With graphic tees, battered sneakers, and hoodies, Jonah Hill’s Mid90s movie is a homage to fashion’s off-the-wall look. For those who are not familiar with the film, it’s a coming-of-age story that also explores the skating culture in Los Angeles in 1995.

The story revolves around the life of five young boys and their adolescent activities. With issues like underage sex, smoking weed, chugging a beer, and other youthful hijinx, the Mid90s can be considered a rite-of-passage film.

If you put the plot aside, you can see that the film puts the spotlight on skateboard fashion. From the characters’ Thrasher clothing and baggy trousers to cropped vests and dungarees, people brought up in 1995 will find the movie nostalgic and captivating.  

Alternatively, the film is also a happy inspiration for avid fans of skater fashion. It takes a deep dive into the style of the decade worth remembering.

Skate Look and Fashion

As seen in the movie, the skater look is now an accepted and widely followed trope of fashion. The vast streetwear category, including trainers, tracksuit trousers, hoodies, graphic tees, and boards, defined the skater culture. Since the past decade, the said culture has skyrocketed in terms of profile, following, and earnings.  

It started as a niche but evolved into a style that people love to wear and flaunt. In 2017, streetwear contributed 5% to the overall sales of personal luxury goods, and brands originating from skate culture were instrumental to this.  

Thrasher  

Thrasher clothing started as a magazine for avid skaters. Eventually, celebrities and models started wearing tees and hoodies from this brand. This helped the burning flame logo transition from being free merchandise to a top-of-the-line streetwear brand.  

As the brand became more popular, models started wearing tees, hoodies, and other merchandise from the brand too. These models include Molly Bair, Sarah Brannon, Lexi Boling, Binx Walton, and Cristina Hermann. In fact, you can check out their social media accounts and see how they mix and match their favorite Thrasher clothing.  

Mid90s Spotlight on Skater Culture  

Skateboarding’s fame back in the eighties was unmatched. Before that, skaters never landed lead roles in teen flicks or graced the covers of magazines. Skateboarding became so huge that it grew into three different genres: freestyle, street, and vert.

Street included slides, launches, cruisers, and Ollies through suburban and urban environments. Vert ramps were empty pools where 70s riders practised to air up.

Freestyle, on the other hand, is much different. It’s closer to roller-skating and dance, where skaters execute rehearsed trick-based “routines” on their narrow boards.  

Though street and vert continued its popularity in the late 80s, freestyle apparently vanished. Fortunately, skateboarding rose from the ashes in the 90s. Mid90s captured these beautiful, fleeting years where skateboarding regained its popularity and momentum.  

With the attention given to the characters’ clothing and storyline, you can glean the movie’s love affair with the skater culture.

After watching the film, you will understand how the golden era of skateboarding looked like. You will also gain insight into why people are so attracted to the culture.  

From the graphic tees, battered sneakers, and hoodies, the 13-year-old protagonist surely made any avid skater fan happy.

Plus, the director did not even attempt to polish the scenes and the era. It can now join Z-Boys, Dogtown, and Kids as one of the movies with a bona fide skater-style reference.