Flashback Friday – Flannel Edition [90s Grunge Fashion]

02/25/2011 by

Don’t call it a comeback—I’ve had these Doc Martens for years.

About a month ago, I saw a mannequin in the window at Macy’s wearing a flannel babydoll dress with thermal underwear and could barely contain my joy. Is our long national nightmare of reliving the 80s over? I wondered. We can has 90s retro?

You just say the word, fashion industry, and I’ll be there with my ratty boots on.

The 90s will forever be the defining decade of my fashion aesthetic. It’s only out of fear of being like my elementary school music teacher—who never stopped wearing turtleneck dickies and women’s leisure suits after the 70s—that I do not continue to dress like Rayanne Graff from My So-Called Life.

Here are some of my most beloved grunge trends:

Layers, Layers, Layers

CITIZENDICK Flashback Friday Flannel Edition [90s Grunge Fashion]

The perfect grunge look has at least three layers from the waist up and two from the waist down. For example, you might wear long johns under your ratty concert t-shirts with a flannel shirt left unbuttoned or maybe a beat-up denim or canvas jacket. Wait, or? No, AND! LAYERS, bitches.

Why I miss it: I live in Seattle, grunge’s birthplace, and let me tell you, layers are a big part of the grunge look for a very utilitarian reason—it’s cold and wet here. If I want to wear a t-shirt most of the year, I’m gonna want some long johns under that shit.

Jeans/Pants/Stockings with Holes in Them

3 Carolyn Murphy as Courtney Love Jake Schroeder as Kurt Cobain and their daughter as Frances Bean Cobain 525x423 Flashback Friday Flannel Edition [90s Grunge Fashion]

Mind you, we’re not talking about “pre-distressed” jeans or those stockings that look like your cat went nuts on them before you even take them out of the packaging. Back in our day, we distressed our own legwear. Our holey jeans got that way from falling on your skateboard, excessive kneeling on asphalt, and wearing the same goddamn pair day in and day out for years. The biggest fashion disaster of the 90s was owning a pair of jeans that looked new.

Oh, and if you’re cold from all those rips, please see above, in re: layers. If you were at a club and could see a dude’s thermal underwear under his jeans, you just knew that kid was going to get crazy laid.

Why I miss it: If I  just think about putting my foot into a pair of tights, they will start to run. If grunge comes back, I don’t have to throw them away! I just have to get MORE RUNS in them. And, as a four-star klutz who still skins her knees from time to time at 30 years old, naturally-holey jeans would be no problem for me.

Converse and Dr Marten’s

chuck taylors 525x393 Flashback Friday Flannel Edition [90s Grunge Fashion]

The footwear of choice for grunge is not delicate. Chunky boots or Chuck Taylors are the go-to choices but, again, new is an embarrassment. I remember the first time I put on my purple Chucks, I wanted to find a mud puddle to stomp around in and tried to wear a hold in the canvas upper. My mom was so pleased. My Chucks, on the other hand, got thrashed the normal way—by getting trampled in a mosh pit.

Why I miss it: Dude, that shit is comfortable.

Do you miss the 90s as much as I do?

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About Snarky Amber

Snarky Amber pursued a degree in interdisciplinary studies in order to obtain a well-rounded perspective, which she now uses to make fun of people who make more money in a week than she stands to make in a lifetime.


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Filed Under: 80s, 90s, Best Of Featured, Fashion, Flashback Friday, Music, Nostalgia, Pop Culture Tagged With: 90s, chuck taylors, courtney love, Dr. Martens, Fashion, flannel, grunge, holey jeans, holey shoes, layers, long johns, nirvana, retro, singles, thermals
  • http://www.lisrockphoto.com Miss Lis

    Although I never wear it in public any more I am RIGHT NOW wearing my big plaid flannel shirt purchased in 1994.

  • http://www.bookishpenguin.com Candice

    I would die of sheer joy if 90s grunge came back, but you know it would only come back ironically since kids today would pair it with a Coach purse and Uggs… and that would make me emo. Oh wait, not emo – we used to just call that depressed. We didn’t need a special word for it. We just needed flannel and some rock music.

    I miss the 90s.

  • http://yesimadethat.blogspot.com Lori

    SIGH. I miss those days. When jeans could be comfortable and didn’t need to be tight fitting or impeccable to be “in” and when a girl could wear a kajillion layers (helpful on slightly bloated days).

  • Julie

    I would love it Grunge came back! I miss the over-sized bib overalls, worn with baby tees and insulated plaid shirts. I had no shape, but I was warm.

  • diamondcait

    Ripped tights with safety pinned fishnets over them could easily make the transition from daytime grunge to nightime goth when you changed your plaid shirt for basic black. Sigh. And those jeans/cut offs/ tissue paper disguised as pants that we wore to death were mad comfy until we wore them out.

  • Suzy Q

    Be careful what you wish for. I was as a play a couple of weeks ago and saw a woman, of not less than 70 years of age, wearing knee-high Chuck Taylors. !!!!! It was…not good.

  • Gigi

    I miss the 90s hardcore, however I teach 7th graders and they kinda ruined the grunge experience for me the other day. One kid said, “what’s grunge?” to which the other replied “it’s like old timey emo.”
    Oh no they didn’t. And please don’t call Nirvana “Dave Grohl’s old band” again!!

  • http://www.missmooseart.com Lis

    I still wear layers (I live in Michigan, it’s a little crazy not to) and I still wear Chucks…… but I wear nothing with holes in it. I could never get QUITE that into grunge.

    I’d still love it for that to be the new retro. So sick of 80s being “SO COOL.”

  • atomicgal

    I’m torn….on the one hand I would like it so that *I* could be comfortable. on the other hand, if it comes back in about 10 years, it will be when my kids are in high school and I won’t have to worry that my daughter isn’t covered up.

  • Mona

    This is so much more than just the seven plaid flannels in the back of my closet that I REFUSE to throw away. This makes me think about a golden era when teen and twenty something young women could wear about 15 layers and not have to be so concerned with being “hot.” Ponder it very long, and it makes you think we’ve really gone backwards.

  • Christina

    I miss my green and purple 1990′s chucks. I had written & drawn all over them, beautiful. I went back to chucks about 2 years ago and I have to say…they don’t last as long as they used to, and my teenage pair went through a lot more than my 30-something one’s.