For those of us who are now in our 30s, the 1990s was probably the best decade. Indeed, earlier this year, a YouGov poll asked 2,000 American adults which decades had the best music, economy, and so on. Unsurprisingly, many viewed the '90s as the best time for fashion, radio programming, and even economy.
Surely, their answers might've been painted with rosy nostalgia glasses, but there's no denying the '90s had style. Nineties Anxiety is an Instagram page that showcases the cool side of the '90s, so here are some more posts to feed your nostalgia-hungry hearts, Pandas!
#1 Lisa Kudrow Aka “Phoebe” Wearing A Team Lithuania Basketball Tee While Filming An Episode Of Friends In 1997
After the breakup of the Soviet Union, Lithuania couldn’t afford to send its basketball team to the 1992 Olympics.
The iconic group Grateful Dead agreed to help sponsor Lithuania’s national basketball team alongside with the designer of the ‘Skullman’ t-shirt Greg Speirs, if they agreed to wear tie-dyed uniforms.
Getting the Dead was a major coup. The band wrote a check for $5,000 but more importantly granted Lithuania the rights to sell a Dead t-shirt, a stoned-out psychedelic masterpiece splashed with Lithuania’s national colors of green, red, and yellow and anchored by the Dead’s skeleton symbol.
Between the excitement of Lithuania taking home the bronze medal in 1992 and sales of the t-shirt, it financed most of Lithuania’s participation in the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. The shirt kept Lithuania in the news while telling the story of the countries heroic struggle for freedom and its battle to get the team to Barcelona
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#2 “Good Will Hunting” Directed By Gus Van Sant. (1997)
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#3 Kurt Cobain’s Journal Entry
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While browsing through these pics, you'll notice that many of them feature '90s fashion. Some pop culture experts argue that the 1990s was the birth of the supermodel. Models became celebrities, with people idolizing them perhaps more than fashion designers and movie stars.
As Lilah Ramzi writes for Vogue, the '90s were the decade models became far more famous than the clothes. Supermodels became icons; people wanted to know where and how they lived, who they were dating, and what they were like. If before models were a blank canvas, almost mannequins for the clothes they modeled, this decade wanted models with passion, character, and personalities.
#4 For 738 Days, Between 1997 And 1999, Julia ‘Butterfly’ Hill Lived In The Canopy Of An Ancient Redwood Tree In California Called Luna On Two 6 X 4 Foot Platforms
At a height of 180 feet to stop the Pacific Lumber Company from cutting it down and to help make the world aware of the plight of ancient forests.
She sat in the tree, originally expecting to be up there for one to two weeks like many activists were in the 1990’s not aware of the impact her act was going to have.
After a long period of negotiations Julia agreed to come down from Luna after agreeing that the tree would be permanently protected and a near three acre buffer zone would be put in around the tree.
The stunt also raised awareness of the lack of trees left standing in America.
When Julia came down she was a national hero and quickly became recognised for the memorable protest
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#5 A Bond Like No Other, Scenes From ‘Thelma & Louise’ (1991)
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#6 In 1994, Gilbert Baker Created A Mile-Long Rainbow Flag For The 25th Anniversary Of The Stonewall Riots
The Stonewall riots, also known as the Stonewall uprising, Stonewall rebellion, or simply Stonewall, were a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City.
Although they were not the first instance in American history when people in the homosexual community fought back against a government-sponsored system that persecuted sexual minorities, they have become the defining event that marked the start of the gay rights movement in the United States and around the world.
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The most well-known supermodels of the decade were Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, and Christy Turlington. Or, as known to fashion enthusiasts, "The Big Four." Some people also add Claudia Schiffer to the group, making it "The Big Five." But the '90s also gave us many other icons: Tyra Banks, Carla Bruni Sarkozy, Helena Christensen, Elle McPherson, Yasmeen Ghauri, and many more.
By the second half of the decade, many new young names surfaced. Designer Karl Lagerfeld described them as "very young, very much like children—what's referred to like an elf. There is a kind of vulnerability about them. They need protection…" These models were Kate Moss, Amber Valetta, Stella Tennant, Shalom Harlow, and Kirsty Hume.
#7 I Feel You Charlie, I Miss The 90s
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#8 A True Inspiration To Many Of Us, Anthony Bourdain
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#9 The Man Who Came Back From The Dead To Win The Lottery…(Twice) In 1999
In 1998, Bill Morgan, an Australian truck driver, was involved in a severe road accident that left him clinically dead for 14 minutes. Miraculously, he survived but was in a coma for 12 days. when he recovered, he decided to buy a scratch-off lottery ticket and won a car worth $27,000.
