“The guy from the 90s”: young bloggers drew a new image of the hero of another time

It's just that times change, I have to say. Every "cherry", as slang calls nostalgia for the USSR, floats into the past. New generations are choosing a new "beautiful era", which they have not seen, but more understandable. But it is still unexpected when dashing times in the post-perestroika Russia are chosen for “tourism in the past”. Who and why?

Unlike Western nostalgia, our nostalgia for the nineties is "dense, ironic and often "ethnographic." In Russia, the trend is determined not so much by glossy personas and the establishment as by mass flash mobs, musical hits of that time, Balabanov’s films. And the age of passion is also different: the main owners of longing for the 90s are millennials. So people are 30-45 years old.

It is believed that the main visual code for the Russian "girl from the 90s" - "The wife of a bandit". A specific type from crime series and clips of that time from the groups "Combination", Irina Saltykova, Natalia Vetlitskaya. The trend was set by a blogger named Victoria, who launched a viral flash mob in 2021. The girl showed the image of a wife or girlfriend of a serious person: thin plucked eyebrows “in a thread”, a thick layer of dark shadows and carcasses, bright blush, lips surrounded by a dark pencil, a nachez and a leather cloak. The video gained millions of views and provoked a wave of imitations on the Internet.

Later, this type grew with new “status” attributes: a fur coat, a voluminous fur hat, large earrings and mandatory dark glasses “for anonymity”. In part, such an aesthetic set a new fashion for hats-hothouses and fur balls, voluminous ushanks, relevant in 2026.

“The guy from the 90s”, oddly enough, in the domestic expanses acquired a humorous shade. He is not an authority in a raspberry jacket or a brother in a leather jacket. And appears in the cartoon image of blogger Victor from Chelyabinsk, who introduced the “Chelyabinsk builder”. If someone has never seen him, it is worth remembering the meme "witness from Fryazino". Very similar, but only with a mustache. The Chelyabinsk builder flaunts in white or in jackets with metallic shine, his braid-brush is complemented by bangs-"barcode" and red "Zhiguli". Victor shoots ironic videos against the backdrop of unusual public toilets and calls his content "kind and nostalgic.".

The other pole of the comparison to the “guy from the 90s” in Russian social networks glorifies such qualities as “men of the past”, as courage, determination and even some recklessness, desire and ability to fight. Here in the course and narrow jeans, and leather, even nostalgic sweaters in checkers. But in this case, there is no dressing in the style of reenactors, usually from the "guy" take some detail. A haircut with shaved temples and the back of the head, which served as the hallmark of "real boys" in its time. Cut the jackets, the gait, the song about "Jaga-Jaga" in the playlist.

The business caught the trend and made fun of it: several companies produce tracksuits in the style of the 90s. Or hoodies, T-shirts and so on with prints of heroes from cartoons of those years, films like "Brother". On the wave of someone else’s memory, so to speak, even the beer was renewed the same as in 1992.

- This, of course, is not a direct copy of the nineties, but a rethinking, an attempt to understand the essence of the era and its vaibs, says ethnographer, historian Ilya Malinovskiy. The phenomenon is well described by the wording “ethnographic tourism”. Like, you know, "we went back in time." For young people, the nineties look like an exotic, almost alien culture that can be studied by external attributes. In our country, this trip has a bitter taste, many remember their childhood or the stories of loved ones about this difficult period. So we have more humor around the topic, humor is the best defense.

It is believed that the nostalgic trend originated during the pandemic covid, lockdown. Everyone was at home, there was nothing to do. And a viral flash mob hit the planet: "What were you like in the '90s?" Then he turned into "What Were You Like in the '90s?" A peculiar "questionnaire" suddenly touched some secret nostalgic string in people around the world, uniting millions - from ordinary users to world stars. And then the "increased demand" for this decade transformed into a "girl" and "boyfriend" from the 90s.

Zabugorny "boy" is very different from Victor from Chelyabinsk. Aesthetics is based on the image of the older brother-teenage from the late 90s - early 2000s. Clothing: baggy jeans or pants-cargo, T-shirts, leather jackets, tracksuits made of "crumpled" fabric. Attributes: old CD players with headphones, towers from CDs at home, button phones, a can of energy in your hand or pocket. Onions are added massive gold chains and prints, electronic watches, dark “gangster” glasses. Zumers believe that all this reflects the spirit of rebelliousness and “analog” freedom of the time.

“Girl from the 90s” appears in two faces: Slavic Girl (“Slavic Girl”) or “Sitcom Girl”. "Slavic girl" has a glossy, deliberately "rich" look, associated with the wives of the "new Russians". The style is complemented by voluminous fur hats, long fur coats, high heeled boots, large earrings and sunglasses.

In contrast, the sitcom trend "Riddy Girl" expresses a democratic idea. Her appearance is characterized by sports clothes, overalls, oversize longslives, shortened sweaters with wool skirts. As additions - voluminous colored hair gums, belt bags and colored tights. Whether it's Katya Pushkareva from "Don't be born beautiful", or nanny Vika from the first series about Cinderella from Biryulevo, the series "My beautiful nanny".

Psychologists explain the interest in the 1990s among the 20-30-year-old public not only in the United States or Europe, but also in China, South Korea, India, etc., for several reasons. Finding footholds, escaping the anxieties of an information-saturated digital world. The 90s in the mass consciousness are perceived as a time of “simple sincerity”, real communication, childhood without smartphones. Further along the time axis, the young do not look, the last century (and in Russia - the times of the USSR) seem completely incomprehensible to the "ancient world". Retro gadgets (button phones, CD players) are popular for a similar reason: they create psychological comfort and a sense of “analogue” that is lacking.

Vulnerable and thin buzzers, in addition, there is a request for clanship and communication of generations. Immersion in the 90s is their way of touching the culture of their parents and understanding what is known only from stories and the Internet.

Here you can add that in the Russian segment of social networks, nostalgia for the 90s is least “gangster”. Maybe because even young children, many faced in those years with real crime and lawlessness. Or listened to the stories of older people, very close not to the cinema, but to reality.