Fashion and music from the 1980s and 90s have gained popularity in recent months, and Jupiter High students and teachers are embracing the trends.

JHS teachers have noticed their students adopting styles from the 80s and 90s, especially Rebecca Hansen, an AICE Global Perspectives and dance teacher. She too has embraced the trends, like oversized shirts and flared jeans, and has not only been dressing the part but also sharing her students’ love for retro music. 

“I think it’s great that kids are venturing out listening to music compared to mumble rap,” Hansen said. “There are so many forms of music during this time between rock ‘n’ roll, reggae and punk rock.” 

In addition to artists from the 80s and 90s, students are discovering current artists who were influenced by older musicians. Hansen has heard her students mention Kenny Loggins, Sublime, Dirty Heads and Bob Marley and the Wailers.

“Seeing kids expand their horizons allows for more soulful and meaningfulness to music rather than rap,” Hansen said. “The 90s were a difficult time for music. It was like a fight between your older sibling who loves the grunge hardcore stuff, and the boy bands people my age loved, like the Backstreet Boys.”

While some students are seeking out vinyl records, cassette tapes and CDs as a way to revisit older artists, most are still using their smartphones.

“I don’t see kids getting cassette tapes or burning CDs,” Hansen said. “That’s what we used to do. We burned CDs and downloaded all our music onto CDs. It’s just different because everyone streams everything now.”

Students say they are excited their classmates are revisiting trends from the 80s and 90s.

“I’m glad people, especially students, are taking an interest in a big part of American history,” Douglas D’Amelio, a Jupiter High senior, said.

Ericka Muncy, AICE Media Studies teacher and journalism adviser, is happy to see the 80s styles trending as well.

“I love it so much, especially the big, bold colors and the playfulness of fashion,” Muncy said. “I’m glad it’s coming back. I feel like we need that now.”

Although 80s and 90s trends have become more popular in recent months, some students have been embracing the trends for much longer.

“A lot of us listen to this stuff because it speaks to us,” Caden Wolan, a Jupiter High senior, said. “We were the minority when it came to music taste, and that shaped our personalities.”

Teens have welcomed 90s clothes and accessories back to their wardrobe, especially butterfly clips, a hair accessory that was hugely popular at the end of last century.

“Those clips we wore all through the 90s were the least cool thing to wear because our moms wore them,” Peyton Ellis, Jupiter High Medical Academy teacher, said.

Another trend revived from the 90s is baggy clothes, in stark contrast to skinny jeans and crop tops that gained popularity at the turn of the century.

“I think that a couple years ago it was really cool to wear really tight crop tops that show like your whole stomach,” Ellis said. “It’s almost starting to be covered by big flannels and baggy jeans. Everything’s getting looser, which I kind of like.”

Though this trend has been extremely popular with current teens, those who were teens in the 80s and 90s are divided on how long it will last.

“I feel like most fads last for a good three to five years,” Ellis said. “So I think I’d give it another three or five years, and then I think it’s going to switch back again.”

Students, on the other hand, say the trend as here to stay.

“I don’t think [the trend] is going to leave for a while at least,” Abigail Krall, a Jupiter High senior, said. “It’ll probably be here until we’re adults and we’re out of high school.”