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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Did anyone here go to university in the era of 'grunge' fashion?

71 replies

BranchingOut · 13/08/2010 20:46

I am 35 and when I was in my late teens early twenties the big fashion news was 'grunge'.

www.90s411.com/grunge-fashion.html

Can't seem to find a link, but there was lots of emphasis on wearing large, loose clothes. So a female student at my university would probably be wearing slightly baggy jeans or a long loose skirt, maybe a vest top but always with a large cardigan or probably a plaid or check shirt over the top - never with spaghetti straps exposed, leather bracelets, long loose hair and fairly minimal make up. Oh, DM boots or shoes.
There was a definite sense that wearing tight, sexually exposing clothing was not 'cool'. Rightly or wrongly, I think that levels of respect for female students from male students were probably better than today.

Does anyone else remember this?

OP posts:
InNeedOfAGoodName · 13/08/2010 21:47

Oh yes, I was there! DMs and black opaque tights with everything and a delightful line in 'oversized mens shirts plus short skirt' type outfits. Everything from charity shops or the local second hand market.
I came home one holiday, my dad took one look at me and gave me £50 to buy new clothes Blush

TheProvincialLady · 13/08/2010 21:49

Oh I looked fantastic in 1994. I had the most wonderful outfit ever. A 1960s flowery silk dress that I had chopped the bottom off to make it above the knee and then deliberately sewn up really badly in mismatching thread, worn with thick black tights (am wearing a pair now actually) and DMs. Waist length hair, much eyeliner.

Well I thought I looked the business anyway. It was certainly much cheaper to look cool than it must be for students these days. Most of my stuff came from charity shops and was mainly brown.

I do remember some flippertyjibbet types who would be the ones dancing to that 'Saturday Night' song at the union, and we unwashed cooler folk would sneer.

VoidofDiscovery · 13/08/2010 21:55

I think the whole grunge thing was actually quite retro, given that when I was at Art College in '86 we were wearing 40s/50s/60s second hand dresses, thick tights, lace up shoes or DMs.

I wore skinny black jeans, black tops, black eyeliner and large overcoat. Oh, and we all had ATTITUDE: we are strong women, fuck with us at your peril.

ISNT · 13/08/2010 21:56

Yes yes yes me too!!!!! I'm 36 and was an indie/metal/rock type person...

Black leggings, smiths tshirt, big black mens jumper, dm's, really long hair, shitloads of eyeliner and a pint of snakebite and black Grin

Those were the days...

ISNT · 13/08/2010 21:58

Remember that band tshirt which had

lips

tits

hips

power

Grin

And that chumbawumba lp cover with a baby being born

I likes that song they did "bad dog"

BranchingOut · 13/08/2010 22:00

I remember that being attractive back then was much more about your face/hair/intelligence/general demeanour rather than about obvious bodily attributes, because at least half of you was swathed in layers of fabric....

OP posts:
ISNT · 13/08/2010 22:01

Anyone remember ? Grin

MaeMobley · 13/08/2010 22:01

My favourite outfit was DMs, thick woolly tights, short cut off jeans, a peruvian jumper and a black felt hat.

happy days.

DontCallMeBaby · 13/08/2010 22:14

I remember my dad taking me to the station to go up to university for the first time (a Wednesday, neither he nor my mum could come with me, so I went with a rucksack containing such essentials as a massive yin/yang scarf to put on my wall). I was wearing a green grandad shirt, a second-hand red waistcoat with embroidery and little mirrors, holey jeans and kids' DMs. He said 'are you sure you want to wear that, this is the first impression people are going to get of you ...' Erm, yes, this is exactly the first impression I want them to get! :o

I had a 'Lego' bob that grew out into stringyness each term as I never got it cut when I was away, lots of band t-shirts and jeans that weren't washed as often as perhaps they should have been. Graduated in 1994. :)

Concordia · 13/08/2010 22:18

i miss all that.
i'm 36 and whilst at uni in the early 90s wore DMs every day, tightish black jeans with very oversized bank t shirts.

undercovamutha · 13/08/2010 22:27

Remember the Levellers?!!!

I had DMs, thick tights and a tie-dye dress, or baggy cords and a 'band' t=shirt.

And usually a floppy hat too!

lucykate · 13/08/2010 22:28

i remember, as a student my 'uniform' was dm's (cherry ones!), tights or leggings, large oversized shirt, and sometimes a suede waistcoat. i thought i looked fab, looking back at pictures now, i look absolutely ridiculous, but back then (was at uni 1989-92) so did everyone else so at least it wasn't just me. music wise it was the pixies, breeders, sonic youth, lemonheads, throwing muses, sugar cubes and the cocteau twins. was also a huge voice of the beehive fan.

lovely74 · 13/08/2010 22:35

Awww I loved it! I was at uni 93-97 and lived in my DM's, black tights, little skirts (or flares) and baggy jumpers / black tee shirts. My room was covered in posters of Eddie Vedder. At 6th form I'd done the tassled skirt thing and felt I'd matured when I got to uni Grin
I also had a thing for velvet hats. And I still have the purple and black stripey tights I bought in 1994 (in fact I still have quite a few of the things I wore then, they smell...!).

