1993. It was the year New Kids on the Block called it quits, Prince changed his name to a symbol, River Phoenix died of an overdose outside The Viper Room and Lorena Bobbitt severed her husband’s er, appendage.
If you’re having trouble casting your mind back nearly two decades (who isn’t?) here is a pop culture snapshot of what else was happening that year.
A 19 year-old Kate Moss wore a transparent slip dress to the Elite Model Agency Look of the Year party at the Hilton in London
On television we were watching E Street, A Country Practice, Melrose Place, Beverly Hills 90210, Northern Exposure and Seinfeld. We sat down nightly to watch game shows Family Feud, Wheel of Fortune and Sale of the Century.
The top 10 singles in Australia were:
1. “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)” Meat Loaf
2. “I Will Always Love You” Whitney Houston
3. “You Don’t Treat Me No Good” Sonia Dada
4. “Sweat (A La La La La Long)” Inner Circle
5. “(I Can’t Help) Falling in Love with You” UB40
6. “Informer” Snow
7. “What’s Up” 4 Non Blondes
8. “Cat’s in the Cradle” Ugly Kid Joe
9. “All That She Wants” Ace of Base
10. “Please Forgive Me” Bryan Adams
At the box office we were watching Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List, Sleepless in Seattle, Philadelphia, Indecent Proposal and future A-List movie stars, Matthew McConaughey, Ben Affleck, and Milla Jovovich starred in Dazed and Confused.
I remember 1993 clearly as the year my braces came off; I hit puberty and got my first boyfriend. My whole closet was a fashion misfire. Key pieces included: an oversized Esprit denim jacket, yellow-stitched Doc Martens, a multi-coloured Mambo backpack, a striped crop top from (now defunct store) Hound Dog, a pork pie Stüssy hat and I seem to recall having a fondness for American baseball jerseys. I probably wore all six items together on mufti day.
What where you wearing (or doing) in 1993?
 in 1993? on http://www.mamamia.com.au){kind=link}
Comments
167 Comments so far
I was being born
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1993.
I felt an overwhelming, raging, just cannot put into words, surge of pure love / protectiveness, when I saw my newborn son for the very first time.
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I was born!!!
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How random, in my dream last night there was a woman in it and I was saying “don’t you think she looks like Blossom?!” and no-one knew what I was talking about! .
I was in year 6 in 1993. Loved 90210, had a pair of reebok pumps, was in love with Joey Lawrence and Jeremy Jordan.
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I was in year 7, desperate for a pair of Doc Martins and having to settle for Blundstones for far too long because my parents wouldn’t lash out to pay for them. Although I had an older sister inspiring my musical taste, I never really heard of kurt cobain until he died!… When he did he became a god, who got plastered all over every school diary. 1993 was also the year of wagging school and compression sessions (ever heard of those) ? Oh and my first awkward kiss. Ah, good times.
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I am sooo much older than most of the people posting here. I was 29 and 1993 was the last year of a three year backpacking stint in Europe. A few days before Christmas I returned home to Australia. In all honesty, I was confident, slim and sexy. I was at the top of my game – ha ha. Married my now husband two years later and I reckon I’m still confident and sometimes sexy but slim is a relative term. I know I had a very limited wardrobe and the majority of it was black – even my swimming costume was black. I had long brown hair with blonde streaks in it (it’s jet black now). It was a very good year for me and brings back great memories.
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Was the year i first laid eyes on my husbnd. I was 15 and he worked a seaworld and stopped to give me a lift when i was walking home from school. We are still together now and i still think hes hot!
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I was 5, started Prep with horrible hair and wanted to be the pink power ranger.
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I was at uni, listening to Nirvana, watching Northern Exposure, reading The Face. Love it!
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With the Vogue cover – why is the V and E behind the models’ heads but not the OGU. Looks awkward. And poor Claudia is wearing the worst of it.
(yes, graphic designer in the house)
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Whoa, spin out. This was my first year as a teenager. I think I still know all the words to every one of those songs.
And Blossom, bless, I loved her SO much.
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I was in high school.
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In 1993 I was wearing track pants, a maternity bra and vomit in my hair.
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1993 I went to my first wedding as bridesmaid for my sister, cried all day and didn’t win the bouquet. thought i’d meet some prince charming at the wedding but instead all my cousins were there!
I was in year 10, wore braces, got my first part time job, first black bra and watched all my friends get boyfriends.
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I was in Year 10, listening to Madonna, Prince, Salt N Pepa & Ice Cube. I didn’t have a Kuta Lines jumper but I wanted one. I wore overalls, floral dresses wtih cherry-red Doc Marten boots, Cross Colors jeans & baseball tops. Catching the train to Melbourne from the country town I lived in was a big deal, especially with a bunch of school mates to go shopping for a day in Bourke St Mall! Rock Eisteddfod, dance class, debating and working part time in a cafe took up my spare time! Oh and swooning over pictures of Mark Wahlberg & Johnny Depp of course…
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Started high school as a huge tom-boy. Got my period shortly after and thought my life was over!!
