When breasts and thighs were private body parts

Woman in stockings lying down. (Courtesy)

Dressing code in the 90s was a blend of a little swag and a balance between modernity and smartness, there was no showcasing of acres of flesh that border on soft nudity.

It was the era when men wore oversize shirts and trousers. And to spice it up, men used to sag the oversize pants. This fashion craze was heavily borrowed from American hip hop artists like Snoop Dog, the Westlife, Backstreet Boys and some WWF wrestlers.

It was also the era of oversize T-shirts and caps as motivated by 50 cents, Coolio, P Diddy, 2 Pac Shakur, Dr Dre and Ice Cube, the rap artists of the USA.

Men and teens of the 90s did not wear the tight jeans and pants being worn today. They did not wear hugging vests and T-Shirts and crop top jeans. There was no showing off butts as the oversize T-Shirts adequately covered all body parts.

The 90s was the era when men, teens and hommies wore big shoes. Wearing military-like boots was a swag and could attract girls like moth to lamplight. Everything trendy then was oversize, including belts.

To bag a village girl or to be the talk of the town, one only needed to wear as described above. To marinate the fashion, a walkman and headphones was a killer additive. It was a head turner, an absolute showstopper.

Accessorizing the baggy clothes with chains and a bandana was every young man’s dream and the perfect way of idolizing American celebs. And it was the surest way of arresting attention on every single move.

For women, it was the era of showing very little skin. It was the generation that did not parade boobs and thighs in public.

Seeing a cleavage then was rare. Boobs were neatly tucked away in one’s clothes. Parading of nyosh was a reserve for flesh traders in Koinage Street and other streets of similar reputation.

The only flesh we were treated to was the back by a garment called mgongo wazi, borrowed from wedding fashions. Everything else was left to the imagination.

A glaring opposite of the current times. Flaunting of flesh has not only been normalized but is also fashionable. Gen Zs have shortened and tightened every garment.

Our mother union underpants have morphed into string-like things called thongs whose purpose is unknown as they cover nothing. Worse, the thongs have been made public.

The 90s blouses, T-Shirts and Polo shirts have been shortened to crop tops leaving acres of space between the waist and the top. To spice the optics, the left space is accessorized with a tattoo or a navel piercing.

Talking of navel, this was the most sacred part of the body and was hidden from the public. It was a body part reserved for the bathroom and the bedroom.

Bra, a must wear of the 90s, has been discarded and replaced with tight tops at times forcing the boobs to pop out.