1994 was the most stylish year of all time
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Some years just have it – an over abundance of cultural riches that reverberate throughout the years, nay decades, that follow. As 2024 kicks into action (and looking specifically through a fashion and style lens), I’m making a pitch for 1994 being hailed as one of the most iconic and resonant fashion years ever.
Just some of the memorable style moments celebrating their 30th anniversaries this year? The Steven Meisel-lensed unisex CK One campaign (remember Kate Moss’s cross-armed stance, the androgynous line-up, the grunge-chic nonchalant drop dead cool), which changed the face of advertising. The opening of “big Topshop” at Oxford Circus (RIP), symbolising the power and pomp of the British High Street in its ascendance. And quite possibly the most famous red carpet showstopper of all time, namely Elizabeth Hurley emerging like a 20th century Venus in a gravity-defying, neo-punk slip of Versace silk, Lycra and giant gold safety pins at the Four Weddings premiere. This May marks 30 years since the world first witnessed “That Dress”, as it is now dubbed (not least on its own Wikipedia page)... And, yes, there’s an argument for the frock having aged much better than the film.
Quite apart from the sartorial specifics of that magical year, it’s worth asking why the mood and aesthetics of the ‘90s more generally hold such an allure for us now – from Gen Z Depop shoppers who snap up crop tops and cargo pants by the tonne, to mid-lifers like me all too happy to revisit slip dresses and old school trainers all over again? Oftentimes, when I look at runway collections from up-and-coming designers, I feel like I can see all those ‘90s references that must be pinned their moodboards (the Supermodels in white shirts and “no-pants”, Kurt and Courtney’s grunge chic, Uma Thurman vamping it up in Pulp Fiction).
Of course, we saw some phenomenal comeback gigs from some of Brit Pop’s most stylish ‘90s icons this summer, such as Pulp and Blur, fuelling nostalgia for the era. But it feels like our fascination with the naughty ‘90s goes deeper.
“The 1990s were the most hedonistic and significant style decade since the 1960s. In the UK, we were emerging from Thatcher’s yuppy-tastic 1980s as Tony Blair’s New Labour entered government and it felt like a time of genuine change and opportunity,” says Maggie Davis, author of Art of the Black Dress. “Pre-smartphones and social media, we were at liberty to express ourselves without the lenses of the phone camera. What a contrast to these highly self-conscious times, when no moment goes undocumented. No wonder we look back to the freedom we had back then and feel hugely nostalgic for it.”
There was also a feeling of fashion and culture resetting in the ‘90s, after the excesses of 1980s bling which certainly resonates with today’s post-pandemic, earth conscious sensibilities. But it wasn’t all white hoodies, crystals and happy highs; the ‘90s had its dark side too, particularly as the decade drew on, when emaciated models and sleazy sexual expression became normalised in fashion and cheeky lad culture became increasingly misogynist and unpleasant.
The nostalgia for the ‘90s – good and bad – is one thing, but what was it about 1994 in particular, that spawned so many indelible moments? Fiona Hayes, art director, lecturer and co-author of The Fashion Yearbook (who was the art director of Company Magazine in 1994), says she remembers a period in time of relative peace and happiness, between the Berlin Wall coming down and before paranoia about the Millennium bug kept and the horrors of 9/11 when the creative classes of New York and London were in the ascendant, a new breed of glamorous bars and restaurants gave us a reason to get dressed up, and shopping on the high street didn’t come with the afterburn of guilt.
Of course, something else just a tiny bit significant happened in 1994; Tim Berners Lee launched the internet. Although that didn’t mean that we were all poring over pictures of Jennifer Aniston’s highlights over our breakfast. In 1994, smartphones didn’t exist, Google had yet to be invented, and few of us even knew how to use email.
One of the ironies and dangers of digital culture is that we have too much of a good thing. We drown in a proliferation of imagery today. And maybe that’s another reason why we crave the clarity, distinctive style and standout moment of 1994; the year when the world – and our experience of it – was on the cusp of changing forever.
Diana detonated the revenge dress (best-served hot)
Princess Diana detonated this most daringly cut LBD at the Serpentine Gallery on 29 June, the night Charles’ interview, in which he admitted to adultery, was aired.
Just a few weeks after that Versace dress upstaged a movie premiere, Princess Diana took a leaf out of Hurley’s playbook, with another LBD, this one by Greek couturier Christina Stambolian.