Bill Morgan was asked to reenact his recent lottery win for tv after local news outlets decided to feature his incredible story and suggested to him to that he buy another scratch-off ticket.
Astoundingly, while the cameras were rolling, Bill scratched off the ticket and discovered he had won $250,000. An incredible chain of events played out in his fortune. Almost unbelievable if it weren’t documented.
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These new faces also ushered in a new aesthetic: somewhat a return to the gamine from the '60s. But this time, it was more minimalist. The way Lagerfeld described the younger models, "as if they need protection," went hand in hand with their waifish appearance.
These models were less about the perfect skin and hair and more about dark circles under their eyes, and, according to Ramzi, "possessing bird-like hollow bones."
#10 Diego Maradona’s Daughter Dalma Picks Flowers For Her Father Which He Proudly Wears During Training. (1989)
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#11 Memorable Quote From ‘Fight Club’ Directed By David Fincher. (1999)
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#12 Scene From ‘Trainspotting’ Directed By Danny Boyle (1996)
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These new models signaled what was to come in a few years: grunge. Emerging from Seattle primarily as a music style, grunge soon had young people clamoring for the edgy, effortless aesthetic. In fact, some even call grunge-style clothing as an anti-fashion statement. Professor of American Popular Culture Thomas L. Bell wrote in 1998, that the goal was to appear as nonchalant as possible.
#13 Forrest Gump Directed By Robert Zemeckis (1994) "My Momma Always Said There's An Awful Lot You Can Tell About A Person By Their Shoes”.
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#14 In 1986, A French Woman Named Nadine Bourgain Helped Her Husband, Michel Vaujour, Escape From Prison By Flying A Helicopter Into The Prison And Flying Him Away
Michel was serving a 28 year sentence for robbery and attempted murder. He had made four escape attempts before and was moved to a very secure prison.
Nadine had trained for several months to gain the qualifications to operate a helicopter. But instead of rushing to help her husband escape, she waited and became familiar with everyone at the airport so it wasn’t too suspicious.
When the time came, Michel, with the help of another inmate, a fake pistol and nectarines painted to look like hand grenades, made their way to the roof where only Michel made the escape. Nadine landed at a nearby football stadium where they made their escape by car.
Michel was eventually caught four months later when he tried to rob a bank in Paris and was shot and wheelchair bound for life. Nadine gave herself up after being surrounded by police and served 14 months in prison.
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#15 Anjelica Huston Photographed By Annie Leibovitz For Vanity Fair. {july•1990}
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"Flannel shirts and Doc Martens boots were worn as an anti-fashion statement that is undoubtedly related to the unassuming and unvarnished nature of the music itself," Bell wrote. The New York Times described the '90s style as cheap, durable, and timeless. "It also runs against the grain of the whole flashy aesthetic that existed in the 80s."
#16 Maybe
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#17 A Message From Samantha Jones: "These B**ches Need To Be Put In Their Places"
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#18 ‘Chungking Express’ Directed By Wong Kar-Wai (1994)
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Grunge trickled down to the runways too. Marc Jacobs' 1993 spring/summer collection for Perry Ellis was inspired by grunge. Unfortunately, it was also what he got fired for. Jacobs created a grunge aesthetic by imitating flannels with silk shirts and chiffon dresses to look like they were made out of polyester. He "reinterpreted these rough garments in the finest fabrics," according to Lynn Yaeger.
#19 Matthew Mcconaughey In Dazed And Confused Directed By Richard Linklater (1993)
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#20 Go All The Way. -Charles Bukowski
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#21 Pretty Woman Directed By Garry Marshall Starring Julia Roberts And Richard Gere. (1990)
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Still, the '90s were the antithesis of the glamour and colors of the '80s. Minimalist designers rose to prominence, such as Calvin Klein, Jil Sander, and Helmut Lang. Some even call them minimalist-deconstructivist designers. Seamless slip dresses, utilitarian button-ups, and black, white and navy colors dominated the runways. Any embellishments were out of the norm.
#22 Louise Bourgeois ‘Spider’ Sculpture In The 90s
Louise Bourgeois created the first of her darkly compelling spider sculptures in the mid-1990s, when she was in her eighties. The artist saw spiders as both fierce and fragile, capable of being protectors as well as predators.
For Bourgeois, the spider embodied an intricate and sometimes contradictory mix of psychological and biographical allusions. Partly a reference to her mother, partly to herself, spiders for her represented cleverness, industriousness, and protectiveness.
