This past week I found myself wondering about the ongoing influence fashion, so I did a little research on the trends of the decade. An already apparent discovery was that...
Styles worn by African Americans in the 90s are still very relevant in modern society...
The 1990s was a decade largely inspired by many trends from the 80s. The fashion during this decade known for its laid back sense of style, the birth of the “grunge” look, an increase in men’s business casual, athleisure wear, and the birth of sneaker culture. The ’90s consisted of bright shirts and pants that came in blue, green, yellow, pink, orange and were often paired with comic books and other forms of pop art. Sweat pants either supported sports teams, bold prints, graphic tees, lots and lots of denim, striped sweaters, slouchy socks, sneakers. Colors like dark green and purple were also very common. Silhouettes during this time period were very loose, and baggy and for men, this encouraged an abundance of casual clothing.
I learned that in the 90s the Hip Hop genre hit the radio waves and influenced mainstream fashion.
The rappers of this decade wore clothing that quickly became the go-to look of the African American community and later adopted by other members of society. Members of African American youth were heavily influenced by the music and aspired to mimic the fashions of their favorite music artists. In fact, a great portion of the clothing that hip hop artists rapped about in their songs derived from clothing worn by drug dealers at the time. Drug dealers were the only ones who had money to buy the fancy clothes that everyone wanted.
My dad grew up in the 90s...
My father, Ashundrius Ruggs was born in 1977 and grew up in Birmingham, Alabama. My father mentioned that most of the clothes from his childhood were of course from the 80s, however, things changed when he got to high school. My dad spent much of his early 90s in the midst of the Hip Hop era. My father noticed his taste in fashion change as he began to get exposed to more of what the world had to offer. He bought his first Hip Hop CD his Freshman Year of Highschool. My dad explained that he could never really afford any luxurious brands so he often wore more affordable brands like his “buddies”. During our over the phone conversation, he mentioned that he commonly either wore or saw brands like Tommy Hilfiger, Nautica, and Cuggi were worn. His favorite pair of jeans were Guess Jeans that people often wore a couple of sizes too big-- oversized was another signature look of the decade.
Since my dad didn't break the bank on expensive clothes, he instead spent his money trying to grow his shoe game.
It was the 90s you either had to go big or go home.
During the 90s it was common for big-name athletes like Bo Jackson, and Penny Hardaway to create shoe lines. My dad saved money to add shoes like Cortex Nikes, Nike Air Max, and Jordans to his collection. When he got to college he saw his peers wearing Cross Colours, Dickies in every color, Cuggi Sweatshirts, and Versace clothes were often worn by people whose parents gave them money. Polo shirts were common amongst guys, and women were sometimes seen wearing men’s polos to get on the oversized clothing trend. To him, the most annoying trend was nylon suits.
He hated them because they made the most annoying noise as you walked. It made his skin crawl. My dad began laughing from a memory he had when he forced my mom to throw her Nylon sweat pants away. They didn’t talk for a whole day!
He also mentioned that African American men took a lot of pride in their hair and accessories. Common Hairstyles were the Box Fade; worn by many celebrities and other men throughout the decade. Men also wore dreads, their natural afro, cut their hair down low to have waves, the jerry curl(worn by artists like Michael Jackson) was not as common during the 90s, however, older men still had the hairstyle. Accessories are worn by men often included gold rings or chain necklaces, some gold chains had a cross representing their religion, sunglasses, bucket hats, designer belts, snapback hats, and watches.