The 1990s: A Visual History of the Decade

A visual celebration of a seminal decade. As the Cold War ended and a new millennium approached, grunge, hip-­hop, and rave exploded in popularity as teenagers and twenty-­somethings searched for something real, something more meaningful. Ostentation was out. Authenticity was in.

And so, we had the first flashes of reality TV, the O. J. Simpson trial, the rise of surveillance culture, and the internet. We had early wake-­up calls to the world of social media as The Truman Show and The Blair Witch Project exploited the emerging visual language of DIY video content. We heard the rallying call of “Girl Power!” from riot grrrls and the Spice Girls. We argued over East Coast versus West Coast rap and Biggie versus Tupac. Ice-T went from “Cop Killer” to TV detective and Will Smith went from the Fresh Prince to a man in black. Cults, crop circles, and conspiracy theories spread while The X-­Files and The Matrix pulled back the curtain on fictional hidden truths. It was the end of history, and it was print’s last hurrah—or so we thought. This book explores history, art, film, music, and culture in a unique, immersive, and visual narrative of a conflicted and momentous decade. A fascinating ecosystem of influence between high and low culture, this stimulating volume makes sense of the decade’s recurring motifs, trends, and themes, from supermodels to airport style and from the fall of the Soviet Union to the end of the world.