The '80s pretty much became instantly old, well maybe not by 1990 but definitely by the mid 90s, they already seemed like kind of a different age. The 90s on the other hand, I clearly recall seeming extremely modern up until and including the year 2005. Then in 2006 the pop culture and atmosphere began to change dramatically and by 2009 the '90s started to seem rather old.

However even today, I feel like the '90s still have quite a bit in common with the present. Like so much you can only really call the earliest part of the '90s "retro". Is "Clueless" really that much older-seeming than most movies from say, 2002 for example?

The '90s no longer seem like yesterday, but do you think they still seem too fresh to be re-visited? Or do they seem straight-up old school now?

The '90s pop culture has not dated as much just because alot of it was not outlandish like some '70s or '80s fashion, music, ect. In the '90s, the '80s music and fashion stuck out alot more because some of it was just so out there, the '90s really toned things down and that blandness lasted somewhat until the mid '00s. Since around 2008 our pop culture has been slowly moving back to eccentricity and outlandish fashion and music, I really do think Lady Gaga and electropop is partly responsible for this too.

Plus some of '90s music had a lasting impact into the '00s like post-grunge and the hip-hop gangsta image, I think the '90s and '00s are kind of linked alot like the late '60s and '70s. They both share some overall music and fashion trends(bellbottoms, afros, and groovy designs for the 60's and '70s, baggy jeans and post-grunge for the '90s and '00s).

I think the early '90s are definitely old school but going towards the late '90s(around 1997-ish) might still be too recent to be re-visited, I'd give the late '90s another 5-10 years and they could be retro material.

The '90s pop culture has not dated as much just because alot of it was not outlandish like some '70s or '80s fashion, music, ect. In the '90s, the '80s music and fashion stuck out alot more because some of it was just so out there, the '90s really toned things down and that blandness lasted somewhat until the mid '00s. Since around 2008 our pop culture has been slowly moving back to eccentricity and outlandish fashion and music, I really do think Lady Gaga and electropop is partly responsible for this too.

Plus some of '90s music had a lasting impact into the '00s like post-grunge and the hip-hop gangsta image, I think the '90s and '00s are kind of linked alot like the late '60s and '70s. They both share some overall music and fashion trends(bellbottoms, afros, and groovy designs for the 60's and '70s, baggy jeans and post-grunge for the '90s and '00s).


Yeah that's right, I mean in 2004 even 1995 really didn't seem that dated to me. I definitely think the '90s seem a lot older now than they did back in the mid '00s, granted it's just the normal progression of time but still. Today is a much more chessy, outlandish time than the mid '90s to mid '00s were.

what do the 90s have in common with the 2000s and today? 90s fashion, music, technology was different than in the 2000s and today. and the movie clueless girls don't dress or act that way anymore, so what are you saying? as much as we don't want to accept it the 90s are old.

It depends on what part of the 90s you're talking about. 1990 doesn't feel recent at all. Does this music video seem recent?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ry4iwzS4Na0

It depends on what part of the 90s you're talking about. 1990 doesn't feel recent at all. Does this music video seem recent?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ry4iwzS4Na0


That's because 1990 still had an 80s feeling to it. It might have been the 90s by calendar, but I definitely wouldn't say the vibe of 1990 was what you think of when you think of the 90s vibe. Still looks and feels way too 80s. Just like 1960 still has a very 50s feeling and 1970 still has a very 60s feeling.

1993 on the other hand, clearly outside of the 80s world of pop culture, in some contexts could seem rather recent as late as 2006.

Except for hair metal, I don't think the late 80's seemed that old in the mid-90's. The rest of the 80's did seem old, though. By the late 90's, I think the whole decade seemed old.

The early 90's are so old, they might as well be the 70's. The mid 90's are very old, but not ancient. The late 90's feel almost like yesterday, but they look a little older every year.  So they're getting pretty old.

That's because 1990 still had an 80s feeling to it. It might have been the 90s by calendar, but I definitely wouldn't say the vibe of 1990 was what you think of when you think of the 90s vibe. Still looks and feels way too 80s. Just like 1960 still has a very 50s feeling and 1970 still has a very 60s feeling.

1993 on the other hand, clearly outside of the 80s world of pop culture, in some contexts could seem rather recent as late as 2006.


I think most of the music and attitude were 90's in 1993, but at least half the fashion still seemed 80's.

It depends on what part of the 90s you're talking about. 1990 doesn't feel recent at all. Does this music video seem recent?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ry4iwzS4Na0


I agree with m83, 1990 still had that 1980s vibe, by 1991 it was fighting it off and I think it came to end as 1992 started.

A great choice of video. I love 'The King of Wishful Thinking'.  8)

As for 1990s having a 'newness' to them...I don't know about newness but people don't say how badly dressed people were in the 1990s, lol.

I agree with m83, 1990 still had that 1980s vibe, by 1991 it was fighting it off and I think it came to end as 1992 started.

