1990s: Fashion

In the 1990s, fashion went casual as it never had before. From corporations to classrooms, people wore clothes that were comfortable and expressed their own sense of individuality. The trend probably began in American corporations with a tradition called "casual Fridays." On Fridays, rather than wearing standard business attire, employees at many companies were allowed to dress casually, with khaki pants and a casual shirt the norm for men. By the time the dot-com revolution swept the nation, everyday was a casual Friday. Standard business attire was required only by the most formal companies.

A new generation of Americans known as Generation X increasingly set fashion trends. Twenty-something Generation X-ers insisted on their right to display their individuality through clothes, hairstyles, and body decoration. Some searched thrift shops for odd clothes that they could match with items they bought at stores like Old Navy and Gap; others favored the preppy look offered at popular retailer Abercrombie & Fitch. (All three of these stores followed the trend of displaying their brand names prominently on much of the clothing they sold.) Hairstyles varied widely, with men preferring very short hair and women choosing a shifting array of different looks. Body decoration was one of the most notable fads of the decade. People of all ages (but mostly youngsters) got tattoos or had parts of their body—tongues, eyebrows, nipples—pierced and studded. A notable fashion subculture of the decade were the Goths, who dressed like characters in a gothic novel with a heavy emphasis on black.