Loved this, Farrah - and I sort of feel you've described Substack: "you did the thing thing, aimed for quality, trusted the process and hoped it would work out..."
The 90s sort of passed me by, illness and deep unhappiness but I completely agree that the decade of your adolescence leaves an indelible impression, the eighties being mine. The tribes; Wham/Duran/The Cure and you had to nail your colours to the mast. MTV, Live Aid, AIDS, Thatcher, Falklands War, I can recall it all like it was yesterday. Not always happy but always memorable, when life was an undiscovered country.
Sigh… right there with ‘ya Moira. The 80s were my decade and I am so so grateful to have had that as part of my life. I still regularly listen to 80s music when I need a dose of comfort (which is every day now since January, 2025). The 90s were spent finishing college and finding my way in career and place-so it was a bit of a background experience for me. But it did extend our happenstance of the pre-internet and social media frenzy. And there were some pretty good movies in that decade.
We were lucky, it was an amazing time to grow up, misogyny and casual sexism aside…. The films were magnificent weren’t they; not built around CGI and catering only for adolescent boys. My favourite ever remains Local Hero.
Aaah, university, the Hacienda, Afflecks Palace (where I was the model in the huge poster in the barbers - I was an androgynous girl with a curtain hair cut.) falling in love, having a baby while still a student…. Still achieving a degree but in hindsight poor judgement about the baby daddy! Terrible fear of where I was going to end up….. and lived happily ever after in the end…..
Maybe I'm biased. Maybe it's because of Kurt Cobain. I don't know. Born in 84, indulging in TV violence, great music and bathed in the purity of a world trying to imagine itself, before an internet beyond 56k. I just loved this period. With all its bad sides, of course, the 90s were the end of an era with a magic that I've never felt since.
I have some much younger colleagues telling me they feel nostalgia for a period they have never known. How crazy is that? 90s were a mess but such a prolific one!
Carolyn Bessette Kennedy was the epitome of chic.Her wardrobe was simply amazing. I came of age in the '90's and I really enjoyed this piece, thank you so much.
I was a child of the 60s but did most of my growing up in 1970s Liverpool. People like to call it the decade that taste forgot — flares, tank tops and loons — but that misses the point entirely.
The music alone was extraordinary: Bowie constantly reinventing himself, ABBA’s polished pop, the strange brilliance of Kate Bush, and then the shockwave of punk tearing everything up again. The soundtrack of the 70s was fearless.
Television was just as powerful. With only a few channels, what made it to air had to be good. And it was. The genius of Morecambe and Wise, the razor-sharp comedy of Fawlty Towers, the weekly electricity of Top of the Pops, and the hard-edged realism that would later give us Boys from the Blackstuff. These weren’t just programmes — they were national moments, still repeated today.
For a working-class kid in Liverpool, that flickering screen opened a window onto another world. Without me realising it then, it planted a seed that would lead to a career in television — something that once felt almost unimaginable.
The country itself was restless: power cuts, strikes, riots and the shadow of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Growing up in the 70s toughened you. It taught you resilience, curiosity and how to keep moving forward.
So yes, the fashions might make us smile now. But the 1970s didn’t lack taste — they had edge, nerve and imagination. And for some of us, they quietly set the course of our lives.
I was born in 1978, lived between Liverpool and Manchester in the 80s, and moved to Norfolk in the 90s. Definitely THE best decade! I started an office job in '96, using the 'phone, writing letters, and meeting people IRL. Good times.
Yes, yes, yes! 👏🏻 I hit the 90s landing a job in the City….crazy days and nights (the old cliche work hard/play harder….😵💫). Ethan Hawke was my screensaver….Wanted to look like Winona, but being blonde and with a pit pony frame I didn’t exactly fit the brief….🙄 It didn’t matter though, I revelled in my short skirts, thick black tights with Doc Martens and indie discos …. 💪🏻
I was a teenager in the home counties in the 90s and I thought London was THE MOST EXCITING PLACE ON EARTH and honesty, it probably wasn’t far off. The music, clubbing culture, fashion (including excellent high street), art - all great. My heart would do a little dance every time I got off the train in zone one. Maybe I’m now just a grumpy middle aged woman (eminently plausible) but everything seems so homogenised and less creative now. Especially since the disaster that has been brexit …
Loved this, Farrah - and I sort of feel you've described Substack: "you did the thing thing, aimed for quality, trusted the process and hoped it would work out..."