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#23 Cher Driving Her Gifted 1994 Jeep Wrangler In ‘Clueless’ Directed By Amy Heckerling. (1995)
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#24 Shannen Dohetry Photographed For TV Guide In 1991 Rest In Peace
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As fashion moved closer to the 2000s, technology came into view. Designers presented futuristic, cyberstyle pieces on the runways, like the Thierry Mugler 1995 fall/winter collection. Latex, aluminum foil sheath dresses, and robot-chic were all the rage. Fashion trends seeped into (and, in turn, inspired designers) the cinema as well, with Jean Paul Gaultier designing garments for The Fifth Element.
#25 Nuns Checking Out The New Nirvana Album ‘In Utero’ In 1993
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#26 Spider-Man And Mary Jane Getting Married At Shea Stadium
In 1987, Spider-Man’s alter ego, Peter Parker, tied the knot with Mary Jane Watson in the pages of Marvel Comics, marking a monumental moment in superhero history.
To celebrate this union, Marvel went beyond the panels and organized a real wedding for the iconic couple, with none other than the legendary Stan Lee officiating . The event, held at Shea Stadium in New York, attracted thousands of fans eager to witness the union of their beloved heroes. Hulk served as best man, Captain America as ring bearer and the Green Goblin even made the guest list.
The comic issue, “The Amazing Spider-Man Annual 21,” became an instant classic, skyrocketing in sales and solidifying Spider-Man and Mary Jane’s place in comic book lore.
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#27 Stylish Bike Ride With John F. Kennedy Jr. Throughout The 90s
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You'll notice one little problem with everything that we've covered here so far. Most of the trends experts refer to when they talk about the '90s are women's fashion. But what was men's '90s fashion like?
On the one hand, the effortless, laid-back style of the '90s allowed men to be nonchalant with their style choices. On the other hand, they could also partake in the cyber-fashion trend with frosted blond tips and metallic goggle-like sunglasses.
#28 Ferrari F40 Destroyed After Bursting Into Flames In Monaco
Launched in 1987, the Ferrari F40 is one of the most fabled supercars of all time. A successor to the 280 GTO, the F40 paved the way for future flagship Ferraris like the Enzo and LaFerrari. Only 1,315 examples were built between 1987 and 1992. The average price of a Ferrari F40 today is $2,591,368.
Sadly the fire started in the engine compartment and quickly spread. At one stage, as you can see in the video, a stranger grabbed a garden hose to try and put it out. It was a valiant effort but the trickle of water was no match for the intense blaze.
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#29 Easy Sunday With Samantha And Carrie
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#30 Sunday Mood With Carrie Bradshaw
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We can see a lot of the '90s fashion trends today. Straight-leg jeans, slip dresses, biker shorts, platform shoes, and cargo pants are already here. But that's the way of fashion; it cycles back every 20 years or so. And, I have to say, I'm not looking forward to seeing if colorful skinny jeans make a comeback when the 2010s fashion trends come around again.
#31
Cigarettes played an unexpected role in Chinese weddings in the 1980s and ’90s: the bride had to light a cigarette for every man attending the wedding banquet as a token of gratitude.
Thomas Sauvin, a French photography collector and editor who has lived in China for more than a decade, had no idea of such custom until he stumbled upon a picture of a couple smoking a hand-made cigarette bong at their wedding.
Sauvin has been collecting photographs taken by ordinary Chinese since 2009, when he discovered a garbage dump on the outskirts of Beijing that housed bulks of discarded 35mm. negatives, ready to be processed to extract silver nitrate. He bought the negatives by the kilo and started an archival project titled ‘Beijing Silvermine’, which now houses an estimate 500,000 negatives. The photographs, shot between 1985 to the early 2000s, when digital replaced analog, offer a surprisingly intimate glance at Chinese lives against the backdrop of the country’s vast social changes.
Cigarettes made by Double Happiness - one of the oldest and most influential tobacco brands in China, were offered at weddings because of the lucky combination of characters in the name, symbolizing longevity and love for the newlyweds
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#32 Can't Forget About Woodstock ‘94
It’s the 30 year anniversary of the infamous mud bath known as Woodstock ‘94, it was an American music festival held on Winston Farm - August 12th - 14th, 1994 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the original Woodstock festival of 1969.
The two day event was held in front of an estimated 350,000 people. The size of the crowd was larger than concert organizers had planned for and by the second night many of the event policies were logistically unenforceable.
