How the Grunge Aesthetic Stands the Test of Time
To that end, wearers of grunge mined thrift stores and workwear shops to curate their looks. And, they customized them, too: In an era before TikTok, band tees displayed people’s musical tastes, patches and pins were a window into one’s politics, and a DIY ethos revealed one’s fundamental values.
For men, this meant layering on loose slogan T-shirts, oversized hoodies, flannel shirts, slouchy jeans, faded denim jackets, droopy beanies, corduroy work jackets, and shorts over leggings. The shoes of choice were Birkenstocks, Vans, Converse, or floor-stomping Doc Marten combat boots. And though they might have played with gender-bending styles or lean towards androgyny with dresses and kilts, grunge bands did not dress differently for their shows; instead, they simply wore their “mundane” clothes.
Women wore all of the above, too. However, like Love, they also mixed twee, girlish pieces—like baby tees, baby barrettes, and baby doll dresses with Peter Pan collars—with their flannel jackets and Dickies pants. They preferred wide-leg jeans and bell bottoms to figure-hugging styles; they didn’t mind if there were runs in their tights. Fabrics were moody and tactile, like velvet, lace, crochet, chenille, and mohair; prints ran the gamut from dizzying stripes to ditsy floral prints. Chokers, chunky rings, and small earrings were worn as jewelry; shoes were platform Mary Janes, clunky slides, and lug-soled boots. The beauty look consisted of cropped or messy hair, pencil-thin eyebrows, a smudge of eyeliner, and dark lipstick.
Iconic characteristics of grunge
It’s important to note, however, that grunge transcended mere aesthetics. It was an attitude and a lifestyle—and, a challenge the status quo. Nineties grunge embodied an intentional rejection of mainstream and mall culture, much like the era’s riot grrrls and slackers. It wasn’t about trends; it wasn’t about fitting in. In fact, the original grunge aesthetic was somewhat antithetical to fashion and consumerism, in general. As late fashion critic Bernadine Morris wrote in The New York Times, “a typical outfit looks as if it were put together with eyes closed in a very dark room.”
It was the Perry Ellis spring 1993 collection, which famously got Marc Jacobs fired, that etched the scruffy vibe into high-fashion history. It was also one of the first moments streetwear appeared on the runway, a prime example of an underground movement trickling-up to the mainstream. Inspired by the Seattle scene, Jacobs sent supermodels Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss, and Tyra Banks down the runway in luxe versions of thrifted classes set to a gritty soundtrack of Sonic Youth and Nirvana. They wore chiffon dresses, black-and-white flannel shirts, and combat boots—a mix Jacobs described at the time as “a hippied romantic version of punk.” Critics were not impressed: “One model even wore a nose ring,” The New York Times noted in 1993. The horror!
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