The 90s sort of passed me by, illness and deep unhappiness but I completely agree that the decade of your adolescence leaves an indelible impression, the eighties being mine. The tribes; Wham/Duran/The Cure and you had to nail your colours to the mast. MTV, Live Aid, AIDS, Thatcher, Falklands War, I can recall it all like it was yesterday. Not always happy but always memorable, when life was an undiscovered country.
Sigh… right there with ‘ya Moira. The 80s were my decade and I am so so grateful to have had that as part of my life. I still regularly listen to 80s music when I need a dose of comfort (which is every day now since January, 2025). The 90s were spent finishing college and finding my way in career and place-so it was a bit of a background experience for me. But it did extend our happenstance of the pre-internet and social media frenzy. And there were some pretty good movies in that decade.
We were lucky, it was an amazing time to grow up, misogyny and casual sexism aside…. The films were magnificent weren’t they; not built around CGI and catering only for adolescent boys. My favourite ever remains Local Hero.
Aaah, university, the Hacienda, Afflecks Palace (where I was the model in the huge poster in the barbers - I was an androgynous girl with a curtain hair cut.) falling in love, having a baby while still a student…. Still achieving a degree but in hindsight poor judgement about the baby daddy! Terrible fear of where I was going to end up….. and lived happily ever after in the end…..
I remember sneaking into the Hacienda at 15!
The optimism. People were concerned about the environment without dread. The future seemed exciting.
Maybe I'm biased. Maybe it's because of Kurt Cobain. I don't know. Born in 84, indulging in TV violence, great music and bathed in the purity of a world trying to imagine itself, before an internet beyond 56k. I just loved this period. With all its bad sides, of course, the 90s were the end of an era with a magic that I've never felt since.
I have some much younger colleagues telling me they feel nostalgia for a period they have never known. How crazy is that? 90s were a mess but such a prolific one!
Carolyn Bessette Kennedy was the epitome of chic.Her wardrobe was simply amazing. I came of age in the '90's and I really enjoyed this piece, thank you so much.
I was a child of the 60s but did most of my growing up in 1970s Liverpool. People like to call it the decade that taste forgot — flares, tank tops and loons — but that misses the point entirely.
The music alone was extraordinary: Bowie constantly reinventing himself, ABBA’s polished pop, the strange brilliance of Kate Bush, and then the shockwave of punk tearing everything up again. The soundtrack of the 70s was fearless.
Television was just as powerful. With only a few channels, what made it to air had to be good. And it was. The genius of Morecambe and Wise, the razor-sharp comedy of Fawlty Towers, the weekly electricity of Top of the Pops, and the hard-edged realism that would later give us Boys from the Blackstuff. These weren’t just programmes — they were national moments, still repeated today.
For a working-class kid in Liverpool, that flickering screen opened a window onto another world. Without me realising it then, it planted a seed that would lead to a career in television — something that once felt almost unimaginable.
The country itself was restless: power cuts, strikes, riots and the shadow of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Growing up in the 70s toughened you. It taught you resilience, curiosity and how to keep moving forward.
So yes, the fashions might make us smile now. But the 1970s didn’t lack taste — they had edge, nerve and imagination. And for some of us, they quietly set the course of our lives.
Excellent!
Love your nostalgia of the 90's, a great decade.
Fab 👏
I'm realizing now how great the 90s were, I should have enjoyed them more!
Loved this and obsessed with Love Story
Obsessed.
I was born in 1978, lived between Liverpool and Manchester in the 80s, and moved to Norfolk in the 90s. Definitely THE best decade! I started an office job in '96, using the 'phone, writing letters, and meeting people IRL. Good times.
Yes, yes, yes! 👏🏻 I hit the 90s landing a job in the City….crazy days and nights (the old cliche work hard/play harder….😵💫). Ethan Hawke was my screensaver….Wanted to look like Winona, but being blonde and with a pit pony frame I didn’t exactly fit the brief….🙄 It didn’t matter though, I revelled in my short skirts, thick black tights with Doc Martens and indie discos …. 💪🏻
I think we all hoped we could carry off the Winona cut.
I was a teenager in the home counties in the 90s and I thought London was THE MOST EXCITING PLACE ON EARTH and honesty, it probably wasn’t far off. The music, clubbing culture, fashion (including excellent high street), art - all great. My heart would do a little dance every time I got off the train in zone one. Maybe I’m now just a grumpy middle aged woman (eminently plausible) but everything seems so homogenised and less creative now. Especially since the disaster that has been brexit …
I actually wrote about Gen Z's Alanis successor (she *is* on Instagram but with more head shots than selfies!), but nothing beats the OG, Jagged Little Pill with Taylor Hawkins on drums ❤️https://cheriamour.substack.com/p/is-this-90s-indebted-alt-rocker-gen