Heavy rain turned the fields into swampy - knee deep mud puddles but fans and performers like Nine Inch Nails, Green Day, Blind Melon and The Cranberries, RHCP, Metallica alongside with many other iconic acts made the best of it, dancing and partaking in gnarly mud fights and unruly debauchery.
Surprisingly, only three deaths at the festival were confirmed. An unidentified 45-year-old male died on Saturday of suspected diabetes complications. On Sunday, a 20-year-old died of a ruptured spleen. Organizers also confirmed 5,000 were treated at medical tents and 800 were taken to hospitals.
The festival was followed five years later by Woodstock ‘99.
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#33 The Iconic Climb Leap Of Faith By The Legendary Eddie Vedder Of Pearl Jam
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#34 Sylvia Plath With Her Book ‘The Bell Jar’ In 10 Things I Hate About You
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#35 Nothing But The Truth
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#36 In 1992-93, Gillian Wearing Took Her Camera To The Streets Of London
She photographed passersby and asked them to write their innermost thoughts on a piece of white paper to hold up for her and us to see. The work removes the veil between the things we think in private and the way society expects us to behave.
By revealing the truth of how someone feels in a private moment while displaying how they would like to be publicly perceived, Wearing forces us to question our expectations of how we view others in society.
What would your sign say?
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#37 Brad Pitt And Korina Lombard In 'Legends Of The Fall' Directed By Edward Zwick (1994)
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#38 Sidewall Skiing With A Fleet Of Early 90s Toyota Land Cruiser Lj 70’s In Saudi Arabia
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#39 Pencil Sketched Scene From ‘Fallen Angels’ (1995)
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#40 Roger Federer And Andre Agassi’s Exhibition Match On Top Of The Burj Al Arab
The Burj al Arab is the fourth tallest hotel in the world at 321 m (1,053 ft) and stands out in the water on its own artificial island. Resembling the sail of a ship, the iconic hotel gives itself a 7 star rating, although i’m not really sure if you can go above 5 on the luxury scale. Designed by Tom Wright and completed in 1999, the hotel’s helipad was designed by Irish architect Rebecca Gernon. The helipad is at the building’s 28th floor, and the helipad been used as a car race track, a boxing ring, has hosted a tennis match, and the jumping off point for the highest kite surfing jump in history.
On February 22, 2005, the Burj al Arab hosted Andre Agassi and Roger Federer to play a match on their helipad tennis court before heading to play at the Dubai Duty Free Men’s Open, which was the first round of the two-week Dubai Tennis Championships.
The hotel’s helipad is situated 211 meters high and covers a surface area of 415 sq m. A video shows the pair on their way up to the tennis court and then cautiously looking over the edges before playing a round.
Although the court was big enough to play at their fullest, it must have been scary to run too fast or hit too hard for fear of getting close to the edge. There is a net around the pad, but still, it’s pretty high up.
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#41 Reminiscing With Miranda… Sex And The City Season 4-Ep.8 (1998)
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#42 Matthew Mcconaughey Photographed By Herb Ritts For Vanity Fair. (1996)
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#43 When You Realize Tomorrow Is Monday
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#44 “La Belle Noiseuse” (The Beautiful Troublemaker) A Film By Jacques Rivette (1991)
“I want to know and see the inside of your body, the whole body, not just some pieces. I don’t care about your breasts, legs, your lips. I want more. I want everything; the blood, the fire, the ice, all that’s inside your body.”
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#45 Déjà Vu All Over Again… Image From “Black Monday” One Of The Worst Stock Market Crashes In History That Happened In 1987
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#46 As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses Of Beauty By Jonas Mekas (2000)
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#47 Robert De Niro In Martin Scorsese’s ‘Taxi Driver’ (1976) “Today Is The Day”
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#48
It's centred on a woman decked out in a Dorothy-like costume (blue dress and red shoes) walking freely down the street, who holds a a giant phallic-shaped flower - known as a "red hot poker" - to smash up the car windows, and laugh as if nothing happened.
This film is about power and freedom, claiming back femininity and smashing up systems.
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#49 Christian Bale Photographed By Jim Wright In Manhattan Beach. (1998)
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#50 Just Keep Going… 1993 Porsche 911 Turbo S Lm Gt 12h Sebring
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#51 On June 16, 1994, Jesse Met Celine On A Train
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#52 Breakfast Of Champions With Dave Chappelle For Ecko In The Mid 90s
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#53 People’s Sexiest Man Alive Cover From 1990
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#54 Tom Cruise In ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ Directed By Stanley Kubrick. (1999)
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#55 Saturday Afternoon With Carrie And Big. Sex And The City [s01e09] 1998
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