Be Adventurous: Grunge

Growing up with two brothers born in the 90s- I heard plenty of grunge and rock music when I was young. We had stacks of CDs and drawers overflowing with tattered band tees and distressed jeans. Grunge music and style are nostalgic to me for these reasons, so I was ecstatic to explore and research this form of fashion for my Be Adventurous series. Hand-in-hand with the music genre, the grunge style is one of my favourites to look at on others- but have never really tried it out for myself- until now! So, here’s my first proper experience with grunge fashion.

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Grunge (both the fashion and music styles) perfectly encapsulates teenage frustration and angst that we all experienced growing up. The rebellious nature of this fashion stems from a couple of things. Mainly, the refusal to conform to societal norms and anti-establishment of the late 1980s and early 90s. Bands like Soundgarden and Nirvana started influencing people’s lifestyles as well as their fashion. The anti-capitalist ideas of the movement led to vintage and oversized pieces becoming fashionable. Signs of wear and tear are what we’re looking for when exploring grunge- meaning ripped jeans and old leather jackets are perfect for grunge looks. Baggy jumpers, jackets and jeans are popular grunge pieces. I’ll be trying my best to incorporate these into my outfits.

Grunge is closely associated with punk and gothic fashions. It shares some similarities with these styles- but grunge is very distinct and recognisable. Like most styles, other sub-genres have branched off from grunge, including soft-grunge which takes elements of this rougher and darker style and adds softer colours. But I will mainly be exploring grunge fashion in its original form (with the occasional modern aspect) for this blog post. Although if this is something you’d be interested to see, please let me know in the comments below or on my social media pages.

My first outfit is inspired by “traditional” grunge, with baggy clothes and a loose silhouette. My mum’s vintage Levis are perfect for this look. I paired it with this Jack Daniels tank I borrowed from Ryan. I rolled up the jeans to break up the outfit a little and show more skin. I also added one of Ryan’s slouch beanies and a pentagram necklace as finishing touches. I love the casualness of this outfit- I can see myself wearing it out and about at university and around town. I would love to recreate this outfit in the future with a Nirvana or Soundgarden T-shirt to be more accurate to the style. However, with the ongoing pandemic, I have to make do until charity shops reopen.

My second outfit has to be my favourite. I matched this distressed jumper with a pair of tartan leggings. I felt that baggy ripped jeans are not something I would wear normally, so I decided against buying some for this post. However, patterns like tartan and plaid are popular in grunge fashion, so these were perfect. I wish the jumper were a few sizes too big for me. However, when I saw it on the charity shop rails for a fiver, I immediately fell in love with it. Although Guns N’ Roses aren’t a grunge band, the distressed effect on the band’s logo along with the strategic rips makes it ideal for grungey outfits. I asked to borrow Ryan’s leather jacket to achieve the oversized look, as all my jackets are too well-fitting. I stole another one of Ryan’s beanies for this outfit as well.

This outfit is more modern grunge compared to my first one. It incorporates more modern and “chic” elements without subtracting from the original style. Most modern grunge outfits have trendy silhouettes- using fitted tartan skirts and trousers contrasted with oversized t-shirts and sweatshirts. Adding a feminine aspect to an otherwise masculine style suits me more. Oversized and baggy clothes tend to drown me so, the progression of grunge fashion to include more fitted clothing helps me out as a short person.

To top both my outfits off- I threw on a pair of beat-up, old Dr Marten’s boots. Back in the day, Dr Marten’s boots were worn by punks and skinheads all over Britain well before the grunge movement came about in the late 1980s. Although intended as work-wear, they quickly became fashionable after musicians such as Pete Townshend from The Who began wearing them. Now they are a well-known fashion shoe brand worn in many different fashion styles. The pair I’m wearing used to be my school boots, so they are well-worn- perfect for grunge outfits.

For make-up, I decided to stay minimal to fit the messy, grunge aesthetic. I applied black eye-shadow with a narrow smudging brush to create an eye-liner kind of look. The rest of my face is make-up free to connect with the rebellious nature of the grunge style.

Grunge is one of my favourite styles that I have explored on the blog- it’s a style I can see myself wearing a lot. I can’t wait to experiment with the more modern aspects of grunge by mixing in more “girly” pieces to add femininity to the style. Do you like grunge fashion? What other fashion styles should I explore? Please tell me about it in the comments.

Thanks for reading x

Photography: Ryan Duff