Also, couldn’t help but sing the titles of those top ten songs! Lover, lover, lover….you don’t treat me no good no more.
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OMG i must download Informer immediately when i get home!!
How did i not know that Blossom is Amy from Big Bang Theory??? weird
In 1993 i was in grade 1. i don’t remember much of it except a boy climbed onto the cupboards and peed on the teacher when she walked in.
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1993 = grunge! Grade 10. Wearing clothes my mother detested and listening to music she also detested like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots etc. Great time for music. I still remember the day River Phoenix died. My friend and I were on the school bus. Completely devestated. We were so in love with him!
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I was in Year 5. Our school didnt have many males teachers, so getting one in year 5, we thought he was GOD. We loved cross-colour jeans (where the denim is one colour but the stitching is another). I had an awesome red pair which I wore with a thick black belt and a white blouse that had very frilly sleeves. I thought I looked so good!!
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1993 … will always be The Year Mum Died. She was 48 and had been battling cancer since she was 39. I was 21 when she died.
It was the start of some tough times. Within a few months, I broke up with my boyfriend, had some close friends move interstate and overseas (who I sorely missed), changed jobs, moved out from my house … I’m just glad I don’t have to relive those days! Lots of it is a blur now, but I remember clearly the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach every morning, when I would wake up and realise I had to live another day
Life is so good these days – lucky me.
To anyone else going through that now, I send you all strength – hold tight, it will get better!
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It was my first year of uni. 1993 for me is:
* Going to the Tunnel (eek!) nightclub most Saturday nights with my friends who were desperate to hook up with AFL footballers (Jason McCartney was in their sights).
* Wearing vintage american 501s purchased on Greville street with black velvet jacket from Morticias (Chapel St).
* Having my first serious relationship
* Driving my silver Sigma with a picture of the D-Gen stuck with blu-tak to my dashboard (I had a crush on Santo & Rob Sitch)
* Failing all but one of my uni subjects in first semester and laughing about it like it was something cool to do (!)
* Being desperate to get a copy of Bass Bumpers “the musics got me” that I heard at the Tunnel all the time but could never find it!
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I was in year 12, and pretty much doing all of the above.
What I was wearing was flannel, docs, flares and anything purchased at Dangerfield.
The most scary thing though – going to see Matt Corby at the Corner Hotel this week was like a walk down fashion memory lane. It was like 1993 had vomited all over the room. I must have missed that memo in my skinny jeans and ankle boots!!!
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I started kindergarten!
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Me too! What a great year
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I loved Northern Exposure!!!! I remember my fluoro happy pants and hyper colour singlets that changed colour with heat!!!
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I was 10 and had just moved from Bris-Vegas to our farm in Central NSW (which nearly 20 years later I still refer to as home despite having moved to the big smoke over 10 years ago)! I was all about the cropped tops with denim overalls and coloured sand shoes. I’d also just discovered Girlfriend and Dolly magazine and would spend hours lying on my bed listening to Kylie on my walkman, devouring the mags escaping two “so annoying” little brothers. Weekends were spent riding my horse over to my (still) bestfriend’s house so we could build cubby houses in the scrub and then play marco polo in their pool. We had THE BEST games, we’d set up a rollerblade cafe on their veranda, play shop fronts (I was always the newsagent because I was magazine obsessed) or play pre-schools where we were all teachers, or hospitals where I always ended up being patient (or mother of a patient – cue cabbage patch doll). What is particularly funny is that those games are now real life! I’m in PR and mags, my bestie is a doctor and her sister a teacher – so clearly or passion for our careers stemmed back to a tiny country town and our imagination…
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My home will always be where I gre up.
I moved and bought my place 10 years ago but home is where I am right now – my parents!
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I was 8 years old and in love with U2 who were about to roll into town for their Zoo TV tour. My mum wouldn’t let me see them in Concert!
I remember wearing Canterbury “uglies” jersies thinking they were way cool and had a mullet hair cut for most of that year…. Ewww
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My style in 1993 – onesies and nappies.
I was born in January of 1993.
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I was only 2 in 1993, so don’t remember anything! however the photos have been very entertaining to look at
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Getting married. In a raw silk meringue dress adorned with dusky pink fabric rosettes and pale mint leaves. With Sarah Ferguson ringlets. And a HUGE tumbling bouquet. And white court shoes. To my gawjus man. Bliss!!
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Great photo!
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I was 10 years old, in Year 5 at school. I had a reversible Kuta Lines jacket, which I used to wear with my Stussy ‘happy pants’ – bright coloured, made from flannel material, scrunched in at the ankles (could I have looked any less feminine if i tried?!).
I was obsessed with 90210 and for my birthday got a 90210 collage book and burgundy 90210-branded overalls. Cringing at the thought of it.
At school we played with ‘pogs’ until they got banned from the playground, so we moved on to ‘catch and kiss’ – presumably not what the teachers had in mind when they created the ban.
