Monday, July 26, 2010

Not Your Older (Or Younger) Sister's 90s


As much as I am starting to get my fill of 90s nostalgia, I'm really enjoying The Real 90s. (Courtesy of 90s woman.) Check out their far too accurate version of 90s fashion. Save for the first few years, I spent most of the 90s as a full-fledged adult, but Adidas track jackets (or oversized black hoodies) and cords were my weekened uniform.

(Something that few people will cop to, though: those first couple years of the decade, before "grunge" was a selling point, fashion consisted of a lot of color-blocking and acid wash worn unironically. At least for those of us in the middle of the country.)

Flashback overkill aside, I am glad that there are a few more voices joining in. What bothers me most about nostalgia culture is who gets to call the shots -- who gets to assign value to the music, television shows, movies, and books of the decade. Most of what I've seen so far presents a very white, straight, middle-class version of 90s girlhood, and that shuts a lot of us out.

1 comment:

  1. I haven't noticed 90s nostalgia yet, although I can imagine. 80s nostalgia--I remember a lot from the 80s (even though I'm only 29) and it wasn't anything like it's portrayed on TV. I can just imagine how my parents feel about 60s nostalgia.

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