The story goes that Diana had been keeping this beauty at the back of her closet, cautious that its off-the-shoulder neckline was too provocative. “I’ve always loved journalist Chloe Fox’s description of the LBD as a ‘flirtatious sartorial call to arms for women unafraid to stand apart from the crowd’, and I think that’s exactly what Princess Diana harnessed in wearing the Christina Stambolian design,” says fashion curator Georgina Ripley, responsible for last year’s blockbuster Beyond The Little Black Dress exhibition at The National Gallery of Scotland.
“That dress has become so closely linked with the profile of Diana and the ‘undoing’, as it were, or indeed the mourning of the notion of the princess’ fairytale happy ending, that it’s hardly surprising it’s retained folkloric status. Stambolian’s design is also the epitome of a 90s daring glamour that spoke to female empowerment. Coupled with the fact that it defined a significant cultural moment, this dress demonstrates how a garment has the ability to capture a zeitgeist in more ways than one.”
Tina Turner’s bodycon minimalism slayed
Turner embodied the pared-back sensuality of the era in Herb Ritts’ cover shoot for her 1994 Greatest Hits album (ditto her legendary bodycon stage wardrobe). The stripped-back styling, radiant confidence and relaxed modernity of Turner, wearing a simple white tank and jeans, here captured by ‘90s uber photographer Herb Ritts, never gets old.
At the peak of her powers, the sequined dolly mini-dresses that defined the first part of her career had been replaced by athletic silhouettes and a carefree attitude.
As Maggie Davis, who writes about Turner’s style in her book Art of the Black Dress, puts it: “With her big punky wigs and powerful, sexy look, she purveyed the bodycon look which became so key to 1990s style… she made the bodycon short mini dress uniform for women across the world. And let’s not forget she was in her mid-50s by this point! It was the very vision of female empowerment.”
Helmut Lang designed the collection of the decade
Helmut Lang AW94. Google it. Now half close your eyes…And it’s not hard to imagine this collection selling out in seconds if it dropped into your inbox today. With a mix of ages, genders, sheer layering, and a subtle mood of subversive sexuality, this is often hailed as one of the greatest runway shows of all time.
“I’ve heard a lot of designers and fashion historians talk about how Helmut Lang brought a ‘realness’ into fashion and perhaps that’s what really resonates,” reflects Ripley. “What stands out is his singular vision, marked by an anti-trend attitude and timeless yet fiercely raw aesthetic. Lang’s casting in his AW94 show is also notable for its age diversity and his co-ed presentation, which brings a greater sense of accessibility and a movement to subvert traditional notions of luxury and glamour.”
‘The Rachel’ launched a zillion copy cuts
The definitive 90s sitcom launched in September 1994 and no discussion of the lasting impact of mid-’90s style would be complete without mention of Jennifer Aniston’s Rachel haircut, with its jagged layers and exaggerated stripey highlights, created by her longtime hairdresser and friend Chris McMillan.
Consultant beauty director at Net-A-Porter Newby Hands comments: “I don’t think there had been a really big haircut before that. There was Farrah Fawcett in Charlie’s Angels, but that wasn’t really something you would ever particularly aspire to, that was ‘a celebrity’ hairdo. The thing about this cut was that it was attainable. In fact that whole programme made a lot of things feel attainable - friendship, camaraderie.”
Hands, who had just started a job on the Beauty Desk at Harper’s & Queen in 1994, adds that the ‘90s was the decade when there was a marked switch up in the British beauty scene. “I remember writing a piece about the idea of American women moving to London with their banker husbands and having regular manicures, regular brow treatments…It felt like the start of beauty coming to the fore. And so yes, you had the Ladettes, but there was a femininity and prettiness to the decade.”
Big Top Shop become the hi-lo shopping destination
Every decade has its definitive fashion destination and there’s a case to be made for Harvey Nicks as the ultimate emporium for ‘90s peacock dressing (1992-1995 were the Ab Fab years, after all). But to my mind, the decade was ultimately about democratising fashion, so how can we not pay tribute to the swagger and the majesty of the Oxford Circus Topshop, symbol of the British High Street on the up?
Big Topshop flung open its doors in 1994, although true fashion dominance came later when Jane Shepherdson was promoted to brand director in 1998. In Sheperdson’s words: “It was the beginning of it becoming a destination on Oxford Street with a blow dry bar, vintage clothing, DJ, market place etc, but I was buying director at the time, so did not have enough power to bring in all the changes that came later, such as style advisors, TS to go, maternity, designer collaborations. There’s no question that the ranges had improved hugely, on the back of building an incredibly strong in house design team.” Oh, how I miss those days.