A great choice of video. I love 'The King of Wishful Thinking'.  8)

As for 1990s having a 'newness' to them...I don't know about newness but people don't say how badly dressed people were in the 1990s, lol.


Thanks! I think no one says how badly people in the 90s dressed because the fashion was more subdued with the exception of the early 90s. There wasn't that much change in what people wore until later in the 2000s.

That's because 1990 still had an 80s feeling to it. It might have been the 90s by calendar, but I definitely wouldn't say the vibe of 1990 was what you think of when you think of the 90s vibe. Still looks and feels way too 80s. Just like 1960 still has a very 50s feeling and 1970 still has a very 60s feeling.

1993 on the other hand, clearly outside of the 80s world of pop culture, in some contexts could seem rather recent as late as 2006.


I did feel a late 90s vibe in the early 2000s. However I wouldn't go so far as to say 1993 felt recent in 2006.

I agree with m83, 1990 still had that 1980s vibe, by 1991 it was fighting it off and I think it came to end as 1992 started.

A great choice of video. I love 'The King of Wishful Thinking'.  8)

As for 1990s having a 'newness' to them...I don't know about newness but people don't say how badly dressed people were in the 1990s, lol.


I also think when people say 80s fashion, they include 1990 to as late as 1993 in that 80s category. This could be the reason why some people don't count 1990-1993 as '90s' fashion!

The '90s pop culture has not dated as much just because alot of it was not outlandish like some '70s or '80s fashion, music, ect. In the '90s, the '80s music and fashion stuck out alot more because some of it was just so out there, the '90s really toned things down and that blandness lasted somewhat until the mid '00s.


I wouldn't describe it as bland. In my opinion, 90's/early 00s fashion and popculture wasn't boring, just more natural, more 'human'.

Btw, musicwise, I count 1988 and 1989 as 'early 90s', although fashionwise, those years still felt eighties.

Depends on how one defines this 'newness.'  The year 1995 (16 years ago!) seems newer today than 1979 does versus 1995, in my opinion.  I think the addition of computers and the internet, while still very primitive in the mid-90s, helps to give that time a little bit newer image.  That said, look at commercials or pictures of the internet in 1995 and it looks really dated today.  Heck, I've been reading through my old video game magazine collection for the past few months (stretches all the way back to 1994) and even 2003 looks dated by that standard.  Last time I read through them all was sometime around the first half of 2009 and 2003 felt dated yet still somewhat new.  Now, it's definitely aging (cell phone ads for ringtones covered with Hip-Hop songs and flip phones are a dead giveaway, especially when they attempt to use Hip-Hop slang to be "cool").

I think the fact that the 90s image was that of a more serious, down to earth, laid back kind definitely lends it some aging power though.  More outlandish trends will always become out of date faster.  For example, more serious Grunge and Gangsta Rap from the 90s doesn't sound as dated and cheesy as NSync.  Same goes for the other eras.  Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath sound less outdated than the Disco era.  The fact that some of the trends in that era, like Post-Grunge, lasted several years into the 00s also contributes to this newness.  

Personally though, I think that while the era is definitely dated, the period of time from the second half of the 1980s onward has a much more modern feel than the first half of the 80s and before.  The addition of things such as desktop computers, VCRs, Hip-Hop breaking into the mainstream, the decline of communism, etc. always made the late 80s resemble the present much more so than, say, 1982.  Yeah, the pop cultural trends and fashions of that era are definitely dated, but the basic elements of society are essentially the building blocks of what we have today.  

It's going to be hard for a person in the far future (4,000 years from now?) to tell the difference between 2011 and 1994. Sure, there were/are differences, but unless you lived during the 90s, 00s, and 2010s era like we did, people in the future won't able to tell the difference much.

By 1994 fashion seemed pretty modern as compare to more over the top fashion from the 80s and early 90s and before! Minimalism has been in since the 90s and since it's so practical and comfortable, I think that we will continue to dress the same way for at least the next 50 years or so.

Also, by 1992 or 1993, music no longer sounded '80s' anymore. And by 1994, we had the internet explosion.

It's going to be hard for a person in the far future (4,000 years from now?) to tell the difference between 2011 and 1994. Sure, there were/are differences, but unless you lived during the 90s, 00s, and 2010s era like we did, people in the future won't able to tell the difference much.

By 1994 fashion seemed pretty modern as compare to more over the top fashion from the 80s and early 90s and before! Minimalism has been in since the 90s and since it's so practical and comfortable, I think that we will continue to dress the same way for at least the next 50 years or so.

Also, by 1992 or 1993, music no longer sounded '80s' anymore. And by 1994, we had the internet explosion.


