Students dust off ’90s grunge trend to express individuality

Daily Bruin Saraia Driver does not wear cutesy dresses.
Instead, the first-year neuroscience student’s closet consists of Dr. Martens, chokers and fishnet tights, which she likes to layer under shorts. Her outfits are heavily influenced by the grunge style from the ’90s era, she said.
Grunge culture originated from the Seattle music scene, which included bands such as Pearl Jam and Nirvana, before designers such as Marc Jacobs popularized the fashion style in the sartorial sphere in the early ’90s, said Glenda Ronduen, a library reference specialist at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in downtown Los Angeles.
The style was associated with a sense of rebellion and anti-establishment. In the ’90s and the decades prior, people were defined by what they wore and the values their style embodied, Ronduen said.
[Related: UCLA students find nostalgia in casual, edgy ’90s fashion throwbacks]
Driver said her grunge style fits her dark personality and humor. She dislikes dressing up and feels most comfortable in muted colors. Even blue jeans are too bright of a hue, she said.
“It’s comfortable because I’m comfortable in it,” she said.
Grunge is also an outlet for her to express a fresh style. In her first two years of high school in Arkansas, she was required to wear a uniform to school, one that her mom would try to dress up with different socks and cardigans. However, after moving to California in 2014, Driver found she could wear whatever she wanted.
“If you see someone whose outfit is different from yours, you appreciate it,” she said. “It’s not a judgement.”
First-year English student Molly McMillen went through a similar transition. For her, college was an opportunity to reinvent herself and her style.
It was a departure from the stereotypes and labels in high school, a time when she wore more feminine and casual attire, she ...


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