Around when would you say the last vestiges of the looks of the late 80s in both clothes and hair died out, and were fully replaced by "grunge" inspired fashions? IE when did neon fully give way to plaid and earth tones?

Around when did the grunge/post grunge look die in favor of the preppy, frosted tipped short haired corporate look of the ending of the 90s and early 00s?

Grunge fashion appeared in 1992 and was out of fashion by 1996-1997. This is what I remember. Then fashion changed again in 1998. 

Grunge fashion appeared in 1992 and was out of fashion by 1996-1997. This is what I remember. Then fashion changed again in 1998.


Every single guy over 20 or so I knew had buzzcuts by 1998. Even among guys who formerly had long hair in say, 1994 or 1995, it was out; if you had it, you were part of a specific subculture; it was out of fashion in the mainstream.

Women had fully straight hair with short bangs by then (no more layering, as might've still been in the case in 1995 or even in early/mid 1996). It seemed there was a drastic leap around the second half of 1997 or so where the very last vestiges of the 1980s and early 1990s were fully discarded. At least to me.

Stone wash in colored clothes persisted until around 1994/early 1995 and then vanished. Earth tones were gone by the middle of 1997. Flannel shirts and curtained haircuts stuck around a bit, curtained haircuts just got shorter and shorter but by 1999 were a bit uncool.

Musically it seems like if you were still listening to GRUNGE (as opposed to post Grunge) after around 1995 you were uncool. By 1997 rap was fully mainstream as was Nu Metal. Goth rose into prominence as a major subculture along with the rave scene between mid 1995-1997 and was so mainstream by 1998 it influenced The Matrix film.