As Edina and Patsy Return, We Remember Fashion From 2 Decades Ago, When It Was — Ahem — Absolutely Fabulous!

When I was in school in London, I distinctly remember my best friend Lauren telling me about a TV show she watched on BBC 2 the night before called Absolutely Fabulous. The reason she became a fan was the character Edina Monsoon was a little too similar to her mom — extravagant, outrageous, loved a drink or three, and spent more time in Harvey Nichols department store than anyone we knew! From then on, watching the show every Thursday became a ritual for me, and years later, when I started working in fashion in London, I met so many people who considered Eddy or Patsy role models.

Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie opens nationwide today with all the camp and the glitz we’ve missed. To celebrate, I’m looking back at how fashion was when the show first aired in the early 1990s.

In short, the ’90s in London was the bollocks! Brit pop was at its height of cool. The Gallagher brothers were constantly brawling with Alex James and Damon Albarn from Blur. But to me, as amazing as the music and the culture was in London at that time, fashion — both in and out of the city — was above it all. Tom Ford for Gucci was the sexiest thing all of us had ever seen. Versace was something out of an acid trip, and Junior Gaultier was somewhat within reach! Homegrown, there was Kate Moss, the Spice Girls, Alexander McQueen, and John Galliano before Dior. Stella McCartney and her little college mate Phoebe Philo were up-and-comers. The list can keep going! Here, we take a look at the fashion moments that shaped the ’90s.

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