appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Bloomberg

In London, there is a new bar called Bunga 90 themed on nostalgia, with an entrance through a mock-up Blockbuster-esque video store and bands like The Cranberries blasting over the loudspeakers.
This summer, the Oasis reunion tour sold out stadiums around the world. Former British Vogue editor Edward Enninful is curating a ’90s exhibition at the Tate Britain art museum to open next year. And on runways and at retailers, ’90s trends are omnipresent, such as checked skirts that look straight out of Clueless.
Nostalgia for the 1990s is not new. Experts say that 20 years is the general threshold for trends to cycle back, with two decades being the amount of time required to start feeling wistful about another era rather than seeing it as the recent past. Think about how the Americana musical Grease was released in 1978, but set in 1958.
But 30-something years later, ’90s trends are still dominating pop culture.
“The love for the ’90s is still hanging on, partially because the ’90s was the last gasp of an analogue age, before the internet took hold of every aspect of our lives,” says Lauren Bravo, author of What Would the Spice Girls Do?

Bravo says the decade holds an extra fascination for younger generations who cannot remember a time before everything was permanently online. For those of us who can, it is as if we are yearning for what we remember as simpler times.
“A good example of the current trend is parents installing landline phones in their houses so their teens can chat to their friends without having smartphones,” Bravo says. “It has huge practical benefits but also appealing retro aesthetics for kids who think the ’90s were the height of cool.”
Beyond pining for a time when people were not constantly online and mining their lives for #content, Bravo says there is also a point to be made about the ’90s being the last time before everything started feeling so terrifying.
The Berlin Wall had just come down, apartheid came to an end in South Africa, and the economy boomed for much of the decade in the United States.
In the United Kingdom, a landslide Labour victory in 1997 brought the left wing to power for the first time since 1979. But the optimism that had been unleashed in the West seemed to screech to a halt after September 11 and the war on terror that followed.

Matthew Pateman, head of the department of English and creative arts at Edge Hill University in England, and author of a book on the cult-favourite television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003), sees two reasons nostalgia for this decade is strong.
The first is that many of the people producing television shows or arranging stadium tours are now in their late thirties, forties and fifties and likely remember the ’90s fondly.
“The more cynical version, which the Oasis tour would speak to, is that both artists and promoters and networks and streamers realise that there’s a lot of disposable income based in the ’90s because there’s a proven track record of success that they can just plug into,” Pateman says. “It’s probably easier to imagine a Buffy reboot as it is to go with a completely untried new kind of idea.”
A new Buffy project is currently in development at Hulu, with the pilot directed by Oscar-winner Chloé Zhao. A Baywatch reboot is also on the way. Those are American-made television shows, but Pateman thinks that some of the ’90s nostalgia is particularly strong in the UK.

“There was the massive expansion of Brit-pop and a sense of cultural delight, with the Union flag being a sign of genuine unity, whether that was with the Spice Girls or David Bowie’s coat in 1997,” Pateman says, referring to a Union Jack coat designed by Alexander McQueen that the late rock icon wore in 1996.
Bravo, who is based in Brighton, UK, agrees. “We had Cool Britannia, we had a landslide Labour victory, we had the Spice Girls and young British artists earning adoration around the world, and there was a mood of massive optimism for the future,” she says, adding that it was possibly the last time she remembers the country feeling this way.
There was a Labour landslide in the 2024 election, too, but the national mood has soured fast since then. An Ipsos poll ranks Keir Starmer as the most unpopular prime minister on record. And the flag that delighted crowds when worn by Geri Halliwell and David Bowie has taken on darker connotations: this summer, it was a prominent feature of anti-immigration protests.

That is not to mention how different the economy feels, especially in terms of cost-of-living concerns and stagnant wages. According to the UK’s Office of National Statistics, the cost of buying a house in London in 1997 – that rose-tinted Cool Britannia year – was four times median earnings. In 2024, it was 11.06 times.
“The ’90s were more hopeful times, Britain felt like a great place, and in the last 10 years, especially post-Brexit, our standing in the world doesn’t feel as good,” says Charlie Gilkes, the co-founder of hospitality company Inception Group.
He opened Bunga 90, a ’90s-themed bar, karaoke and pizza venue, in September near London’s Covent Garden. It has a capacity of just under 300 guests.
“It’s been the most bonkers opening we’ve ever had in terms of sheer demand,” says Gilkes, whose company has been running bars and restaurants for 16 years. He says Inception Group started planning the concept for Bunga 90 back in January.
“There are people in their thirties and forties who are clearly reliving the 1990s,” he says, as well as customers “who weren’t even born who are loving living the 1990s vibe for the first time and are probably bored of their parents talking about how great this decade was”.

He adds that the cocktail menu has ’90s staples such as appletinis and cosmos. Bacardi Breezers are a popular order. The alcoholic fruit-flavoured drink was launched in the UK in 1993, discontinued in 2015 and made a UK comeback this summer.
All the nostalgia has been very popular on social media. “I am aware of the irony that people are finding out about the bar on Instagram and we’re harkening back to a social-media-free age,” Gilkes says.
When will we move on from the 1990s to the indie sleaze era of the early 2000s? It is hard to see it happening any time soon. The downbeat mood of 2025 in the UK may be too similar to the Great Recession for anyone to feel nostalgic just yet.
“Maybe five or six years from now we can look back with great fondness at the austerity period of the mid-noughties,” Pateman says.


