EVERYTHING I WANT TO WEAR RIGHT NOW IS INSPIRED BY 90s CHARMED

Cast yourself back two months ago, when Christmas hung in the air and on your tree. It was during this time that I found myself with a month off work (!) and I decided that this time was to be spent scrambling to read all the books that I said I'd read over the past year, consuming copious amounts of chocolate and re-watching the entirety of 'Charmed'. It was during this last one, when unexpectedly my perspective of fashions now was reframed, coming into focus through the lens of fashions then. 

Fashion, in its essence, is a continuous rip off of itself. It's cyclical in that it's in a constant state of recycling. New fashions are often only as new as the audience is young. Those older generations having lived through many a revival/rehash/reboot, vice those of youth experiencing a trend for the first time. 

Myself, still clinging on to the young side of thirty, have noticed firsthand many of my tween noughties outfits making a return - bootleg jeans, diamante decal, bandanas, etc - and though having lived through the 90s, my fashion choices were at the directive of my mother. Yet, I have always considered myself to have a good grounding of the 90s aesthetic. However, it wasn't until I recently re-watched 'Charmed', that I truly appreciated just how much of the current fashion climate is not merely a throwback, but a complete temporal time warp. 

Having watched 'Charmed' as a teenager, my overwhelming feeling was that the fashion (especially as the series went on) centred on sex, amping up the fact that these are women, beautiful women and they are powerful. They can kick your ass and do it with cleavage exposed and heels on (it's worth mentioning that their professional successes are also documented, but even work attire features much navel). 

Perhaps this was the climate of the time, as 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' did much of her slaying in tight leather trousers. They embody a type of feminism that embraces a women's right to be sexy (overtly if she so desires) and powerful, the two being entwined not mutually exclusive. However, as a tween whose style included such layering as to implore my grandmother to tell me to wear less clothing; the stylings of the 'Charmed' ones were opposed to my own. Of course television affords an element of theatre - sex sells after all - but through older eyes (and myself now owning a cleavage) their fashion has taken on renewed relevance. 

 

The three sisters epitomise different facets of the 90s aesthetic; Prue, the eldest and sexiest; Piper, reserved, loves a twin-set and Phoebe, flirty, midriff forever bared. I began to make a mental list of all the items I fancied, the items that I owned and the items that I'd seen whilst perusing the highstreet - I gave up after the first few episodes. 

The list included but was not limited to; square necklines, string strapped camisoles, tops with key-hole cutouts, cropped-tops, cropped tie-fronted cardigans, cargo trousers, mom jeans, indigo washed denim, trousers with deep turn-ups, leather blazers, chunky heeled boots, square toed boots... Every outfit quintessentially 90s and thus ironically 'very of the moment'. 

From the newly positioned perspective of ten years later (& older), the fashion of 'Charmed' has become quite the distraction. The entertainment factor of the ass kicking trio is now overwhelmed by the sartorial inspiration each provide. Action goes unnoticed, storylines become insignificant and dialogue is mute as focus is diverted to adding lookalike items to my shopping cart. As I'm typing this I'm wearing a long sleeved, square necked top with dark wash jeans and I'm eyeing up a pair of stomping boots, I think making me the fifth member of 'Charmed' (can't forget about the Season 4 shock discovery of half sister witch Paige, duh!).

Whilst highlighting the return of the 90s is not necessarily newsworthy, what is noteworthy is one's ability to draw inspiration from things previously overlooked. As today's 'it girls' and 'influencers', repurpose classic pieces as the new trend, aiding in exposing a whole new audience to the past (whether knowingly or not!) the me of now takes comfort in confirming that the me of then, knew who the original cool girls were. How charming.    

(Photos via : fanpop.com, whowhatwear.co.uk, teenvogue.com, harpersbazaar.com, telltaletv.com, charmed.fandom.com)