I had a conversation this weekend while home in PA with my mother that truly explains the phenomenon of awful clothing and makeup that was the early 90s. It’s really no wonder I was going through my tortured teen/angst phase roughly from 1992-1996. If you recall, this was the era of garage bands from Seattle, unwashed people and lots and lots of PLAID FLANNEL. Being fabulista, I did NOT fit in. I refused to wear enormous shirts that looked like something I stole from a lumberjack. And while I can appreciate the music, I was not a “banger” something that definitely stopped me from being popular in middle/high school. Glamour was dead, quite literally. Why?
This era occurred right after the rise of AIDS (mid to late 80s) and killed off many budding gay designers causing a 5 year lull in fashion. It makes PERFECT sense. Without the fabulous to lead us to glam, we were lost. We became inspired by the next big thing, which was grunge and it overtook every facet of pop culture, including fashion. This includes muddy brown lipstick, in which I did partake but will never again.