Defining a decade: Designers differ on trends of the '90s

December 23, 1998
Web posted at: 10:25 p.m. EST (0325 GMT)

From Style Correspondent Elsa Klensch

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Designers have differing ideas on what was the major fashion trend of the 1990s. It could have been the color black, dressed-down Fridays, an urban edge, low-slung pants or the long skirt.

But there is some agreement: It's been a decade of minimalism -- simplification of clothes, ease and comfort of separates dressing and freedom of choice. Designers say it's now the women who make the decisions and not the designers.

In Paris, designer Martine Sitbon cited minimalism as a major trend -- with a plus.

"Women don't have to show they're very strong in the '90s compared to the '80s," she says. "They feel very comfortable with themselves."

Oscar de la Renta says the sheer simplicity of dressing in an easy manner was the major trend.

London's Nicole Farhi agrees that simplicity was key -- and says that it is time to move along.

"We are getting now to the end of the '90s where we practically have created a uniform," she says. "I think there should be a really big change. We can't be any simpler than we've been."

Giovanna Ferragamo says that while minimalism was a thread throughout the '90s, the decade was a bit fickle.

"The characteristic of the '90s is that there were a lot of changes, fast changes," she says.

New ideas of beauty

Designer Mark Jacobs says the '90s gave women a wider choice in fashion and in beauty as well.

"I think that people's eyes have been opened up to accepting a lot of different types of women as being beautiful," he says.

Milan design team Dolce and Gabbana describes the decade's major trend as a new freedom.

Marcel Marongiu says that new freedom spilled over to designers, giving them the resolve to break with tradition.

"It enabled us ... to have a new approach to fashion," he says.

And for New York's Michael Kors, the most important trend in the '90s can be summed up using one word:

"Comfort, comfort, comfort," he says. "I think each decade stands for something and this one for sure is about comfort."

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