The rise, fall and rise again of 90s fashion

Seen worn by the likes of Maddison Beer, Drake, Rihanna, and Russell Westbrook, there have been two new staples of outerwear that have been dominating fashion in 2021, varsity and racing jackets are making a comeback.

Firstly, varsity jackets have been around since the 1850s and prominently within American high schools and universities, however, they gained momentum within fashion circles in the 90s with celebrities such as Chris Rock and Dr Dre seen donning their varsity jackets.

Adefolaju Thomas, 19, Kingston university, a second year Biological Science Student, said in early December: “Varsity jackets have always reminded me of 90s hip hop fashion as I’ve seen Snoop Dogg and Dr Dre wearing them and that is related to the reason, I wanted one.”

Varsity jackets, bootcut/baggy jeans, bucket hats, Tommy Hilfiger, racing jackets are all styles that rose in popularity alongside the rise of gangster-rap.

Varsity jackets have moved from their roots within 90s style and have moved into mainstream fashion in 2021, as they’ve been shown within many winter collections recently, such as the Superdry x Beabadoobee collaboration which dropped this November, therefore, providing the trend with more traction.

In an interview with PauseHer, Beabadoobee said in late November, that my favourite items from the shoot have to be the Varsity jackets and tartan skirts, I just love them all. The two chosen pieces by the artist shows the influence the 90s has on her style, and how it’s even led to her collection which has the main goal of bringing to life, the 90s nostalgia we all have.

Varsity jackets are essential for your wardrobe as they come in a multitude of colourways and allow you to draw on your unique style and creativity, to create the outfit of your desire, an example would be pairing your jacket alongside a flannel shirt, hoodie, or even a simple graphic tee to create a monochromatic or colour-complementing outfit.

PK (Pantaree Kambhato), 19, Kingston university, a first year Fashion Design Student: “I have always loved these types of jackets, so it is quite interesting to see how people style them, I feel like with these types of jackets you can hand them down to your children, your friends and you can wear them regardless of the season.”

Secondly, racing Jackets have been a mainstay of Nascar and Formula 1 attire since the 1950s, however, sponsorships have only been shown on them since the mid-80s, this change to the jackets has seen them catapult to the epicentre of fashion within the 90s with brands such as Nascar and Ferrari seeing newfound success within the fashion industry.

After falling out of the mainstream, they recently have seen a resurgence in popularity within fashion today, Nascar and Formula 1 racing jackets, are currently seen as an essential mainstay of your wardrobe.

Second-year Geography student, Theo Mascarenhas, 19, said on Tuesday: “My leather racing jacket is a nice vintage styled item, while it’s a racing jacket, it is still very fashionable, and I think that the danger and thrill of these sports are reflected in their look.”

Ralph Lauren has tapped into the trend by releasing a racing Jacket apart of their Tokyo Stadium collection, intending to provide us with an ode from the past, as the collection has intended to reinvent their stadium collection which first came out in 1992.

In a statement made on the products description on the official Ralph Lauren website, the brand said on October 21st: “The collection updates Ralph Lauren's original athletic designs with Japanese characters and a focused cultural lens inspired by the '90s dance scene in Tokyo.”

People can also tend to forget that racing jackets are not just a fashion trend but official F1 and Nascar teamwear and after Max Verstappen’s Formula 1 championship, fans of both the sport and fashion are seeing the two come together.

Fashion design student, PK observing the overlap of Motorsports and fashion has said, I got my red Ferrari jacket and blue Nascar jacket because I enjoy formula 1 and Nascar racing, both are customised with patches which are not that easy to find these days.

The timelessness of the two jackets alongside the vintage style as a whole has contributed to the rise in young people visiting charity and vintage shops and the stigma behind buying preloved clothing becoming a dated mindset.

“Yeah, I’ve seen a lot of younger shoppers coming here recently for their branded and vintage styled clothing. It’s alright now to come in the charity shop as a younger person with no stereotypes on top of you. When those types of jackets come in-store, they are usually snapped up very quickly, so we don’t have that much these days,” said Katie Hestapser, Salvation Army, charity shop worker.

On the other hand, many fast-fashion outlets such as Zara, Primark and Boohoo have started to invest in the jacket trend. As a result, questions have arisen, because as the jackets become more accessible the trends popularity may begin to decrease as the jackets start to become mass-produced unsustainably, these outlets risk losing the nostalgic properties the jackets have, by chasing profit.

Boohoo in a description on their website have said: “Check out our selection of letterman jackets for men and varsity-inspired fashion. From sporty to preppy, retro to classic, here are the top pieces to pull off this season’s coolest trend.”

In my opinion, this could lead to the market becoming over-saturated with varsity and racing jackets which could lead to the popularity of the jackets to slowly fade away.

To compare and contrast, an example of a trend fading away into obscurity would be tie-dyed graphic t-shirts which became trendy during the 2020 lockdown, however, after Boohoo began mass-producing the tees, they slowly fell out of the public eye.

Seasonal trends are constantly changing and evolving to fit with the times, and fashion moves by taking inspiration from the past, and that is why we have seen a return of 90s style, 80s and even 70s style this year.