Trends come and go. Some even go, but then come back! A good example of this is the well-known ‘90s trend. Baggy jeans, rock music, sportswear; young adults tend to turn their style and interests back around to how they did it in the old days. But how exactly does it look like these days? And why is it that this era is so popular?
Fashion:
Baggy jeans, oversized skater shirts, I think we are all familiar with them. These casual items made their debut around 30 years ago. Baggy sportswear emerged because of the skater trend. The sport of skating already arose around the 60s, by people who wanted to surf on land. The first skaters started by using an empty pool. The popularity rose over the years and by the end of the twentieth century, it reached its peak. Clothes should fit comfortably while skating, but not only skaters, the whole youth culture has taken over this fashion style.
The fashion in 1990 is often referred to as minimalist fashion concerning the more quite expressive sense of style in the 80s. The outfits are often spiced up by oversized jewelry, influenced by big rappers that made their debut in, again the ‘90s. Big chains, ear studs, anything you desire can be used to establish and class up your minimalistic sportswear.
This is a great example of what is also seen these days; you can combine styles to create your ideal outfit! Classy jewelry, and an old sports-sweater? Or baggy jeans combined with a velvet girly top? Go for it!
Music:
Whether people take a listen to the old originals, or one of the thousand covers from songs made in the ‘90s, even the old music industry makes a comeback. For older people you can state that the reasoning behind this is psychological. It gives a familiar recognizable feeling that comforts them. Next to this there are even more causes for why (mainly older) people sometimes tend to ignore new music. Studies show that we start to solidify our music taste at the age of 13, and that this stops at the age of 33. People often get stuck in this time zone, and therefore forget about recently released music.
But also adolescents and teenagers tend to follow the trend of listening to music out of the 90s. The beauty of the variety may be the reason behind its popularity. Every artist or band had something unique to offer. Most likely though, they want to let their music represent their style and personalities. After all, listening to music of this era is still just a trend.
Movies & Series:
I can’t be the only one who looks up older movies and series for comfort.
The biggest example of this is probably a series we all know: FRIENDS. This show indicates 6 young adults casually hanging out, something we can all relate to. The only difference is it is taking place in the ‘90s. People started to take over aspects from iconic outfits. Just like you can see @kkpiece did on her Instagram.
Other series also did well from the end of the last century, like for example my personal favourites for '90s hits;
- The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,
- The Simpsons,
- Full House, Boy Meets World,
- Beverly Hills,
- etc.
Not to forget, we can still add a couple of still incredibly popular films;
- Forrest Gump,
- Clueless,
- Pulp Fiction,
- Titanic,
- 10 Things I Hate About You,
- Jurassic Park,
- Fight Club,
- old Disney films,
- and – Well, you understand I could go on for a while…
But why do we search for especially old tv? What makes them seemingly better than the movie industry these days? The reason behind that could be related to the well-known saying: less is more. The ease of watching is higher as the films and series aren’t overproduced.
Creators these days have to keep coming up with something new, which is perhaps more difficult because the industry has had 30 more years of films and TV.
Between 2010 and 2019, 104 623 films have been released according to IMDb. This is 77693 films more than the decade from 1990 to 1999, which had a release number of 26930. In these stats, not even the numbers of the 2000s are included.
The industry is full and new ideas are much harder to find. Also, in the after editing, creators tend to amaze the audience by maybe even overediting their content. However, this rather can cause an overwhelming feeling for the viewers.
For example, data of the shot lengths over the years can prove this statement. Research of Cutting, shows that the average of 12 seconds per shot in 1930, declined to an average of 2,5 seconds per shot in a film in 2010. In 1990, an average shot length was around 5 seconds.
Cutting thinks MTV, which launched in 1982 had something to do with this. The editing style, including these short shots, would have had impact on the editing style of other movies. This statement isn't proved, because there is no obvious inflection point in numbers in or after 1982.
However, the number of cuts and use of editing increases the ease of watching a lot and therefore the ease of watching is not the same for series these days versus the old series.
Hopefully, the amazing style of the ‘90s still will stay around for quite a while. What’s next? Maybe one day, music coming out in 2021 will make a comeback around 2050?
