This is an All Ears English Podcast, episode 2285.
90's clothes are back, baby.
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Have you noticed 90's trends coming back?
Today we share fun clothing vocabulary and discuss the trends that have resurfaced so you can connect about this popular topic.
Hello Aubrey, how are you?
I'm great Jessica, how are you?
I am so excited. I'm so excited to be here with you on All Ears English and one of my favorite topics, the 90's.
I know, we are 90's children, children of the 90's and it's been weird to see fashion trends coming back.
We know you guys have seen this as well.
The trends from our childhood are back.
My teenagers wear everything that I wore when I was a teenager, it's very strange.
100%. So guys, the reason why we're talking about 90's fashion today, we're gonna give you the vocabulary to describe it because it is current to today.
This is one of the questions on our recent pop quiz, pop culture quiz.
Guys, if you haven't checked this out, check it out.
Go to allearsenglish .com slash pop quiz.
I am writing these quizzes and they're very fun, they're new every month.
When you take the quiz, you get your pop culture IQ and you get a free English course.
It's this whole free mini course guys, it's called Three Ways to Be Interesting in English.
It's yours, just take the quiz.
allearsenglish .com slash pop quiz.
Yes, it's such a win -win because not only do you get questions about what's happening right now in the news in pop culture so it can help you stay up to date.
If you don't know these things, you probably should.
And also you get this free course.
So you're welcome guys, check it out.
allearsenglish .com slash pop quiz.
So you're welcome. All right, so let's get into this.
Aubrey, tell me about your typical outfit in the 90s.
What was your style?
I was grunge all the way.
I had these combat boots, but they were cheap.
I got them at Salvation Army maybe or REI.
And I would wear flannel shirts open with a T -shirt under it and then just jeans.
But pretty baggy, nothing tight.
And then I went through a skater phase when I first got to college with like really baggy clothes.
What about you? I also went through like a hippie phase where like I listened to a lot of Grateful Dead and I made my own hemp necklace and I had like this long hippie skirt.
That phase didn't last for very long guys.
Mostly I was just like the skater slash jock chick.
Like if I had a game that day, I would wear my soccer shorts.
If not, I would just be in, yeah, very baggy pants and like a band T -shirt, right?
I had a couple of friends like you when you were in your hippie phase when I lived in Jackson.
I loved their style.
They had, yes, the hemp necklaces and bracelets.
I loved their style.
It was very cool, but it was more work.
They had to like go to the thrift shops and really scour to find this cool stuff because none of us had a lot of money.
And a lot of those clothing, you couldn't even find them new, right?
A lot of it was like the retro look.
And so, and this is something I love about 90s fashion trends coming back today is that it's also the trend of shopping secondhand has come back because what's cool today, like what my son wants to wear, he wants to wear like old T -shirts that have like rock bands on them and stuff too.
He wants cool vintage shirts.
He wants big jeans that have been worn a lot already.
So I love it because it saves me money because we just go to Goodwill now, same as when I was in high school.
Same, exactly for a long time.
My kids were like too good for thrift stores because like it wasn't the cool thing to do.
And now same, that's where they wanna get their big baggy cool T -shirts.
So it's cheaper, it's amazing, I love it.
Recycle, reduce, reuse.
So we're both moms of teens, right?
Can you tell me about your teens styles?
Yeah, so my teens dress very differently.
My older daughter will wear like fitted crop tops and then like high -waisted snug jeans.
And then my 16 -year -old very baggy giant pants, she found this clothing brand that's Obey, and we have found it in some of the like stores that are discount stores like Marshalls or Ross here in the States.
And so they're more affordable there, but we looked them up online and they're like $300 for these pants, so that's not happening.
So we have to find them in these cheaper places.
And then she'll wear giant concert shirts, right?
She has this Deftones T -shirt she loves and they're usually black or gray, right?
So they look very different, these two girls, both in style, both very trendy, but dressing so differently.
That's awesome. All right, so we've already used some of today's vocabulary, guys, but let's get into this vocab list.
And listeners, I want you to think about it.
Do these words describe your style now, your style when you were a teenager?
If you're a parent, do these words describe what your kids are into?
So let's discuss. So we've used this first word a lot, baggy.
This is the, you can picture it, right?
It's like you're putting a bag on each leg.
Like that's how big these pants are.
Just super oversized, like nothing fitted, really wide leg jeans, often not really snug on the waist either.
And then t -shirts that are all really oversized, but they're interesting because they're meant to not be really too big in the neck.
They're like fitted to be like this big baggy t -shirt, but that looks appropriate on a teenager, it's interesting.
Yeah, my son shops, he and his friends rave about Pro Club or something.
