Journalist Sarah Lewis-Hammond on why Nineties style rocked. To say that the Nineties was a seminal decade - my seminal decade - is to understate the case. Starting when I was 12 and ending when I was 22, I was taught to dress by Nirvana's Kurt Cobain and Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder (with whom I still share a hairstyle), Skin from Skunk Anansie and Shirley Manson from Garbage.
As my peers grew in height and I grew in attitude, so too did the reach of grunge and indie spread, capturing both the disaffection of a generation spewed from Thatcher's miserable Eighties and the growing sense of possibility created first by the freeing of Nelson Mandela and finally by the fall of the Berlin Wall.
How did we express these momentous happenings? In flares and hoodies, of course. Battered Doc Martins and chunky trainers smacked of ease and contentment, a far cry from the effort-filled tottering heels of the noughties.
A confluence of liberalism in society and politics meant teenagers had to go far underground to rebel. The ensuing rise of counter-culture and neo-tribalism meant your metal and ink was as important a statement as your clothes. The occasional glimpse of a thick black tattoo peaking from under a shirtsleeve still marks out the nineties kids, marks out we're all still part of that gang at heart.
The diverse and disparate music - from mainstream pop to underground electronica - meant that when it came to fashion, anything went. In comparison the clothes of the Noughties have been trite, uninspired, based on the whims of corporations rather than the decisions and creativity of the generation finding their feet in the world.
The highlight for me though, and my all time favourite bit of clothing, is a reflective silver quilted mini skirt and matching cropped jacket, found in a crusty Saturday market in what is now an upmarket arts venue, paired with massive para boots from the army surplus store. I'm wearing it in every photo from every muddy party of that time.
No other decade has been as permissive of such epic and ridiculous clothes, or allowed such a contrast to the high street mainstream. Ravers, Crasher kids, grungers, indie kids, modern hippies, skaters, eco warriors, retro dressers and alternative types. They all were all born here.
Sarah is an environmental journalist and occasional madcap schemer. You can find her at www.sarahlewis.co.uk
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