I made a casual observation the other day. I was driving home from an appointment in town and it was around the time of the end of the school day and I noticed that the girls weren’t carrying school bags. They were carrying handbags. When did this start happening? It certainly wasn’t the case in the 90’s when I was a teenager. I took to Twitter, as you do, when these things cross your mind.
I’m well aware this will show my age, but when did handbags become schoolbags?!
Years 10-12 seemingly now sponsored by Michael Kors.
— Jaki J (@jakijellz) March 14, 2018
I wasn’t alone in my thoughts. The tweet got quite a lot of interaction and in my head, it spiralled. It set me thinking and reminiscing about my time as a teenager at school and how much things have changed in those twenty (yes, twenty!) years since I was that young. I, therefore, bring you, memories of a 90’s teenager.
This is a complete and utter brain dump so forgive me for the randomness. This is literally how my brain worked when thinking about the best of decades!
‘Sugar’ and ‘Bliss’ magazine
Take That adorning every wall and my heart breaking when Robbie left
‘Charlie Red’ perfume
‘Exclamation!’ perfume
Natural Collection vanilla lip balm
Choker necklaces
Kickers school shoes
Tammy Girl
Bodysuits
‘California Dreams’ TV show
Live & Kicking on a Saturday morning
Slip dresses with baby doll t-shirts underneath
Checked shirts
My first CD: Dina Carroll – So Close. (I so thought I could sing ‘Don’t Be A Stranger’!)
The Big Breakfast on Channel 4 every morning before school
The Word (probably shouldn’t have been watching it!)
Neighbours and Home and Away
Gladiators (ready!!)
Noel’s House Party (I wanted to get gunged so bad)
Woolworths
Our Price
The Body Shop bags for life
The sound of internet connection via dial-up modem
Argos catalogue for Christmas presents
Recording mixtapes of the Top 40 chart every Sunday
Princess Diana’s death (I was at a house party and watched the news all night long)
Pulp (Jarvis Cocker was pretty cool in a geeky way)
Oasis v. Blur (It was Oasis for me)
Nirvana
The X Files
Euro 96
Long hot summers
The video shop (It took forever to choose a film)
Book fairs at school
Magic eye pictures (remember them?!)
Covering exercise books with wallpaper or a poster of your latest crush
Sonic The Hedgehog
Friends and ‘that’ Rachel haircut
Radio 1 Roadshows and the Bits & Pieces quiz
Top 10 Diaries (tell me someone else had these? You filled the Top 10 music chart in every week)
Butterfly clips for your hair
Whigfield – Saturday Night (come on, we all did it, and probably still can)
Teletext’s Bamboozle (did anyone else discover the cheat?)
Hook leggings, scrunched socks and Reebok trainer boots (cringe)
Scrunchies
Head bands
Supermarket Sweep
Silly Putty
Edd The Duck
Shell suits
Puma school bags (NOT handbags!)
Oh my. If I sat and thought for long enough, I could add so many more. There is every chance I will as well. It’s left me feeling really sentimental and missing the 90’s. I’d love to go back for just one day. But, alas, I’ll just have to make do with the Friends reruns that are on my tv as I write this. Man, those days were good.
How about you? Are you a teenager of the 90’s? Have you any memories to add to this list? Pop them in the comments below and let’s reminisce together!