History of mooncake moulds and their designs, and those preserving the craft

Fan Ho’s poetic photos of mid-20th century Hong Kong show in an unlikely place

Tapestry depicting English history’s ‘most important event’ back in UK after 1,000 years

Crouching dragons: the suicide divers Japan never sent to war

History

Why is everyone still obsessed with the ’90s? It was a ‘more hopeful’ time

People sing karaoke at Bunga 90, a ’90s-themed bar, karaoke and pizza venue in London. The decade continues to dominate culture, and experts offer insights as to why. Photo: Bunga 90

(From left) Liam Gallagher, Paul Arthurs and Noel Gallagher of Oasis perform on August 31, 2025, at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. Photo: AP

British politician Tony Blair celebrates with supporters outside 10 Downing Street, in London, after the Labour government won the general election in a historic landslide in May 1997. Photo: AFP

A still from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series. A sequel series is in the works at Hulu.

David Bowie wears a coat bearing a Union Jack design during a concert in England in July 1996. The coat was created by Alexander McQueen. Photo: Getty Images

Bunga 90 in London is themed on nostalgia for the 1990s.

Charlie Sheen memoir details the rise and drug-fuelled fall of the Hollywood and TV star

Charlie Sheen discusses his memoir The Book of Sheen at 92nd Street Y, New York on September 8, 2025. Photo: AP

The cover of The Book of Sheen, by Charlie Sheen. Photo: AP

Sheen in a still from Platoon (1986), the film that made him a star. Photo: SCMP

Sheen with his ex-wife, US actress Denise Richards, at the Los Angeles premiere of Netflix’s Aka Charlie Sheen, at the Tudum theatre in Hollywood, California, on September 4, 2025. Photo: AFP

David Duchovny (left) and Sheen discuss Sheen’s memoir The Book of Sheen at 92nd Street Y, New York on September 8, 2025. Photo: AP

Y2K fashion won’t die: TikTok, Bella Hadid helping to fuel Gen Z love for mesh tops, miniskirts, ‘Barbiecore’ and more

Bella Hadid in New York in 2021. Her outfit choices are often analysed by fashion magazines and other on-lookers. Photo: Getty Images

K-pop idol Bibi in a Y2K-inspired outfit. Fashion trends from the early 2000s are far from dead. Experts explain why. Photo: Instagram/@nakedbibi

Socialite Paris Hilton attends a fashion show in Venice, California in 2003. Photo: Getty Images

Bella Hadid in New York in 2021. Her outfit choices are often analysed by fashion magazines and other onlookers. Photo: Getty Images

Yasmeen Bekhit, a 22-year-old graduate student, gravitates toward looser, flowy trousers, flare-legged jeans and tighter shirts like mesh tops. Photo: AP

Bekhit holds her Y2K-inspired bag. Photo: AP

Return of Y2K fashion: why the Gen Z looks of Kim Kardashian, Paris Hilton and Britney Spears are making a comeback

Britney Spears – in any outfit – set the standard for Y2K fashion. Now that it’s is cool again, we look back at some of the trends that helped define the OG decade.

A TV Plus cover from the early 2000 starring Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie.

A 2020 version of the Fendi Baguette

LOUIS VUITTON MURAKAMI SPEEDY BAG

Mischa Barton during Nickelodeon's 17th Annual Kids' Choice Awards - Arrivals at Pauley Pavillion in Westwood, California, United States. (Photo by Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic)

Dior spring/summer 2021

The Prince Of Wales'S Visit To South Africa.Meeting With Nelson Mandela & The Spice Girls. . (Photo by Mark Cuthbert/UK Press via Getty Images)

Steve Madden Slinky Slides

Takeshi Kaneshiro, one of the ‘most good-looking’ actors in Hong Kong cinema and star of some of Wong Kar-wai and Peter Chan’s best movies, is a man of mystery

Takeshi Kaneshiro at an interview with the Post in July 2004. Kaneshiro, who debuted as a singer in Taiwan in 1992, has not been seen on the big screen since 2017 – but remains as popular as ever. Photo: SCMP

Takeshi Kaneshiro and Zhou Dongyu in a still from “This Is Not What I Expected” (2017).

Takeshi Kaneshiro and Brigitte Lin in a still from “Chungking Express” (1994). 

Takeshi Kaneshiro and Kyoko Fukada in a still from the drama series “God, Please Give Me More Time” (1998).

(From left) Xu Jinglei, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Andy Lau, Jet Li, Jacky Heung and director Peter Chan promote “The Warlords” at an event in December 2007. Photo: SCMP

Takeshi Kaneshiro in a still from “Perhaps Love” (2005).

Takeshi Kaneshiro and Michele Reis in “Fallen Angels” (1995). Photo: Block 2 Pictures and Jet Tone Contents

Takeshi Kaneshiro in an interview with the Post in December 2006. Photo: SCMP

Lifestyle

Entertainment

Nostalgia for the ’90s continues to thrive, especially in the UK, where themed bars, exhibitions and fashion continue to reflect the decade


Nostalgia for the ’90s continues to thrive, especially in the UK, where themed bars, exhibitions and fashion continue to reflect the decade.


Why is everyone still obsessed with the ’90s? It was a ‘more hopeful’ time

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Nostalgia for the ’90s continues to thrive, especially in the UK, where themed bars, exhibitions and fashion continue to reflect the decade

Nostalgia for the ’90s continues to thrive, especially in the UK, where themed bars, exhibitions and fashion continue to reflect the decade