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This page is a WIP and needs clean-up!

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90s Guide

Trying to get the 90s vibe right can be daunting - especially if you didn't live through it or were very little at the time. This guide is here to help!​

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We aim more for what "feels" 90s than pin-point accuracy!

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In Dome City everything from fashion to media is also affected by the presence of Digimon and the constantly arriving neo tamers (although their modern garments seem to get glitched into 90s styles).

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General 90s

 

Main fashion themes of the era:

denim, grunge, hip-hop, worker culture, 80s neons, futurism

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Other trendy topics:

space and aliens, dinosaurs, animal prints and colorful plastics, music videos​

If you want to get an overall feel for the 90s, perhaps a good place to start is a video:

FASHION

Outfits in the 90s were dominantly loose fitting and baggy

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Main Fashion Themes

  • The bright neons of the 80s

  • Counterculture ("I don't care" attitude demonstrated by ripped jeans, sideways/upside down visors, grunge and hip-hop)

  • Worker culture (flannel tops, overalls etc)

  • Preppy (plaid skirts, varsity jackets)

  • Futurism mostly seen in later 90s (think Matrix)​​

TOPs​

  • T-shirts, either plain colored or band T-shirts

  • Crop tops

  • Turtlenecks

  • Baggy cardigans

  • Popcorn/magic bubble shirt

  • Flannel shirts, either open or buttoned up, potentially tucked in. 

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​​​​dresses​

  • Slip dresses (often worn over T-shirts)

  • Baby doll dresses

  • Skater dresses

  • Button-down shirt dresses

  • Holographic and​ metallic fabrics

  • Velvet gowns

  • Two-piece sets

  • High slits​​
     

Accessories​​

​Hair:

  • Scrunchies

  • Headbands (both classic and zig-zag)

  • Butterfly clips

  • Pony Beads

  • Snap Clips with Charms
     

Hats:

  • Caps and visors - often flipped to the side, or in case of visors, sometimes even worn up-side down. Also including "Trucker Hats" and DIY bedazzled caps

  • "Blossom" Hats

  • Furry Bucket Hats
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Jewelry:

  • Large loopy ear rings

  • Puka shell or rice necklaces

  • Tattoo chokers

  • Mood rings (and necklaces)​​

  • Jelly bracelets

  • Slap bracelets

  • Foot jewelry like toe rings and anklets

  • Sticker earrings


Piercings:

  • Navel (belly button)

  • Eyebrows

  • Tongue

  • Nose

  • Fake jewelry like clip-on lip rings and tongue studs

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​​​Bottoms​

Pants:

  • Jeans (huge variety of loose fitting jeans! Extra baggy, bell bottoms. High waist, low waist. Plain, ripped, floral print, generally light acid wash jeans)

  • Cargo pants

  • Bike pants

  • Leggings. Either under a dress or layering under other pants.

Overalls:​​

  • In all forms (full length, shorts, dresses)

  • It was cool to only have the strap over one shoulder

Skirts:

  • Denim skirts

  • Plaid skirts

  • Maxi and midi skirts

​​​​​​​​Shoes​

  • Sneakers

  • Combat boots (Dr. Martens)

  • Platform shoes

  • Sandals (Birkenstocks)

  • Jelly shoes

  • Light up shoes

  • Soap shoes

  • Adidas Sambas & Gazelles

​​​​​​​​Bags​

  • Fanny packs (belt bags) of course!

  • Mini backpacks 

  • Fullsize backpacks, often with keychains or patches

  • Inflatable backbacks

  • Jelly bags

  • Grunge messenger bags

  • Baguette bags, barrel bags, bowler bags

  • Nylon shoulder bags

  • Plush animal bags

  • Wallet chains for carrying wallets in pants pockets

  • Flat nylon neck pouches for travel and raving 

  • Capri sun bags and purses (DIY)

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Outerwear​

  • Denim jackets

  • Varsity jackets

  • Windbreakers (everyone seemed to have the same or at least similar jacket!)

  • Faux fur coats

​​​​Hairstyles​​​

​​​​Women

  • Bangs were in​​

  • "The Rachel"

  • Pixie cut

  • Supermodel Blowout

  • Crimped hair

  • Mini buns

  • Space buns

  • High ponytails (including the "Fountain Head")

  • Porcupine updos

  • Topsy tail hairdos

  • "Skunk" Highlights (blonde stripes on dark hair)

  • Face-framing "tendrils"

