The 90s are back. We called it here but where we are excited Grace Dent in the Independent is sceptical. It seems we remember a very different version of the 90s. For some it was full of lava lamps and inflatable furniture, others combat trousers because we'd Never Ever stray from utility chic. In the UK the 90s are clearly divided between a grey, back to basics John Major Britain and Tony Blair's Cool Britannia. Changing Rooms was bringing MDF to the masses, feminism was being repackaged as Girl Power and we were all busy being bowled over by the Nokia mobile phone. Here's what the Squeamish Team believed in the '90s...
1. People who know me now would find this hilarious, but in the '90s I was a card-carrying socialist. I spent Tuesday nights going to meetings in random community centres where we would split into Marxists and Trots before arguing passionately about all sorts of idealist goals that just don't make sense to me now. I used to sell copies of the Socialist Worker and read the Workers' Hammer, and I looked down my nose (still do) at self-identifying socialists who haven't read their Gramsci. Because only I could turn socialism into an exercise in superiority. F1 Kate
2. I believed that George Lucas was a fantastic writer & director. A new, extended cut of the Star Wars Trilogy with new scenes and improved special effects? That'll be awesome! And there's a new trilogy coming out a couple of years later? Truly this is the start of a new golden age for cinema... Gareth
3. In the 90s I believed whole heartedly in my Croydon Facelift. I probably wouldn't have if I had known that's what it was called. The hairstyle that I wore from about the age of 10-18 was a staple of South London schools. I couldn't see how this understated, slick style could ever do me wrong, it looked smart with my uniform and made me look cool with my jeans and witty tagline t-shirt (no comments from Squeamish Kate here! x) If you haven't guessed a Croydon Facelift is a very tight slicked back ponytail. My hair needed no other lubricant than water and when I was feeling nifty I'd jazz it up with a purple scrunchie. I only really started doubting my effortless ponytail when I got my 6th Year Class photo back. My hair was so dark and pulled back so tight that the sun had bounced right off it in such a way that I appeared, as I stood there in my oversized burgundy sweatshirt, to be completely bald! NOOOOOOOOO! Squeamish Nicola
4. It was 1997; New Labour came in, Cool Britannia was A Thing and life-changing exams were still far away for me. I was young and the landslide victory optimism was infectious. But most importantly this was the year that Natalie Imbruglia's début album Left of the Middle was released. It wasn't the music, it was the hair. Oh the 90s crop. Kylie did it, Drew Barrymore had one but oh, Natalie Imbruglia. Natalie, Natalie, Natalie. It was feminine yet tough, short but face framing, stylish and effortless. Girls across my school started turning up to school having asked their mum's hairdresser to make them look Torn. We were still ignorant of straighteners and hair serum and our youthfully bouncy hair refused to emulate the Imgruglia sweep. Most of us requested an Imbruglia but got Claire from Steps I went again and again to the Miss Selfridge hair salon, persistence was the key! Because in the 90s I believed Natalie Imbruglia had the haircut to end all haircuts. (P.S I also believed one day I could join this crew) Squeamish Kate
5. The 90s was a long time; during it I went from naïve goofy 8-year old to... a naïve, goofy 18-year old. The list of things I believed in over the course of that decade stretches from things that now seem faintly ridiculous (god; Tony Blair), to unshakeable truths (Claudia will forever be the coolest member of The Babysitters Club). If there was one belief that I held throughout the entire 90s that it is now apparent was a complete sham, it’s that there was some sort of secret to being an adult. As a child, I thought that were a separate category of humans – it’s not as if that responsibility and maturity would just appear, is it? Even as a teen, I stubbornly believed that there was some sort of learning or initiation process that would mark my passage into Adulthood. Someone would take me aside and explain how to pay taxes, shave my legs without causing rivers of blood to run into the shower, and know which clothes to wear on which occasion. Ha ha. I was we ll into my twenties before I realised that no-one makes you an adult – you just sort of become one, by accident. Which may be why, despite having some of the markers of adulthood (job; marriage; proper dresses) I still feel like I’m faking it. Squeamish Louise
2. I believed that George Lucas was a fantastic writer & director. A new, extended cut of the Star Wars Trilogy with new scenes and improved special effects? That'll be awesome! And there's a new trilogy coming out a couple of years later? Truly this is the start of a new golden age for cinema... Gareth
3. In the 90s I believed whole heartedly in my Croydon Facelift. I probably wouldn't have if I had known that's what it was called. The hairstyle that I wore from about the age of 10-18 was a staple of South London schools. I couldn't see how this understated, slick style could ever do me wrong, it looked smart with my uniform and made me look cool with my jeans and witty tagline t-shirt (no comments from Squeamish Kate here! x) If you haven't guessed a Croydon Facelift is a very tight slicked back ponytail. My hair needed no other lubricant than water and when I was feeling nifty I'd jazz it up with a purple scrunchie. I only really started doubting my effortless ponytail when I got my 6th Year Class photo back. My hair was so dark and pulled back so tight that the sun had bounced right off it in such a way that I appeared, as I stood there in my oversized burgundy sweatshirt, to be completely bald! NOOOOOOOOO! Squeamish Nicola
4. It was 1997; New Labour came in, Cool Britannia was A Thing and life-changing exams were still far away for me. I was young and the landslide victory optimism was infectious. But most importantly this was the year that Natalie Imbruglia's début album Left of the Middle was released. It wasn't the music, it was the hair. Oh the 90s crop. Kylie did it, Drew Barrymore had one but oh, Natalie Imbruglia. Natalie, Natalie, Natalie. It was feminine yet tough, short but face framing, stylish and effortless. Girls across my school started turning up to school having asked their mum's hairdresser to make them look Torn. We were still ignorant of straighteners and hair serum and our youthfully bouncy hair refused to emulate the Imgruglia sweep. Most of us requested an Imbruglia but got Claire from Steps I went again and again to the Miss Selfridge hair salon, persistence was the key! Because in the 90s I believed Natalie Imbruglia had the haircut to end all haircuts. (P.S I also believed one day I could join this crew) Squeamish Kate
5. The 90s was a long time; during it I went from naïve goofy 8-year old to... a naïve, goofy 18-year old. The list of things I believed in over the course of that decade stretches from things that now seem faintly ridiculous (god; Tony Blair), to unshakeable truths (Claudia will forever be the coolest member of The Babysitters Club). If there was one belief that I held throughout the entire 90s that it is now apparent was a complete sham, it’s that there was some sort of secret to being an adult. As a child, I thought that were a separate category of humans – it’s not as if that responsibility and maturity would just appear, is it? Even as a teen, I stubbornly believed that there was some sort of learning or initiation process that would mark my passage into Adulthood. Someone would take me aside and explain how to pay taxes, shave my legs without causing rivers of blood to run into the shower, and know which clothes to wear on which occasion. Ha ha. I was we ll into my twenties before I realised that no-one makes you an adult – you just sort of become one, by accident. Which may be why, despite having some of the markers of adulthood (job; marriage; proper dresses) I still feel like I’m faking it. Squeamish Louise
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