1993 didn't look that lame, come on....

Yeah, I wonder why it is set in 1993 too. It was the year I started high school, and high-wasted pants were definitely a goner by then. I've noticed that few 'period pieces' are set anywhere after the early 90s, because aesthetically not much has changed since about...1993. I. It's like in American Reunion, where the only jokes they could make about 2012 vs. 1999 were about how everyone has cellphones now.

I think it was because the movie had to be set before the Internet to work best, otherwise she would just have used Google...er, I mean Altavista or Webcrawler to find the answers to all her questions and half the jokes came from her not knowing what this or that was. A few years later and all that was available, and way, way more. The only reason I can think of that they didn't set it even a year earlier was then they couldn't use the Hilary Clinton recurring joke. But that in exchange for the opportunity to lampoon neon clothes!

Kaiser

Where do you live? And more importantly, where was the movie set (I forget)? I just drove cross country twice and there are towns stuck in the 70s, forget making the jump from '92 to '93.

They had Andy Samberg in their for grunge, while Donald Glover was dressing a little more golden era hip hop. Consider the other characters. Rachel Bilson didn't seem like she'd be willing to cover her body with baggy flannels and loose denim.

But for the most part I agree...everything 1990-1992 was like 80s-lite, from the music to clothes to TV.

1993 was actually a blast! The women were way looser, there was fantastic music being made, the fashion was more laid back, the only bad thing was the ridiculously slow computers with 28K dial up modems.

It was before 911, so people had way more freedom. The 90s were easily the most fun decade of my time. Whoever made this lame movie has no idea what 1993 was actually like.

I'll take Punctuality

I actually graduated high school in 1993 and all I can remember that it was so cool to graduate along with the classes from Beverly Hills 90210, Save By the Bell, and Doogie Howser, MD. 

kidding


But to answer your question, I think the fashion was pretty much spot on. What the girls wore in the movie was not beyond imagination. It look the norm to me. I think girls wearing leggings was still envogue though I it wasn't in the movie. Brandy's sis, well sexy hos will dress like sexy hos no matter what era. 

One thing that got me is that when I saw one of the grunge band guys jumped the pool fence, he wore socks and sandals. That is a very Pacific Northwest thing, given the movie location takes place in Boise, ID. Maybe 1/10th of the school I went to in Washington State on any given day wore socks and sandals which I found odd because I was a transplant from Georgia in late 1992. They would wear them with shorts, T-shirt, and a jacket on rainy days even just above freezing!

Other fashions solely to the Pacific NW other than grunge and Doc Martins or large black clunky shoes was wearing pull-over sweat shirts inside-out which I fully didn't understood the appeal. Nationally the Grunge look really didn't start to take root until late 1993-early 1994. Those in hip-hop favor wore Cross Colors which was probably nationally.

In the Southeast, one of the fashions were to wear denim overalls or overall-shorts. Guys wearing balls cap, with long sleeve shirts, ties, jean shorts, and high tops or Timberalands and the sort. Just watch old Boyz to Men music vids to get the gist. Having a brown ultra-suede leather jacket was also a thing to wear albeit expensive. Wearing a longer braided leather belt where the end is looped over itself past the buckle. And only in the Southeast where you would have found nearly everyone wearing Duck Head brand clothing (shirts, polos, T-shirts, shorts, khaki slacks, and jeans). It was ridiculous.

In my opinion, I'd say things that define a generation or decade like fashion and pop culture really stopped after 1995. That seems to be the defining demarcation line. I mean really, besides technology whether it be the computers, internet or cell phones, mainly the latter two, what else is there that the modern era post 1995 can claim? Nothing in my opinion. Unless you want to include the destruction of privacy with everybody being able and willing to take video/pics on everything and everyone. You can take the look of 1998 and transplant it to 2015 and there would be virtually no difference. Compare the same 17 year difference between 1993 to 1976 and it is huge.

As for anyone saying 9/11 is your defining moment, I think it all depends on where or how close emotionally tied you were to that event. Being on the West Coast, it had little impact on me or life in general. It also depends on how you view the world. I had a much broader understanding of the world and interests of international going-ons than most Americans and wasn't as shocked when 9/11 happened. Others would say Columbine. In reality, my generation (Gen-X) should be considered the very last innocent generation. By that, I mean a generation without the fear of the present with global terrorism, school shootings, being a sexting pariahs, being enslaved to your cell phone, etc. Looking back, there was much more freedom and it was glorious and far more glorious as an 80's child!


btw Sock and Sandals is still real which I find unbelievable that there are people who still do this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z59fQ12OR0A

The teens I knew didn't dress that way but I was in Detroit so the urban fashions were on point. I don't really know if the suburban teens dressed that way.

Fashion is almost always exaggerated in period films... especially comedies.

One anachronism I also noticed: the term "teabagging" wasn't around in 1993.

Some of the technology in the movie are outdated even by 1993 standards! The macintosh classic computer for example. 1993 had much more powerful computers that could run games like Wolfenstein 3D, Myst, ThunderHawk, and Aces of the Pacific. Not to mention that Doom came out in 1993!