I shouldn't say, or something, I know what it is, it is Pro Club, but it sells like exactly that style, like only white and black and gray t -shirts that are plain with the closed collar and everything else is huge, right?
Big old baggy clothes.
All right, so a specific kind of pants that are often baggy are cargo pants or cargo shorts.
And they're called cargo pants or cargo shorts because they have tons of pockets in which you can't store cargo, right?
Cargo is like the big stuff we carry.
So these are pants or shorts with lots of pockets everywhere.
Yeah, they have lots of big pockets on the side of the pant leg, usually.
This surprised me the most when cargo pants came back.
I thought those were gone forever.
When my kids asked for cargo pants, I was shooketh.
You were what? Say that again.
You were shooketh? I was so surprised.
My teenagers say that.
They'll either say I was shook and then sometimes they say I was shooketh.
I love it. It's like Shakespearean slang.
That is so fun. Yeah, I love me a good cargo pant.
They're so, it's so handy, right?
You got all the pockets.
And come on, they just look cool, they're just cool.
Yes, absolutely. All right, midriff shirts, that's one word, midriff, M -I -D -R -I -F -F, also known as crop tops.
So yeah, I never wore these.
These are just like little shirts that are cut off, right?
So your stomach shows.
And then a lot of people these days will wear like a high -waisted pant with a midriff shirt or a crop top.
So they're really not showing that much skin actually.
They're just like the pant is higher and the top is shorter.
I didn't wear them either.
I honestly wasn't allowed to wear them.
They were considered immodest by my parents.
Right. But my daughters are allowed to wear them and they love to.
I was never like confident enough in showing like my belly to wear shirts like that.
Even at my athletic heights, I always had a little belly.
Like, I can't help it.
I just love this. No six pack happening, not for me either.
Six pack. Not wearing a bikini and I'm not wearing a crop top.
Never have, never will.
All right. Let's shop to the top.
All right. Skater shoes, right?
We all, we talked about dressing like skaters in that style and that's just like baggy clothes, big old pants, band T -shirts, but also the sneakers matter.
So skater shoes, I think of Vans as like the quintessential skater shoe.
For sure. Vans. And there were like specific ones that they used to have.
I'm imagining this like black and blue and white one that have come back.
I'm like, oh man, I remember those from the nineties, but also Converse.
I feel like Converse, I don't know if skateboarders wear them as much, but I feel like they were really big in the nineties and they've definitely, maybe they've stayed popular.
Have Converse always been popular?
I think so, I think they've always been in.
Yeah, it was so cool.
And like every major brand makes skate shoes now because it's a popular style, right?
My son had these pair of Adidas skate shoes forever.
He doesn't skate, but they're cool sneakers, you know?
And that's what it is.
It's just about the style.
I never skateboarded, I snowboarded, but I dressed like I skateboarded.
Same, I had Vans and then when they got worn out, I duct taped them so I could keep wearing them.
That's also a style.
Yeah, that's true. I had that style, but it's true.
I never was a skater, but it was just cool to dress that way.
We were all posers.
I know, I know. Same with flannel shirts.
So now we're really getting into the grunge style.
Let's explain grunge style.
We have just a couple more terms and then we'll get to the role play.
So Aubrey, what is grunge?
Yeah, I feel like Kurt Cobain of Nirvana really was the ringleader here.
I just picture him.
A lot of it was about kind of the hair and the unkempt look, often like a longer hair.
But then the clothing, usually a plaid button down shirt, usually not buttoned up.
The goal was to look pretty unkempt, like sloppy, right?
Messy. And then messy.
Not huge baggy pants like the skater pants, but not like snug either.
The pants that came back about 10 years ago that were super form fitting didn't really even hardly exist in the 90s.
I feel like nobody wore tight pants.
No, thank goodness.
Nobody had those like skinny jeans.
That's not 90s. Yeah, grunge is comfy, man.
It's just comfy and loose, not super baggy, like you said, but definitely a flannel shirt, raggedy t -shirt, some old jeans, right?
Maybe some combat boots.
So flannel shirts big up here in the Pacific Northwest, like you said, it's a plaid.
Specific fabric is the flannel, but it has buttons.
And then the last piece of that grunge style is Doc Martin's boots, which are way expensive.
So we can get some generics.
And not comfortable.
They're so stiff. Really stiff.
They're so not comfy.
I generics, I had some fake Doc Martin's, but combat boots, right?
Something from like an Army surplus store, those kind of boots.
Yep, exactly. And I feel like boots, it's interesting to look at the evolution of boots because it went from those kind of grungy boots to like nicer, like knee high leather boots and skinny jeans tucked into them.
And now that's gone.
And I feel like we're back to like Doc Martin's and combat boots.