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​​​Men

  • Bowl cuts

  • Curtain cuts

  • Caesar Cut

  • Flat Top / High Top Fade

  • Frosted tips & spiky hair

  • Rat tail

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​​​Make-up​

  • Ultra thin eyebrows

  • Dark lip liner with light lipstick

  • "Frosted"/metallic eyeshadow and lipstick/lip gloss

  • Stick-on gemstones

  • Body & hair glitter

  • Smudged eyeliner

  • Blue eyeshadow and different brown toned lipsticks

  • Hair mascara

  • Matte skin powder

​​​Other trends

  • Tattoos:

    • The tribal band, Chinese characters, barbed wire, butterflies/fairies that peek out of low-rise jeans 

    • Temporary tattoos

  • Tooth gems

  • Colorful contact lenses

  • Glitter everywhere

Retro Cassette Tapes

Technology​

GENERAL

  • Moat things had wires! Your computer mouse, house phone etc

  • They were bulkier, especially if battery powered.

  • TV and computer screens were  huge CRT boxes

  • Office technology like computers and printers were off-white/beige in color.

  • Sometimes home appliances would be neon or otherwise colorful.

Computers

  • Slow Dial-up internet using your phone line! Modem sounds when connecting to  the internet. You could witness images load from top to bottom.

  • Usually with a CD and Floppy drive, DVD drives later in the decade

  • While desktops were dominant, laptops did exist. They were thick and not powerful enough to run much besides basic office software.

TV

  • TV signal could be received using antennae, sometimes with varying quality. To get a better signal people would sometimes adjust their antennae position.

  • Channels were generally available depending on what signals you got and broadcast from TV towers. The same channels are probably available all over in Digimon City!

  • VHS player were a common, and later also DVD players. You could record television shows when they aired for later watching

Music

  • Either on cassette tapes or CDs

  • Walkmans and boom boxes were popular!

  • There were no streaming services. Digital music was often in MP3 format, which you could burn to a CD or play from a computer. At the end of the 90s some phones were also able to open light media files if transferred via cable or SD card.

Retro Gaming Setup

Hobbies​

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Sports

Roller skates, skateboards. Extreme sports.

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Keeping a diary/journal. Reading. Solving crosswords, sudokus, participating in magazine/newspaper contests.

 

Watching TV or listening to radio shows that air at specific times. Recording them on VHS tapes for later viewing.

 

VHS rentals used to be popular!

 

Collecting things: cards, stickers, stamps, rare coins, bottle caps, tazos - anything that you might’ve taken a liking to!

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Photography: photos would usually be physical end need to be exposed in a light room. Or polaroids! They would end up in photo albums, on the wall, or in photo frames around the room.

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Gaming: Game boy, Consoles, Arcades

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Going to Discos

 

Sports:

They haven’t changed that much! Ball sports, raquet sports, gymnastics.

Aerobics and TV excercises.

Roller skating, roller derby, skating rinks at the mall.

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Music

The 90s were largely defined by music. MTV was popular and music videos would influence fashion.

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TV and Movies

TV shows would air at certain times and going to the movies for high sound and image quality was popular​

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Anime

​Magical girl transformation sequences through the years!

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Home

General vibe: 

Loads of warm/beige colors, wood textures​, "lived-in", floral and/or animal prints. Wall-to-wall carpets were common, either as full floor covers or over laminate.

 

Open plan homes, where the kitchen and living room were combined, or partially separated, became popular 90s.

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The house would generally have a wired telephone somewhere for making calls. Multiple phones in the same house were often connected to the same line and part of the same call when picked up. Places like dorms would often have a telephone in a shared hallway.

TV guides, phonebooks, newspapers and magazines were in paper format.

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Living room

- Usually a large couch, or a couple, potentially with armchairs - a place to spend time together with family and friends.

- Large CRT TVs, VHS players, often accompanied by large speakers for a better audio experience.
- Book shelves filled with books, souvenirs, VHS tapes etc.

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Kitchen

- Kitchen technology didn't have screens, usually looked plasticy.

- Often used tile (floor and/or walls)

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Bathrooms

- Often used tile (floor and/or walls)

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Bedroom

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Office

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Loads of plastic!

 

Items that used to be a lot more popular:
Inflatable armchairs, lava lamps, magazine posters, music CD racks. 

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Toys​

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Many of us remember Furbies …and of course tamagotchis!

 

Yoyos, slinkies, frisbees.

Sky dancers, old styled my little ponies.

 

Barbie and Action Man

 

Cabled walkie talkies and “remote” controlled toy animals.

Gaming​

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Gameboy, SNES, Arcades

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How to find Your Own sources

It can be really helpful to look up specifics on Google, YouTube, Pinterest or even asking AI

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It might help to look up:

 

https://christmas.musetechnical.com/ShowCatalogPage/1990-Sears-Style-Catalog/0132

Digimon is © Saban, Toei Animation, and Bandai.

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