What to Wear - 20131030

The first use of the word grunge was used to describe the Seattle sound that emerged during the mid-1980s. The grunge musicians were noted for their unkempt appearances and rejection of theatrics. “Grunge is nothing more than the way we dress when we have no money” the designer Jean Paul Gaultier told Vogue in 1993. As Gaultier observed, grunge style was largely born of necessity and it was functional, too (flannels for warmth, boots to keep out the wet). It is a representation of nihilism that had been evolving among members of the college-rock and hardcore underground for more a decade but was only just beginning to meet the commercial mainstream via MTV. 

“Punk was antifashion” James Truman, then editor in chief of Details, said. “It made a statement. Grunge is about not making a statement, which is why it’s crazy for it to become a fashion statement.”

Marc Jacobs, the prime mover of the trend, described his infamous grunge collection, which eventually cost him his job at Perry Ellis, to the Times as a “hippied romantic version of punk.”

In 2013, Saint Laurent dresses his grunge woman like a bas-ass schoolgirl who wears plaid dresses, heavy studs and embellishments. Keep it rebellious with fishnet tights and biker boots.

A trend for all of us who grew up listening to the heavily distorted electric guitar sound of Sonic Youth, Nirvana and Pearl Jam.

Saint Laurent embellished plaid wool dress here

ZARA leather biker jacket here

Peeter leather multi-strap worker boots by Dune here

ZARA tights here

Estee Lauder double wear stay-in-place gel eyeliner here

Estee Lauder sumptuous bold volume lifting mascara here

Rayban wayfarer sunglasses