During the 1990's, music, television, and fashion pushed the envelope on what was considered okay for kids and young adults to listen to , see, and to wear.
Television shows like Real World, Friends, and That 70’s Show definitely deviated from what was thought to be normal television back when families first started to let t.v. become part of their lives. Back in the day, t.v. was in black and white, the characters were your stereotypical family with father being the breadwinner, mom staying at home to care for the kids, and the children with childish fights with their siblings. That stereotypical family life was somewhat thrown out the window, instead, producers and writers in the nineties wanted to put shows on the air that showed more what was actual life like for a family, or just an ordinary person. That 70’s Show, contrary to the title it was made in nineties, gave viewers across America a laugh like no other show but still gave many life lessons. Telling the story of a group of friends with strong personalities and their daily lives with their families, That 70’s Show brought realistic situations that ordinary teenagers would face, such as drugs, college, and other unspeakable topics that were not usually discussed on television. Friends also told the lives of a group of friends who were single adult bringing on topics such as living on your own, looking for long term relationships, and building friendships. Real World aired on MTV in 1992 and was considered America’s first reality T.V. show. Nine strangers, male and female, were placed in a house, forced to live together with their strong personalities. The show gave young adults and teenagers a lot a drama and subliminal life lessons embedded within the yelling, fights, and friendships made.
Music in the 90’s started to push the envelope on what could be played over the radio, what kids were starting to listen to, and what messages were coming across in the music. Different music genres also started to change their sounds like hip-hop, pop, and rap, and many new genres were starting to become popular in the 1990’s like Latin Music. The all-girl group TLC songs “What about Your Friends?”, “UnPretty”, and “Waterfalls” brought strong messages to their fans about trusting the people close to you, accepting yourself and how you look, and doing dirty work and being greedy. With millions of records sold, the girl power group left their mark in the 90’s and has influenced many artists to come. Rap music started to take on a different sound along a side of pop. Artists like Notorious B.I.G. and Jay-Z gave their fans a look at what it was like living in poverty and trying to make a living by being a gangster and made many songs that are now known to be in the gangster rap genre. MC Hammer message in his rap music wasn’t as serious but did give many playful themes such as his song “Can’t Touch This” as he wore his famous parachute pants. As American music started to change its sound, Latin music started to make its mark in the 90’s as it made it’s way into mainstream music. Artist like Ricky Martin and Selena Quintanilla-Perez sold millions of records with their Spanish-speaking music and were known not just in Hispanic households, but Americans ones too. Ricky Martin’s song “Living La Vida Loca” was played in millions of homes and on many radios, and was a english and spanish song which made it easier for his fans to dance along to. Selena’s song “Bidi Bidi Bom Bom” catchy tune and lyrics, even if you couldn’t understand them, grasped the love of millions Mexicans and Americans. In 1995, Selena was making a English- language album but her life ended before she could see it released when her manager and best friend killed her. When the album was released, her album Dreaming of You became a major hit, and the growth of Latin music continued after her death.
In the early 1990’s, shoppers went for looks that would last for long time as the recession hit. Pops of color from a shirt or as simply as shoelaces in style as people across America wore major color outfits regularly. The most memorable formal outfit from the 90’s maybe the little black dress almost every woman had for any formal-like occasion. The simple design with little accents put to it went perfectly with a nice pair of heels or boots. Towards the mid-1990’s, women and men started to go for a more informal look with t-shirts, blue jeans, or sweatpants. Shorter skirts also became somewhat required as girls started to dress showing more skin. It was then when designers such as Calvin Klein and Donna Karan started to make clothes for the ordinary women. Ball caps topped many of the outfits worn by girls and boys as they wore the “grunge look”. Oversized T-shirts, military style jackets, and Air Jordans were very worn relentlessly. In 1994, women began to split where they wore their relaxing clothes from where they were suppose to dress formal. The glam look started to came back into play with the short dress and heels while sweatpants and t-shirts were mainly worn during downtime or on the weekend. Though by 1997, shoppers again started to lose interested in high fashion as more people wanted to dress more comfortably instead of showing off designer labels. In the workplace, women substituted the the jacket and skirt combination for dress shirts and pant. Casual wear or sports wear was acceptable for most occasions. For formal events, it was deemed inappropriate to wear embroidery attire. The fashion rollercoaster during the 90’s led to more relax, revealing clothing into the 20th century.