The 90s Are Officially Back — Here’s Proof (And How to Get In On It)

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Nobody asked señoras if we were ready for this, but here we are. The culture has suddenly decided that we are olds and that our nostalgia is retro.

It’s about tine our youth is back in style!

It may have started with Stranger Things and the Little House on the Pairie reboot, but now it’s Jem and the Holograms officially in development at Amazon MGM Studios, with Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan’s Kilter Films producing. If you spent any part of your childhood convinced you too could have a holographic computer named Synergy, this is your sign.

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Then there’s Kevin McCallister. Macaulay Culkin has reportedly met with Disney to pitch his own idea for a Home Alone reboot, with reports describing it as a legacy sequel. We don’t have details yet, but the fact that this conversation is even happening tells you everything about where the culture’s head is at.

Claire’s (the mall store) saw the whole thing coming before we did. After two bankruptcies, the retailer is rebuilding around a simple bet: that the millennial moms shopping there now have deep nostalgia for the brand, even if nostalgia alone won’t be enough to keep it open. Piercing ears was one of the first things it brought back, relaunching that in-store experience across the U.S. and Canada as one of its biggest operational investments in years. They know exactly who they’re selling to. It’s us. It was always going to be us.

Even the concert circuit caught the fever. Olivia Rodrigo’s Daisy Chain Fields festival, inspired by the ’90s all-women Lilith Fair tour, sold out in 30 minutes. She told Diane Sawyer that Lilith Fair founder Sarah McLachlan was the first person she called when she decided to start the festival. A whole generation of us grew up on that era of music without even knowing it was shaping our taste. Apparently it stuck.

And then there’s Von Dutch, back on the mall map through a collaboration with Aeropostale — trucker hats and tracksuits doing their victory lap all over again, whether we asked for it or not.

None of this is a coincidence. It’s a full-blown recession-proof, dopamine-proof, comfort-driven return to the things that made us feel like ourselves before we had mortgages and group chats about school pickup schedules.

So here’s where you come in

You don’t need Amazon to greenlight a series or a festival lineup to get your fix. You can get the actual physical objects — the ones sitting in a box somewhere at your mom’s house, or the ones you’re buying for the kid version of yourself now — today, from your couch.

I put together a small collection of Strawberry Shortcake and Rainbow Brite pieces that are doing exactly what Claire’s is betting on: hitting that soft spot for the millennial mom while somehow also working for her Gen Alpha kid. Pajama sets, the character dolls, the backpacks, the mugs that are honestly too cute to only use for coffee. A few standouts:

The Strawberry Shortcake pajama sets (adult and kid sizing both available) for the person who wants their nostalgia to also be comfortable

The Loyal Subjects Rainbow Brite and Strawberry Shortcake figures, which look like they belong on a shelf, not in a toy bin

The Rainbow Brite backpack, which somehow looks more current than half of what’s in stores right now

Strawberry Shortcake 18″ Backpack

$22.99

So here’s where you come in

Mugs and mini planters for the desk — low commitment, high joy

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