Yeah, man. Yeah, I am so 100 % on board.
All of my son's friends, if I go to his school and look around, I'm like, it's like I'm back in school.
I am comfortable here.
All right. Aubrey, are you ready to get into a role play?
Yeah, let's do a role play using some of this vocab.
Cause we do talk about this.
Like we want to show you how this would look in a conversation.
Yeah, guys. Oh my gosh.
The reminiscing that Aubrey and I could do, we could go on for hours using this vocab, talking about what it makes us remember in high school, the parties we went to, the awkward dates we went on cause the boys pants were too big.
I don't know. Like there's so many ways to connect from just clothing vocabulary.
Yes, we want you guys to have these conversations.
All right, I'll start us out.
Oh, hey, I like your pants.
That looks like something I would have worn in high school.
Yeah, well, I still dress like I did in high school.
Lots of baggy pants and flannel shirts.
It looks good though.
At least you're not wearing a crop top.
Honestly, I never wore crop tops, did you?
Nah, I was into the whole grunge thing though.
I definitely had many a pair of baggy cargo pants.
Did you wear Doc Martens?
I wanted a pair, but I could never afford them.
Me neither. I just had some old combat boots that I found at an army surplus store.
Jessica, you know me too well.
This whole role play is like my actual life.
Me too. I mean, we repeated a lot of the ideas that came up spontaneously.
And I wrote this role play last week.
All right, so let's go through this role play, Aubrey.
Yeah, so first you were describing what you were in high school.
You said lots of baggy pants and flannel shirts, right?
So just like we were saying, those pants that are not fitted, they're really loose.
And then that flannel shirt that was often like plaid and that really warm fabric that you cannot wear in the Arizona summer.
This is like for the Northwest where it's cooler.
This is yeah, Portland, Seattle, this sort of area.
But the way we go back and forth I want to highlight too, besides just how we use the vocab, right?
So first, you're asking me, you're giving me a compliment, right?
I like your pants. And then you're bringing yourself into it.
You're personalizing it.
Saying, I would have worn those in high school.
And then I'm like, yeah, same.
I still dress like I did back then.
And then sharing the specific clothing.
Exactly. Totally, totally.
And then you gave me another compliment.
Thank you. You said, it looks good though.
And then at least you're not wearing a crop top because then we could both agree, you know, moms in our forties probably shouldn't wear crop tops.
I think we're on the same page there.
This is funny because I am taking a risk and it kind of shows that I know you well because I do know some moms in their forties that wear crop tops and look amazing.
And I would not say this to them, right?
If I know that they maybe would wear a crop top, I wouldn't say at least you're not wearing a crop top because then they might be like, I did yesterday, you have a problem with that.
But you, I know well enough that I would say this to you.
That's true. And then we go back and forth about that, right?
Asking, did you wear those?
And you don't say like, no, no, I did not wear crop tops.
You say, nah, right?
Instead of now, nah.
And then I was into the whole grunge thing.
So if you're describing a genre, a trend, a movement that you were into, we can use this phrase, the whole grunge thing, the whole rock thing, the whole skater thing.
Exactly, you're describing that whole trend exactly.
And then I love this.
I definitely had many a pair of baggy cargo pants.
This is such a fun construction, right?
Many a crop top just means you had a bunch of them, but we use this chunk, many a blank.
Because it sounds so grammatically incorrect and listeners you might hear this and be like, was that a mistake?
That's not correct.
So it is, it is something we say and it just, it highlights that there were a lot.
That's it. It just is a fun way to say a lot, right?
I have many a pair of sunglasses, I do.
I have like 10 pairs of sunglasses for some reason.
And then so we were talking about Dr.
Martins while we were chatting there.
And you just said, did you wear Doc Martins?
Often we will do this, we'll ask about a specific brand, especially something like this, that was so like the boot to wear was Doc Martins.
So we're both gonna be familiar, right?
And then I just said, nah, I just had old combat boots.
Yep, awesome. And then saying you shopped at an army surplus store.
I totally did that when I was in high school.
Still do that today.
I love army surplus stores.
So yeah, they're just like secondhand, sometimes newish stuff, extra stuff from the military, but you can get like cheap cargo pants and boots.
Super cool places. I wonder if they're in other countries.
I'm curious, yeah, let us know, come to YouTube and leave a comment and let us know if you have army surplus stores.
This is definitely a thing in the States.
Yes, guys, remember to get your pop culture IQ, go to all ears English .com slash pop quiz.
Awesome, thanks Jessica, this is so fun.
90s trends, such a fun thing to chat about.
All right, Aubrey, see you next time.
See you next time, bye guys.
Bye. Thanks for listening to all ears English.
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