1990s Fashion Statements for Men

The Vogue. The Fugees. And the Terminator. These are all phrases that remind us of that outrageously influential decade: the '90s. There were many fashion statements that were made in the 1990s, mostly influenced by new musical styles and a booming fashion industry. Four popular trends for men were hip hop, grunge, the sporty look and the preppy look.

Hip Hop Fashion--Gold Chains and Cross Colors

The 1990s was an era of increased attention for the musical genre of Hip Hop. The logical next step was the popularity of Hip Hop fashion.

In the early 90s, thick, gaudy gold chains, rings, and jewelry was the major trend in Hip Hop fashion. This was a fashion statement made famous by legendary rap groups such as Run DMC and Naughty by Nature. Fab Five Freddy, the very popular host of MTV's "Yo! MTV Raps" (1988-1995) also sported the look.

Cross Colours was a major clothing company in the 90s that marketed and sold Hip Hop fashions. The main trait of the clothing was bright, multiple colors (red, yellow, green, purple, maroon, etc) on each piece. The Cross Colours trend was short-lived, but so hot at the time that if you were a guy, you weren't considered "in style" unless you had a pair of Cross Colours jeans in your closet. They were expensive and only found in special stores.

Grunge

Grunge was basically a sloppy look that was meant to tell people "I just don't care." It was worn mostly by teenagers and men in their early twenties coming of age in the early-to-mid 90s, and was made even more popular by mainstream music artists like Nirvana. The look was stonewashed jeans, flannel (sometimes holey) shirts, ripped sneakers, and dark muted colors. To top off the look, mussed, just-out-of-bed hair made a grunge outfit complete. Grunge didn't last long, but was extremely in style in its hey-day.

The Sporty Look - Sweatsuits and Baseball Caps