Ah, the 1990s – an era of grunge and scandal-prone supermodels, the Nineties will go down as one of history’s most iconic decades where ‘Girl Power’ reigned and street style was dominated by vertiginous crop tops, slip dresses and double denim.
Straight talking superstars like the Spice Girls and Oasis topped the charts, while waif-like catwalk queen Kate Moss became the fashion icon of the decade.
Take a trip down memory lane with the top ten icons of the 1990s who continue to enjoy massive social currency today.
1. Jennifer Aniston
American actress Jennifer Aniston – immortalised as Rachel on Friends – spent the better part of the ’90s creating fashion trends for young girls all over the world.
From her iconic hairstyles to babydoll dresses and crop tops worn sans bra, Jen An was a true ’90s style icon.
Along with her Friends co-stars, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer and Matt Le Blanc, Jennifer Aniston influenced how American teenagers – and indeed, worldwide – dressed, spoke and acted for the best part of a decade.
Jen wore tiny white t-shirts under silky slip dresses, shed her bra long before it became mainstream popular and even made floor length skirts with bizarre, baggy cardigans look uber cool.
She made mom jeans and leggings look deeply seductive, wore her hair in kooky pigtails and Dutch plaits and paraded around California in outfits we lust after today.
Jennifer’s fairytale romance with Hollywood golden boy Brad Pitt also cemented her status as America’s celebrity sweetheart towards the end of the ’90s, with the two becoming hot favourites on red carpets from Los Angeles to Manhattan by way of Cannes.
2. Naomi Campbell
British model Naomi Campbell started her catwalk career at the tender age of 15, growing her fame stratospherically to become one of the most in demand faces of the late 80s and all through the 90s.
The iconic beauty was one of six elite models of the era dubbed “supermodels” by the fashion industry and international press, along with Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford, Claudia Schiffer and Kate Moss.
Naomi was a muse for Italian fashion house Versace, and was most often photographed in minuscule mini-dresses, body con creations and string-like lingerie which cemented her status as a ’90s fashion icon.
3. Kate Moss
Moss is Boss – at least, she was in the ’90s.
The waif-like reincarnation of ’60s icon Twiggy got her start at just 14-years-old, when she was discovered by agent Sarah Doukas and signed to the iconic Storm Model Management.
Moss made headlines for her relationship with Hollywood bad boy Johnny Depp, and together they were one of the most iconic couples of the grunge decade.
Kate was known for her ‘no makeup makeup’ look punctuated with black kohl eyeliner, tussled, bedhead hairstyle and friendship with the great, aforementioned Naomi Campbell.
A lifelong fan of strappy slip dresses, semi-sheer crop tops and mom jeans, Kate quickly developed a reputation for hard partying and other questionable ’90s penchants.
A career that began more than 26 years ago is still going strong today, with Kate now at the helm of her own modeling agency and taking charge of her lookalike daughter Lila Grace’s burgeoning catwalk career.
She is currently in a longterm relationship with British-German photographer Count Nikolai von Bismarck.
4. Kurt Cobain and Nirvana
As the lead singer of Nirvana, the face of Kurt Cobain adorned many a baggy t-shirt and teenage bedroom wall in the 90s.
Over 25 years since his tragic death, Cobain is still regarded as a music and fashion icon thanks to his progressive, angst ridden lyrics and grunge uniform that seemed to whisper: “I’m cool because I don’t try.”
High Snobiety reports fashion bibles like Vogue magazine still refer to Kurt Cobain as a figurehead akin to Audrey Hepburn or Marilyn Monroe in terms of sartorial currency.
His partner, Courtney Love, was a massive 90s style icon in her own right, renowned for her red carpet outfits body con dresses paired with hot red lipstick.
Kurt Cobain and Nirvana were hugely influential in 1990s pop culture and social politics, with Cobain never afraid to call out racism, bigotry or sexism.
On the sleeve of Nirvana’s iconic In Uetro album, the last they ever released, the singer wrote: “If you’re a sexist, racist, homophobe or basically an asshole, don’t buy this CD. I don’t care if you like me, I hate you.”
We couldn’t have said it better.
5. Alicia Silverstone
Immortalised as Cher in the 1995 box office smash Clueless, Alicia Silverstone is a true 1990s fashion icon.
If Helen of Troy was the face that launched a thousand ships, Cher Horowitz was the face that sold a thousand mini-skirt-and-top coordinate sets.
The Clueless looks are still very much on trend today, with statement white blouses, plaid shirts, skin tight tank tops, knee high socks, berets, and pinstriped jackets widely available from fashion stores from London to Sydney.
Cher’s penchant for velvet scrunchies and tiny cardigans persists in 2019, too!
Cher’s yellow check plaid blazer and mini-skirt remains the film’s most iconic look, and is often recreated in Halloween costumes all over the world.
Today, Alicia is mum to eight-year-old son Bear Blu Jarecki.
6. Winona Ryder
Winona Ryder became one of the greatest 1990s movie and fashion icons of all time thanks to her effortlessly sexy, grunge uniform of high waisted denim Levis (501s, of course), beat up leather jacket and a cropped tank top or band t-shirt.
In a 2018 interview with Harper’s Bazaar, the actress remembered how the 90s made vintage and thrift shopping suddenly the cool thing to do.
“There were certain things that were simply welcome – like, it was suddenly cool to wear thrift store clothes, flannels etc. That was great in the sense that it was something everyone could afford, I thought it was really cool.
“But then designers started making $500 flannel shirts and we were like, huh?”
The quirky ingenue also rocked a mean menswear suit, a trend that endures to this day on runways from Chanel to Saint Laurent.
Winona’s relationship with Hollywood superstar Johnny Depp was iconic in itself, with Depp inking his devotion to the brunette beauty with a tattoo saying “Winona Forever!” just five months into their relationship.
It was love at first sight for the Oscar nominees when they met at the premiere of Great Balls of Fire! way back in 1989.
The pair got engaged after a whirlwind romance, with then 27-year-old Depp declaring: “There’s been nothing in my 27 years that’s comparable to the feeling I have with Winona.”
Depp and Ryder’s split in 1993 caused heartbreak among pop culture fans, and even more tragic was Depp’s cover up of his love tattoo, which became “Wino Forever”.
Smooth.
7. Drew Barrymore
Hollywood wild child turned beauty guru Drew Barrymore was once one of the biggest grunge icons of the 1990s.
After shooting to stardom in 1982’s E.T. aged just 13, by 1990 Drew was a regular at Andy Warhol’s infamous Studio 54.
We can only dream of emulating her level of cool.
Stepping all over Los Angeles and New York in high waisted mom jeans, oversized belts and plaid shirts with the occasional vertiginous mini-skirt and battered leather jacket thrown in for good measure, Drew Barrymore quickly cemented a reputation for style and raked in millions with fashion campaigns for the likes of Miu Miu and Guess.
Drew made everything look effortless, be it bucket hats, beat up Nike t-shirts or even bandanas.
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