Dude, a post that totally isn't nineties inspired...psych!

I know, I know. I must leave the nineties alone and move on. However, I don't want to! And why should I? I read a piece online (God only knows where - this internet bender is a bad one) that complained about nineties revivalism as "ironic" and insincere as the style was all about the "feeling of the time". I'm sorry, whoever wrote that, but BULL. You could apply the same sentiment to any period that is revisited by designers and stylists and, if studying Art History has taught me anything, it's that nothing is sourceless and very little is entirely unique or without some form of precedent. So, it's hard for ideas or trends not to be looked at more than once. Besides, are people gonna tell Halston to leave the sixties or seventies alone? No, because they revive it so beautifully and without pastiche. It is pastiche, and not revival, that is the issue. And that's the thing, this nineties revival is without pastiche. We've taken the good and forgotten (or chosen to forget) the hideous. Gone are the bad jeans and embraced are a multitude of other influences and styles which create a stronger, more interesting aesthetic, much like how more diverse gene-pools make us stronger people.

I will also point out that I was a baby of the nineties, bred on the stuff. When I was first understanding personal taste and fashion, it was the movement du jour. Developmentally, it affected me hugely and, like many others, there is probably a deeper-rooted meaning to turning to a time of safety, childhood, pre-boom and pre-crash and swathing oneself in it.

And the irony thing? Well, I can't speak for others but there is nothing ironic about it for me, at all; the nineties are where my childhood and my imagination reside. One commentator I read noted that Urban Outfitters is where "Grunge goes to die" but we cannot allow high-street shops to be the measurement of the sincerity of a movement. Even in it's own time Grunge was gripped as something to make money off of by stores. And let us never forget that it is the fashion industry; it's aim is to make money. It is up to us, the consumer, to decide whether or not we allow ourselves to be dictated. We can buy something in vast quantities because shops and magazines tell us it is cool or we can buy what we wish because we want to. Sincerity, insincerity or irony lie with the individual.

Right, anyhoo, got distracted there, here's what I wore today! Weird side-note: Mammy had a dream that she wore these leggings last night which is really bizarre as they haven't seen the light of day in about half a year...

T-shirt - Vintage - Skirt/kilt-thing - Vintage - Leggings - Dunnes - Runners - Office.

Example of what I've said above in this outfit: The t-shirt and skirt are both vintage and actually from the nineties. I paid for neither but rather commandeered them from Mam's old wardrobe. I use both separately from each other regularly which renders them less overtly nineties and more a striped tee and simple black skirt. Adding in the lace leggings keeps me warm but dresses the outfit less like it would have been worn and in combination with the runners adds a kind of gothic twist to the outfit. Therefore the influences here are two-fold; the nineties and goth or punk. Thus, the outfit is more modern, less pastiche and more interesting. A bit of nineties mixed in with today.