BACK TO THE '90s

Nostalgia for the ’90s has hit new heights thanks to its pop-culture power and fearless fashion. But could you really live there again? Alexandra Carlton ditches the digital world and steps back in time to find out

-  Alexandra Carlton

The year was 1997. I was in my first year of university. High heels, Botox and shellac nails weren’t part of my universe in any way, not just because I was a penniless student whose skin hadn’t been ravaged yet by stress, laptops and too many hangovers, but because no-one did any of those things back then. I wore parachute material pants and shell tops (maybe a fetching cowl neck if I was going out at night), straightened my dyed black hair with an iron (as in, an actual iron) and wore two-toned Royal Elastics sneakers around the clock. Makeup was mascara and nothing else. Earlier in the decade I was all about slip dresses and Doc Martens – as Courtney Love as someone could be outside of a Hole video. They key was never trying too hard; comfort was king. It was almost lockdown leisurewear, decades before any of us knew what a lockdown even was.