Fashion

Like all forms of popular culture, fashion has a rather unoriginal propensity to recycle trends from eras gone-by, with vintage styles from every decade making a comeback every few years or so.

The latest old-school fad to pop up is in fact only about 20 years old, with the best and worst of the early 90s finding its way into magazines and stores everywhere.

Grunge is back in all its greasy-haired, carefree, glory, although some would argue it never left. Whether you were an infant, teenager or baby boomer, we all remember the 90s in one way or another, sartorially or not.

Your mind may be conjuring up images of butterfly hairclips, tazos and bedroom walls adorned with Hanson posters but leave these flashbacks where they belong, in 1995.

Look to the early grunge of 1993 using Kurt Cobain, the Cranberries and Winona Ryder in Reality Bites as your inspiration.

Australian street fashion mainstays Ksubi is forever spearheading the grunge trend, with its latest collection WAR – full of tartan flannel shirts, dirty khaki and the omnipresent, supremely-distressed denim.

With the label opening its second Melbourne store on Chapel St late last year, expect an influx of studded vests and printed denim to hit the streets with gusto.

An easy way to delve into the trend is to sport a solid pair of black leather boots, the more distressed the better.

For those not willing to sacrifice cleanliness and style for grunge’s sake, a tough black platform boot with a heal will suffice nicely.

Even Spice Girls-influenced platform sneakers are making a mini-return with girls all over Melbourne sporting Converse’s take on the trend.

Take your tough-as-nails boots, your favorite pair of denim cut-offs, a T-shirt of your most adored 90s band and throw on a worn-in flannel shirt and you’re ready for a night out in one of Melbourne’s throwback underground pubs.