90s Americanisation and heroine

 When someone says 90s's fashion, immediately a few trends come to mind: Preppy, street wear, hip hop and grunge. In the 90s, america was a huge influence on fashion with a wave of films, tv programmes and music.

The all american high school, preppy look remained from the end of the 80s, particularly for wealthier teenagers.Chinos, slacks and plaid oxford shirts were in and reflected in films such as Clueless (1995) and 10 things i hate about you (1999).

(10 things i hate about you, 1999)

(Clueless 1995)

By contrast, there was grunge, a complete opposite to the neat, fashion conscious preppy look. grunge emerged mid-80s mainly in Seattle but became commercially popular in the 90s with bands such as nirvana, pearl jam, sonic youth.Grunge influenced popular bringing drainpipes, jeans such as Levis 501s,converse and flannel shirts and acid washed denim. As well as films such as singles (1992) and with reality bites (1994) mirroring the dissastisfaction and disappointment many young people felt during the 1989-1992 recession.  With the recession, rates of depression increased which in turn, increased the rates of alcoholism and drug abuse. 

Increased drug abuse influenced the mid nineties "heroin chic". with the price of heroin decreasing, 

heroin gained popularity, with Kurt Cobain of nirvana, and Layne Staley of Alice in chains, both high profile users. heroin was further glamorised by Calvin Klein with  his campaigns with Kate moss, looking emaciated, with dark circles under the eyes and pale skin. it was then "heroin chic" to look haughtily and frail, with bleach blonde hair, influenced by iconic films that explored heroin and drug culture such as pulp fiction(1994) and trainspotting (1996).

 

Samantha Le