Hurley and Versace showed the world how to win the red carpet
It was, to coin a phrase beloved by Gen Z, Elizabeth Hurley’s “hard launch”; and the red carpet moment that has perhaps never been surpassed. This was the night when an unknown, Hurley, then girlfriend of Hugh Grant (himself hardly famous), needed a frock for the premiere of Four Weddings and A Funeral, a film that nobody really anticipated would blow up.
“That safety pin dress put both Elizabeth Hurley and Versace on the global map. The combination of the two was such an iconic moment in fashion,” says stylist Ann Caruso, who has worked with Hurley for many years, and specifically for Hurley’s role as an Estee Lauder ambassador. The story goes that fashion brands were less than interested in loaning anything to Hurley. However, it turned out that the safety pin dress was languishing in a white plastic bag in a London PR office - and Versace was willing to lend it.
Today, when every celebrity red carpet look is negotiated down to the last hashtag, the role chance played in this moment of true fashion alchemy, feels utterly refreshing. “No one could really fathom such an astonishing reaction, or that Liz would steal the spotlight from everyone else,” Donatella Versace commented to In-Style magazine many years later. “That’s when we started to realize the power of the red carpet and celebrities in creating topics of conversation.”
The ‘Hello Boys’ campaign drove us wild
Subject of urban myths (blamed for distracting drivers at the wheel!), the unforgettable Wonderbra ad, shot by Ellen von Unwerth and starring Eva Herzigova, drove overall bra sales up by 370 per cent in 1994, the same year that Loaded launched.
Beyond Herzigova’s beauty and von Unwerth’s unmistakable saturated photographic style, what did it say about selling bras - and breasts - to ‘90s Britain?
“The Hello Boys advert coincided with a whole new wave of female behaviour happening on the street. Namely the birth of the ladette,” comments Farrah Storr, former editor of Cosmopolitan and author of the Things Worth Knowing newsletter. “By 1994 women were matching men pint for pint down the pub - and possibly flashing their breasts whilst they did it. But this wasn’t in any sort of servitude to men. This was about women displaying and owning their sexuality. The Hello Boys advert, like all good adverts, simply keyed into a growing movement and added a little bit of high fashion aspiration to it.”
Brit Pop proposed a surprising new style icon: the PE teacher
Blur’s single Park Life was a huge crossover hit for the band in 1994. But some of us mostly had eyes for Damon Albarn’s old-school trackie in the video
For a deep dive into the pop antics and style signifiers of ‘90s and ‘00s Brit Pop culture, the meticulously curated Brit Cult feed, is an addictive social media rabbit hole and a safe space in which to discuss why indie boys such, as Pulp lead singer Damon Albarn, started dressing like Grange Hill PE teachers in the mid-90s. Brit Cult founder Mark Knox (who incidentally was only four years old in 1994) explains that Blur’s cheeky chappie Park Life single and video felt genuinely fresh at the time, sartorially as well as musically. “What I love about the Park Life video and Damon’s Slazenger tracksuit jacket is that it was Brit Pop in its infancy. The tracksuit was real British heritage being Slazenger, it’s not like a pastiche.”
The CK One ad showed us what the future would look like
The casting. The raw “girls-who-like-boys-who-like-boys-who-like-girls” sexuality. The attitude: The campaign for Calvin Klein’s Unisex CK One reinvented the rules of perfume advertising and couldn’t look more modern if it was shot today.
Legendary creative Fabian Baron both designed the distinctive flask-shaped bottle and art directed the campaign for Calvin Klein’s unisex perfume CK One. The photography was a reverential riff on Richard Avedon’s perfectly off-kilter group portrait of Andy Warhol’s Factory, shot by ‘90s rockstar photographer Steven Meisel. The resulting ad captured an utterly modern sensuality and plurality, that is as relevant in 2024 as on the day it was conceived.
“It’s not a perfume ad where you have a girl in a flowery dress running around the Eiffel Tower,” observes Fiona Hayes, with a smile, as she analyses what gives the image enduring impact and edge. “It’s the absolute modernity of a white wall and the people stripped down, being casual and interacting with each other. It just was so new and felt so relevant, and it made you feel new and relevant as well.”
