A time before smartphones, social media, and the constant buzz of notifications. For many millennials, the 90s represent a simpler, more carefree era. With the rapid pace of modern life, it's no wonder we're yearning for the days when the biggest decision was which “Boy Meets World” episode to watch.
Nostalgia: For many, the 90s represent a formative period in their lives, filled with childhood and teenage experiences. This nostalgia can evoke strong emotional connections to music, movies, and cultural trends from that time.
Why the 90s? Well, for Gen Z it's about the whole vibe. Many feel that the era represents a carefree time that was about having fun. Considering the stressful reality we've been experiencing over the last few years, it's no wonder Gen Z are feeling nostalgic for a simpler time.
The 90s are now viewed through a lens of nostalgia. People who grew up in the 90s, coming of age in that decade, now see it as a simpler, more carefree time. This nostalgic view of the 90s fuelled popularity of 90s pop culture in recent years. 90s fashion, music, TV shows, and movies are making comebacks.
Usually, decades are ones of progress either in an economic or a social sense, but for the bulk of western countries, the 90s was both. It truly felt like the end of history, not just by numbers but also in the way that this was as good as it could all get. Economic upturn coupled with increasing social awareness.
3. Why is Gen Z obsessed with 90s fashion? Gen Z loves 90s fashion because of its authenticity, individuality, and thrift-friendly vibe. Its nonconformity acts as escapist fare from curated social media culture.
For most of the Western world, Romanticism was at its peak from approximately 1800 to 1850.
Gen Z's discovery of the very best fashion the late 20th and early 21st Century had to offer has ensured key '90s pieces are garnering our attention once again. Think of styles associated with the office siren trend or old money aesthetic.
Each decade has its good and bad, triumphs and tragedies — and according to Ranker, the 1950s topped the list of America's greatest decades. See the top five decades below, and view the full report here.
Date and age range
The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines Generation Z as "the generation of people born in the late 1990s and early 2000s." The Collins Dictionary define Generation Z as "members of the generation of people born between the mid-1990s and mid-2010s.
The Post and YouGov polling data fits with what other researchers have found: that humans have the strongest sense of nostalgia for the culture we experienced between the ages of 17 and 23.
The Rebellion Against the Digital Age
It's a simpler time when people weren't glued to screens, and a “like” was something you did in person. The allure of the '80s lies in this escapism – it's Gen Z's way of rebelling against the omnipresent digital embrace, even if it means wearing oversized clothes.
Arguably, the 1990s produced some of the best - or at least, the most influential - television, music, and movies. Indeed, many movie critics have made the case that 1999 was the best year ever for movies, featuring high-quality films that have become part of the cultural dialogue.
Those seeking to cast blame have tried to pin Gen Z's supposedly accelerated maturation on vaping, makeup, cancel culture or karma. Some have suggested the anti-aging products and procedures used by Gen Z-ers have, ironically, made them look older.
So much of the frustration in millennial dating comes from the ambiguity around communication, especially at the start of a relationship. Is it a date? Are they flirting? Who should make the first move?
Generation Y or the Millenials: digital natives
Also known as digital natives, millennials are those born between 1982 and 1994 and technology is part of their everyday lives: all their activities are mediated by a screen.
According to a study published in the Social Indicators Research journal, we're the happiest between the ages of 30-34, and midlife (our 40s and 50s) is not perceived as the least happy period in life.
1950s: The "Best Years" In American History. The 1950s are often looked at as some of the “best years” in American history, however. Life was not always golden.
Your 40s represent the busiest decade of your life, filled with challenges, opportunities, and financial decisions that can affect you and your family for years to come. You have more responsibility at work, family life is getting more expensive (especially if you have kids), and retirement feels closer every day.
It's fun, basically. Our focus on the nineties can partly be put down to the 30 year theory around nostalgia, which dictates that things start to look interesting rather than just old-fashioned after three decades.
Slip dresses, bomber jackets, scrunchies and plaid flannel shirts were all the rage during the '90s — and many of these fashion trends are working their way back into vogue (although some of these pieces may have never left your closet).
During the 90s, jeans trousers started to loosen up more and this decade had a sartorial gem (that by the way had a recent comeback), the mom jeans. Skinnies did not have much attention during this decade, which was maybe healthy, since everyone probably had to take a breath before the infamous ~2000s~ came.
The Belle Époque (French pronunciation: [bɛlepɔk]) or La Belle Époque (French for 'The Beautiful Era') was a period of French and European history that began after the end of the Franco-Prussian War in 1871 and continued until the outbreak of World War I in 1914.
The English Romantic Period ended with the coronation of Queen Victoria in 1837. The Industrial Revolution was beginning to be fully felt by the people of England as the working class became dominant in the culture.
THE happiest period in human history in which to have lived, concludes Gibbon after a learned dissertation on the subject, was that of imperial Rome under the Antonines in the second century of the Christian era.