Minimalism in fashion actually went out around 2003-ish and definitely by 2008 fashion has been heading back toward excessiveness, today's popular fashions is alot more colorful and elaborate compared to the later '90s/early '00s period. That said people have been wearing casual clothes(in casual settings of course) since at least the 1960s so I don't know why some people think it all started in the '90s, it seems we always remember the most outlandish aspects of past decades when most people NEVER wore those clothes. I mean just think when 2035 comes along some teen is going to think everyone was dressing emo in 2007 or looking like Lady Gaga in 2009-2011, just like alot of people seem to think every young person was looking like a hippie in 1968 when that is inaccurate and very exaggerated.

And face it, people 4,000 years from now will have a hard time distinguishing any of the recent decades(especially the '70s on up).

Thanks! I think no one says how badly people in the 90s dressed because the fashion was more subdued with the exception of the early 90s. There wasn't that much change in what people wore until later in the 2000s.


That's right. There seemed to be a European (Italian?) feel to clothing around 1989 - 1991 which kind of morphed the two eras of 1980s to 1990s together. As for the 1990s in general, apart from the odd exception like the mushroom and the rat-tail haircut, I find it difficult to distinguish the 1990s from any other decade.

I also think when people say 80s fashion, they include 1990 to as late as 1993 in that 80s category. This could be the reason why some people don't count 1990-1993 as '90s' fashion!


As late as 1993? Hmmmm...Possibly. There are some early 1990s sitcoms that I thought came from the 1980s so there may be some truth to that.

Minimalism in fashion actually went out around 2003-ish and definitely by 2008 fashion has been heading back toward excessiveness, today's popular fashions is alot more colorful and elaborate compared to the later '90s/early '00s period. That said people have been wearing casual clothes(in casual settings of course) since at least the 1960s so I don't know why some people think it all started in the '90s, it seems we always remember the most outlandish aspects of past decades when most people NEVER wore those clothes. I mean just think when 2035 comes along some teen is going to think everyone was dressing emo in 2007 or looking like Lady Gaga in 2009-2011, just like alot of people seem to think every young person was looking like a hippie in 1968 when that is inaccurate and very exaggerated.

And face it, people 4,000 years from now will have a hard time distinguishing any of the recent decades(especially the '70s on up).


You bring up great points!

Well to an extent, I disagree with the ridiculous idea that today is still exactly like the late '90s (it's not at all imo) but on the other hand, the '90s while dated don't really seem too "old" per se. Then again in the long run the '90s still aren't really that old. But even 2004 seems pretty solidly dated to me, I'd actually call it the new old school at this point but that's just my opinion. Fashion, music, technology was all quite different in 2004 than in 2011. My point is that the '90s and up to say 2004 were definitely a different time in my eyes compared to 2011 but I do agree that the '90s and early 2000s don't LOOK that ancient just different.

Sometimes it's hard to remember that to 90's WHERE JUST HERE. Then 2000 came and then by the time 2003 hit everything just sped up and here we are in 2011 goin on 2012. Looking at it from a numerical stand point, they were just here but thinking about actual time seeing as it's eleven years later despite not feeling like much is a long time. Go outside or look out the window, you can tell a 90's car from anything post-99. you can look at a 90's show and by picture quality tell it's old. But THEY WERE JUST HERE! I remember more from the 90's than I do the past nine years, it doesn't take much effort to remember back then. You can damn near count back to them on your fingers. I still have  Nokia 5160, A Playstation and a Sega Genesis. My Funai VCR is from the 90's. That's one thing most people don't remember is the Genesis is a 90's game system. I still like 90's fashion, I like to buy clothes that reminisce the 90's style. I don't like what people wear today that much.

People years from now are goin to look back at the 90's like we look back at say the 30's or so. Technology then wasn't all that new but it was when people actually put the work in to it to bring it where it is today. It's when things started to get advanced. If you think about it it is an innovative area of time. The Super Nintendo was the first home system with a hard drive. CD Players gave way to microdisc players. Things people needed most got better.

You bring up great points!

Also when looking at the past few decades(since at least the '50s) it has mostly been the same set of clothes(t-shirt, jacket, or jeans) in terms of casual fashion, the changes have been like the fit of clothes, colors, and some hairstyles. One of the marked differences between say 1996 and 2011 is the fit of clothes, alot of fashion was very loose, baggy, and darker back then(more earth tones), from the late '00s-now fashion has tightened up quite a bit and people are wearing more colorful clothing even though it is a similar basic template of shirt and jeans. Heck it might be better to say some clothes in 2011(super tight jeans) would look quite corny in 1996 to alot of young people then, there seems to be this wannabe indie-ish skinny jeans graphic tee thing going on in 2011, even freaking Lil Wanye is trying to look like a hipster. In my opinion it seems men's hairstyles have changed more than women's hairstyles over the course of the '00s, alot of women still have long straight hair while men went from the short spikey frosted blond tips of circa 1999 to the emo-ish fringes and fro hawks at the end of the '00s.

It should be very obvious the '90s(even 1999/2000) are very dated on a technological basis, we went from people still using pagers and big, chunky primitive cell phones/MP3 players in 2000 to people using smartphones and tablet computers in 2010.