I worked near a large London uni for a while and always thought it was quite strange what students wear these days. They just don't look like students anymore. And it's right what one of the other posters has said about it being much cheaper back then. "Vintage" wasn't sold at the stupid prices it is now and charity shops were stuffed full of cool stuff.

I miss those times, I've never been brave enough as an "adult" to wear really alternative clothes, although I'm not completely conventional either.

But that was such a great time to be a student. I still had the arse end of a grant, and the music scene (so the student club nights) were completely excellent.

Gawd I feel old!

MoreCrackThanHarlem · 13/08/2010 22:43

Somewhat bizarrely I wore silky nighties with lace tights, high heels from the vintage shop and fur coats.
Bright red lipstick another favourite, and loads of black eyeliner.
I never did it, but loads of girlfriends bleached their hair white.

Musically, it was Bikini Kill, Huggy Bear, Bratmobile, Sonic Youth, Babes in Toyland etc

The grunge boys had the uniform you describe, but the girls were uber feminine a la Courtney Love

bedlambeast · 13/08/2010 22:53

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

BranchingOut · 13/08/2010 23:01

Blissfully remembering the waistcoats and the little mirrors.

I had a bag with little mirrors, a skirt with little mirrors and I am sure there was something else I had too...

I don't think that female students did 'dress up' to go out, just put on an alternative skirt/jeans/vest/waistcoat/shirt combination and maybe a bit of lipstick.
There definitely wasn't the habit of putting on a tight dress or glitzy top.

OP posts:
fotheringhay · 13/08/2010 23:06

Yes, I was there too.

Music was approximately one trillion times more important than fashion.

About where it should be.

ButterpieBride · 13/08/2010 23:13

I was a bit odd, in that I am 25 and dressed in that fashion until recently. Well, kind of...

My 16 yo uniform was:

DMs (with ribbon instead of laces)
Ripped fishnets with safety pins, often with brightly coloured ripped tights underneath
Skirt/dress from charity shop, ripped and/or tatty
Mans suit jacket or bright purple oversized dufflecoat with pin badges
Fingerless gloves
Loads of bangles
Loads of necklaces with random things like ringpulls hanging off them
Blackcombed hair in pigtails
Army surplus rucksack with slogan written on in marker
George Orwell/Sylvia Plath/Communist Manifesto prominently displayed about person

Oh yes, I was cool. In 2002. I was so disappointed when I finally got to uni and everyone was wearing topshop and eating Nestle.

I have no idea how I ended up looking like that. I am about to marry a 35 year old, and he is baffled at me- we worked out that I was probably trying to emulate him and his friends.

I just dress like a middle aged woman these days.

Antidote · 13/08/2010 23:26

Suddenly very nostalgic for '93-'99, the scruffy years.

I made quite a lot of my own clothes (huge long skirts/baggy trousers/culottes in mad patterns, so it was those or the men's jeans (till the bastard boyfriend stole them on his way out the door) teamed with HUGE jumpers/cardies, big boots/shoes and lots of scarves esp the 'dr who' one that was twice as long as I was tall (5'9'').

All went to the wall with the start of the grown up job Sad

CatPower · 13/08/2010 23:28

26/27 ex-Manic Street Preachers fan clocking in here! I was all about the fake-fur coats from C&A, too much eyeliner, leggings and babydoll dresses, Hole/riot grrl music on mixtapes in my walkman and more glitter than is sensible. I still have four pairs of DMs ranging from biker boots to Mary Jane "cute" shoes. I know I'm not fashionable but I couldn't give a hoot, leggins plus baggy jumpers/sweater dresses are both comfy and flab-skimming! :P

ButterpieBride · 13/08/2010 23:41

CatPower- I was/am very much the manics fan!

Me and DP are a little worried about what will happen when two manics fans marry- will we create some kind of glitter, eyeliner and bad poetry black hole? :) DP is old enough to have been at the front of the old gigs pissing people off, I unfortunately am too young.

God bless the Manic Street Preachers.

I feel the sudden urge to end this post like this:

sTaY BeaUTifuL
xxx

ButterpieBride · 13/08/2010 23:45

Just to steer us gently back on topic :)

ButterpieBride · 13/08/2010 23:48

Either way, I still have a MASSIVE crush on JDB in that video. I wonder how old he is in it?

nikki1978 · 13/08/2010 23:59

I'm 31 so was at school but was out drinking from 14 Blush so was into grunge. Outfits like green and black striped tights, black mini dress and tie dye waistcoat. Or ripped jeans covered in drawings with lumbejack shirts. All with DMs of course ;)

slouchingtowardswaitrose · 14/08/2010 00:09

Me. Am 40. Graduated university in 92. I was a bit too old for riot grrl which could have saved me in my teens. I was the ultra waif - combat boots with long loose dresses, t shirts underneath, jeans, mens flannel shirts, ribbed cotton vests under men's blazers...pixie haircut...etc...

It was also the time of 'ironic' kinderwhore look promoted by Courtney et al. Thought then and think now a disgusting irony fail.

Looking too 'pretty' was considered criminal - was always trying to harden/rough myself up.

I've now moved on to simply disheveled :)