing the night away at Wonderland Maidstone reminiscing over our favourite 90s tunes! Post with pictures from the night will be up tomorrow! 

For more information on Wonderlands 'Born in the 90s' click here!   

A Nostalgic Questionnaire

Since my crop-top idea I felt intrigued to know what everyones memories of the 90s were! I wanted to know what they were watching, what they were listening too and more importantly what they were wearing. I decided the easiest way to do this was to hand out a questionnaire! Here it is:

90s Fashion and Pop Culture Questionnaire 

1. What year were you born? 

2. If born in the 90s do you consider yourself to be a typical ‘90s kid’? 

YES          NO           NOT BORN IN THE 90s 

3. What’s your favourite 90s TV show? 

4. Who’s you favourite 90s music artist/band? 

5. If I said to you ‘Dress like you’re back in the 90s’ what would you wear? 

6. Do you think 90s clothing was fashionable? 

YES           NO 

7. (If answered ‘YES’ to question 6) Who would you consider a 90s fashion icon? 

8. (If answered ‘NO’ to question 6) Who would you consider a 90s fashion disaster? 

Thank you for answering my questionnaire! 

Some of the answers I got were great! I couldn't stop going 'Oh remember them!' and 'Haha my mum used to make me wear that too!' I had endlessness fun listening to everyone reminisce over there 90s fuelled childhoods, chatting about Fresh Prince, Bewitched and Britney! With the answers I received from my questionnaires I hope to pick 5 top themes and use them as inspiration to make 5 90s inspired crop-tops. I plan to use methods such as dying and embellishing to create the different looks, I then hope to style them into 5 different photo shoots, focusing closely on the different themes. 

My top 5 themes so far are: 

• The Spice Girls 
• The Fresh Prince of Bel Air 
• The Power Puff Girls   
• Trolls 
• Sports Wear 

Please feel free to re-live your 90s memories and do my questionnaire, just leave your answers in the comment box!