Oh the 90s.

Back with a vengeance and causing me so many confused feelings.

I was born right at the end of 1974 (I know I’m bloody ancient) so technically I’m an 80s kid, but my later teens and coming of age was in the 90s and that is most certainly the decade that had the most impact on who I have become as a person. I am a true member of Generation X. Angst, naval gazing, fiercely independent and authority shy and that feeling of ‘not being seen’ and all. Or maybe the latter is just a universal teen thing.

I left school in 93, graduated from uni in 97 and in those years developed a deep and unrelenting love of fashion. Well, I say fashion, but it was more anti-fashion. I definitely became very aware at around age 14 that a huge part of my self expression could be through my clothes. For a relatively shy, anxious and introverted person, I was pretty bold in my clothing choices and found this the easiest way to express who I was to the rest of the world. I suppose I still do.

I’d dig up pics, but thankfully they’re all in a loft in Hertfordshire.

I spent a lot of time in thrift stores and army surplus stores. I wore DMs and combat boots, lived in cargo pants or floor length skirts (intermixed occasionally with mini mini skirts) and tiny tees and permanently had my lower belly on display.

And I’m glad about that as it was a bloody fantastic lower belly. The glory of hindsight.

I’m also glad that I didn’t embrace tie-dye or those tiny mirrors on clothing.

My style was definitely influenced by my musical taste but that was very contradictory. I listened to New Model Army and the Levellers (erm) but also the Pixies and Nirvana and Blur and everything that came out of 90s Manchester and to this day remain a massive Stone Roses fan. I also spent a huge amount of time at University at a variety of dubious dance clubs - (Jungle anyone?) - it was all very disjointed.

Anyway the baring of the lower belly transcended everything and was generally achieved via crop tops and very low slung trousers and skirts. Always accompanied by the DMs.

I’m sure I’ve talked about this before, so excuse me if I’m repeating myself and / or boring you.

So the revival of some of the major aspects of 90s fashion makes me feel totally discombobulated.

For a start, how can I be so old that my defining fashion era has come around again?

Then there’s the fact that these things aren’t anti-fashion any more, they’re mainstream fashion and that annoys me - there is definitely some judgmental, old person, you don’t know what you’re wearing vibes going on there. Which I’m not that sorry about. Sorry.

And then of course there’s all the memories that it brings back and the regrets and the what ifs and the nostalgia and the bizarre realisation that I won’t live that part of my life again. I know that sounds obvious but I find it tricky to get my head around the fact that those parts of my life are over and my memories of them will only continue to fade. So yeah, that’s sad.

Anyway after that judgey, meandering, rumination, let’s get down to the resurgence of a specific item of 90s clothing - the bias cut skirt or dress. As a hippy person (and I mean physical attributes not flower wearing), I tended to steer well clear of these, even though they would often have fallen into my wear-the-longest-skirt-possible tendencies, because they were always so badly made and inappropriate for my long proportions, that they just bunched around my hips and made me even more self-conscious about them than I already was.

Yet when Tessuti released the Evie skirt pattern last year, accompanied by images of the Tessuti girls and their amazing midriffs courtesy of the low slung skirt and crop top situation, my nostalgia got the better of me and I decided to jump on that Evie train. I felt comfort in the fact that Tessuti’s patterns are always beautifully drafted, I could elongate and grade out where necessary and the skirt, whilst on the bias, is not dead straight; it slightly flares out from the hip down which gives a hippy girl a fighting chance.

I was looking to emulate their version exactly in the sunshine yellow satin, but then found this leopard print rayon voile on Blackbird Fabrics website and well … it is so so soft, so opaque and so drapey. And leopard print. Gorgeous stuff.

It was a cinch to make. I’m usually pretty good about using the stay paper stuff that Tessuti always recommend for keeping armholes and in this case waistlines from stretching out, but I couldn’t find any. And this is despite the fact that lovely Colette gave me a heap when I was in Sydney last year. So I just stay-stitched instead and that was a mistake as the waist did stretch a bit and as such it is veeeerrry low on my hips. And two kids and twenty years later my midriff is not what it was. Sob.

It’s such a simple pattern and the nature of bias means that it does cling to the curves so there’s little to alter in terms of adjusting darts etc - cos there are none, dummy. *Eye roll at myself*

I added two inches to the length and graded from a 12 at the waist to a 14 over the hips and down to the hem. And it’s pretty good!

I actually meant to make this for the #sewfrosting challenge last November, but in typical me fashion finished it mid-December. I did wear it glammed up to a Christmas party but I think I prefer it worn like this with sneakers and a sweater. A move away from 90s styling. And that is OK.

I’m pretty sure I don’t need more bias skirts, but it is a lovely pattern, and I feel fab wearing it, so I’d highly recommend - just use the stay stuff that Tessuti instruct - it will make a difference.

Oh, and just because this is a very self-indulgent soliloquy to all that is the 90s I thought I’d share this thing posted by a friend on Facebook the other day (yeah still haven’t bitten the deleting account bullet). It listed the dates that define the boundaries of each generation of the last 100 years. It was a screen grab from a TV news item:

The Silent Generation: 1928 - 1945

Baby Boomers: 1946 - 1964

Millennials: 1987 - 1996

Post-Millennials: 1997 - present.

Umm - something missing right?

It was accompanied by the caption “This is the most Gen X thing that’s ever happened”.

Isn’t it just.

See you soon x