Ahhhh, good times…
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I had a 5 year old and a 2 year old and unhappily married.
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I was in year 9. Loved reading all these other trips down memory lane. I had the kuta Lines jumper. A massive poster of Edward furlong on my wall. Very outrageous patterned leggings worn with men’s t-shirts and flannos. Slouch socks that gave my legs a tan line half way up my calf. I was just starting to discover grunge. Was this the year of November Rain?
I really wish I’d kept some of those clothes.
Why did Simon Denny/Baker change his name?
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Slouch socks!! Oh, the memories!
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I was in year 12, doing my HSC! Turned 18, went to the local pub legally for the first time, had many great times with my school friends – worked hard, played hard! Oh the memories! 1993 was an awesome year for me!
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1993 – living in Thailand, pre ATMs, Maccas and KFC invasion when you still had to take a book into Bank of Bangkok branch to get money out and they closed or lunch hour!
I was working as a Clubmate (sports, activities, entertainment, kids club etc) and living in a 5 star resort.
Later in 1993 I moved to Mediterranean and did similar job. What a brilliant way to see the world in early 20s. Lots of happy memories and non-digital photos!
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Informer something something a licky boom boom down
That’s totally how that song goes right?
Lol anyway I was 5.
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i’m glad i’m not the only one who was 5/6 years old when Informer came out who remembers it!
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That photo of Elaine reminded me I used to wear long floral dresses with brogues to uni….very on trend!
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All that I remember about 1993 is starting Primary School and taking such a horrible school photo. A few weeks beforehand I had jumped from a trampoline on to a chair and in the process I smashed my mouth in to said chair. This lead to my top front tooth being pushed back up in to my gum. It eventually made its way back down but was a disgusting grey colour. Of course the photographers forced me to smile. So now I’m in possession of a photo of a 5 year-old me with a huge smile on my face with my gross grey tooth on display.
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I was wearing lots of sunflowers on patterned leggings or a big one on a floppy black hat; floral dresses with opaque tights and docs; coloured shorts with two-tone t-shirts, vests with opaque tights and docs (there’s a theme here!), had my big red curly spiral perm chopped off, straightened and cut into a chocolate brown bob. I was listening to Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots, Lush, Aussie band the Clouds (went to every Sydney gig), moved in with my now husband, had a blast!
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The Supermodels look so healthy. 20 years has made a huge different to that industry.
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Hypercolour T Shirts!!!!
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First year of Uni & turned 18. Looking back I wish we had a ‘gap year’ back then. Uni bars & first proper boyfriend. Gave both away at the end of the year – best decision ever, lol!
Country road bags & I recall using a yellow walkman (when did we start carrying around those bulky portable CD players? maybe then & I was too poor?). Boots with dresses was a new edgy look. Over-sized denim shirts. Nasty….
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Im glad i was only 4 years old…ahhh the fashion!!! haha that Blossom show is that Amy from Big Bang Theory??
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It is! She also played the young version of Bette Midler’s character in Beaches.
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Growing in my mother to be born early December
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Oh the memories that gallery brought back. I was in year 10, had a mad crush on a guy who as it turned out had a mad crush on me, his bf gave me a valentines day card at the train station after school from him & we “went out” for a while……
Year 10 formal – the photos are hillarious now!
We used to cover our school books & folders with pictures of 90′s “supermodels” and I worshiped Kelly from Beverly Hills 90210, Amanda Woodward from Melrose Place, and Kate Moss. Good times!
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Did you see the South Park episode where they find a man from the early nineties frozen in the ice and no one can understand him and he has to be kept in a cage where his “natural habitat” is replicated? They have a Fargo poster on his wall and Ace of Base’s All That She Wants playing?
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haha that episode is funny! and his wife remarried and had a son who was older than how long the man was missing for!
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I was 4 and a half and just starting school!
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oh nostalgia. yep i was a brand-new teenager and you just summed up my life.
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Ah what a cracker year! I was in yr 11, I was a major NKOTB fan but had grown out of them by this time. I got my first boyfriend and lost my virgitiy. Everytime I hear that song “informer” I think of him. Lovely guy.
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In 93 – 94 i came back from Scotland/England after 2 yrs away because my boyfriend at the time committed suicide….not a great time… but I had a great few years before, and now I am married with a 2 yr old, so it al worked out in t end….but not a great time for me.
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wow, when my boyfriend committed suicide i also went to Scotland /england (& the USA)… this was in 2007 though. Something about Scotland that is very healing- maybe it’s my scottish blood?!
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I was 8 so little sticks out in my memory, but what does grab me from those pictures is how real Kylie looked. Lots of those people in the pictures have changed a lot (cough had surgery) but Kylie looks so fresh and natural, it’s a shocking contrast to the plastic mask she is now.
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I had my first child in September 1993 (he’s off to Uni this year!). The year kind of went by in a blur being pregnant and working full time.
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