Get ready to cringe and laugh as we revisit the most questionable fashion choices and trends from the 1990s! From painful fashion statements to impractical accessories, these fads had us all convinced they were the epitome of cool. Which of these memorable trends were you guilty of rocking?
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00:00Who wants to visit the 90s? Frosted tips, dial-up, creed.
00:05Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the coolest stuff from the 90s that was high-key ridiculous.
00:11I was going for Sarah Michelle Gellar, but then like I ended up with this.
00:16That's who I was gonna say.
00:17But sure.
00:18Yeah.
00:19Number 10. Butterfly hair clips.
00:22These were the ultimate cool girl accessories.
00:24Butterfly clips. Oh yes, I remember butterfly clips.
00:28I still do that.
00:30Oh god, I still just do everything.
00:32I'm sorry, because I live in the 90s.
00:34Everyone was pulling chunks of their locks back and securing them with these little winged clips.
00:38What we all collectively decided to overlook was how they inevitably gave the hair a greasy appearance.
00:44Uh, let's not forget the free forehead extension either.
00:47Considered it? Yes. Been foolish enough to act upon it? No.
00:50Today, butterfly hair clips are back on trend, much like many other 90s fashion items.
00:54However, rather than actually clipping hair back with it, they're used as teeny tiny adornments.
00:59For tips on how to style them in a modern way, you can take a page out of Olivia Rodrigo or Doja Cat's lookbook.
01:05Number 9. Slap bracelets.
01:07If the sensation of one of these snapping on your wrist hits you as soon as you hear this name, then you're a true 90s kid.
01:13I panicked.
01:14Then I grabbed the hat.
01:16I should have grabbed the yo-yo or the slap bracelet.
01:19No matter how red they left your body, you couldn't be a part of the in-crowd if you weren't rocking with the slappies.
01:24Naturally, the phenomenon took over schools and started causing actual injuries.
01:29We wonder how its inventor, high school teacher Stuart Anders, felt about that.
01:33I've also got tube socks and slap bracelets.
01:36Ouch.
01:36The final nail in the coffin for this trend was when imitation pieces penetrated the market and came with explicit content printed on the metal inside the colorful cases.
01:51There have been several attempts to bring slap bracelets back since, but it feels like we've all agreed to never go there again.
01:57I am not 10 years old anymore. I don't like roller skating or unicorns or slap bracelets.
02:03Don't you take off the slap bracelet.
02:06Number 8. Hypercolor clothing.
02:08Some things are only cool when Zendaya does it.
02:11Case in point, the stunning heat-sensitive leather fit she sported for a Ferragamo photo shoot in 2022.
02:17As revolutionary as that look was, its predecessor came in the 90s in the form of hypercolor fashion.
02:22These pieces would react to heat and change color.
02:26Heat make the hammer.
02:27Heavy tears.
02:29However, at the hands of sweaty teens, it usually meant embarrassing patches in all the weirdest spots.
02:36Besides, they would barely last a couple of washes, after which you were stuck with just a murky tea.
02:41Sure, there was some neat science behind this trend, but the novelty could only take it so far.
02:45Hypercolor clothing.
02:50Changes color with heat.
02:53Number 7. Bubble furniture.
02:55Were they practical? No.
02:57Were they at least comfortable?
02:58Again, no.
02:59But when did that stop anyone from following a trend?
03:01All my fellow millennials out there probably remember these inflatable pieces of furniture taking the decor world by storm.
03:08Inflatable furniture seemed so ahead of its time when it started gaining popularity in the 90s that every other concern went right out the door.
03:15So what if you had to spend hours pumping air into your bubble chair only for it to get deflated if you sat on it wrong?
03:20Remember those random skin abrasions you always got?
03:23But they were just stamps of approval from the cool kids club.
03:26Eventually, at the turn of the century, the inflatable movement ran out of air.
03:30You can still get them today though, but they mostly serve as nostalgia pieces.
03:34Practicality certainly outweighs nostalgia.
03:37Let's be honest, glorified, land-based pull rafts that don't exactly scream interior design nowadays.
03:44Number 6. Platform sneakers.
03:46Who remembers wearing these bad boys out every day and trying to play it cool when you inevitably twisted your ankle?
03:50This is sick though.
03:52Those are so dope!
03:53Those are so dope!
03:54The concept of arch support took a backseat to fashion when platform sneakers started ruling our wardrobes.
04:00Also known as flatforms, these shoes had us propped up on what basically looked like bricks attached to our feet.
04:06These are like sneakers on another level.
04:08While they did add the inches, the medical bills also grew in size from all the sprains and fractures they caused.
04:15Although flatforms never really left fashion, at least they're made better now.
04:19Or so we hope.
04:20Number 5. JNCO jeans.
04:22Much like today, fashion in the 90s was heavily influenced by hip-hop culture.
04:27So, wide-legged pants were quite the fad after rappers like MC Hammer started sporting them.
04:39Jumping on the bandwagon, one company came out with the baggiest bottoms to rule them all.
04:44The JNCO jeans.
04:45After that, there was little color left in the world for young Jake.
04:48My earring, less gold.
04:50My JNCO jeans, less purple.
04:52Are you sure you were becoming cool?
04:53Yeah, why?
04:54From skaters to ravers, everyone copped a pair and dragged them around.
04:58By the end of the day, they'd mostly be dirty, muddy, and wet.
05:02Now, that's a whole different kind of drip.
05:04We just know the laundromats hated to see them coming.
05:07Dad, good news.
05:08I found what I want to wear to the awards ceremony.
05:09This is another hip-hop-inspired style trend that had a chokehold on millennials.
05:26Following the duo Criss Cross and their totally crossed-out look, fans started wearing their clothes backwards.
05:31Even worse, some wore their garments completely inside-out.
05:35So, a lot of things are reversible.
05:37They're sort of promoted that way.
05:40Yeah.
05:40And I think a lot of what's happening on TikTok is, like, flip it around.
05:44While the jump rappers embodied their signature style with panache, others fell short with their aspirations of swagger.
05:50Instead of exuding effortless charisma, they found themselves in awkward situations with all the wrong buttons in all the wrong places.
05:57There are a couple of things in there, more than I thought, that I could flip around and wear backwards.
06:02It was definitely a statement, but we're not sure what was being stated.
06:06Number 3.
06:07Bowl Cuts
06:08Nowadays, you might see this haircut on the most stylish K-pop idols.
06:16They serve as the perfect reminder that only when you have otherworldly good looks can you pull off this style.
06:25However, back in the 90s, everyone wanted a piece of the bowl.
06:29They somehow had the confidence to ask for it, even when it looked like someone actually put a bowl on their head to shape the hair.
06:3590s kids had a love-hate relationship with this cut.
06:38That is probably why its resurgence makes little sense to them.
06:41What are you doing with that bowl?
06:43No.
06:44I'm going to make it better.
06:45No, no, no, no, no, no.
06:46Don't put that.
06:46I'm going to make it better.
06:47I'm not six anymore.
06:49Number 2.
06:50Pacifier Necklaces
06:51Everyone but actual babies had binkies around their necks in the 90s.
06:55Many came across the unusual accessory for the first time in the 1991 movie Boys in the Hood.
07:00I'll play Spade Dookie.
07:02Something like that.
07:03In it, the character Dookie, played by Dedrick D. Gobert, is often seen with a pacifier in his mouth.
07:09It's said that the actor sucked on one in real life to combat his smoking.
07:12Others got into it by seeing Flavor Flav wear pacifiers like pendants.
07:16Over time, they started being associated with rave culture, substance use, and gangs.
07:25At that point, they were banned from schools.
07:28Still, the impact Pacifier Necklaces had on 90s pop culture is truly worth studying.
07:33This is a home invasion, you jive mother.
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07:51Number 1.
07:52Frosted Tips
07:53This icy style was the defining fashion trend of the 1990s.
07:57I just had my tips frosted.
07:59You had your tips frosted?
08:01Yeah.
08:02Today, it is a source of deep-seated cringe for Generation Y.
08:06On paper, it doesn't sound too bad.
08:08In fact, it's quite similar to the new dip-dye technique of hair coloring.
08:12However, it's how the hair was styled into spikes,
08:15and each spike was individually bleached at the tip that made it rather questionable.
08:19Maybe she'll be repulsed by my frosted tips.
08:20I was going to defrost them before I saw her for the first time.
08:23Nevertheless, the trend spread far and wide.
08:25It was so pervasive that frosted ends became the only thing that put Justin Timberlake and Guy Fieri in the same category.
08:31A modern version of this hairstyle seems to have made a comeback, though.
08:34And thankfully, it is a lot more bearable.
08:37All right, let's frost my tips.
08:39Which of these trends do you want to see coming back?
08:41Let us know in the comments.
08:43Yeah, it's probably just my JNCO longs.
08:45JNCO longs?
08:46The new JNCO longs from JNCO are made with old JNCO jeans.
08:54But instead of being wide and baggy,
08:56all the extra fabric is redistributed lengthwise to the calf and shin areas.
09:00Do you agree with our picks?
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