Art, fashion and image collided in the 1990s, producing a visual culture shaped by disruption, freedom and a renewed interrogation of identity and power.
Kate Moss photographed by Juergen Teller
The 1990s unfolded with urgency. Youth culture pressed against institutions, fashion rejected polish in favour of attitude, and images grew more intimate, raw and confrontational. Bodies, subcultures and personal narratives moved to the foreground, turning visual culture into a space of exposure and resistance. What emerged was a new language defined by speed, vulnerability and refusal, one that continues to inform how culture is produced and perceived.
That energy returns to Tate Modern in autumn 2026, when Edward Enninful curates The 90s, a major exhibition revisiting the moment when creativity and rebellion reshaped British identity. Opening on 1 October 2026 and running until 14 February 2027, the show brings together key works of art, photography and design that defined the decade and its lasting impact.
Photography anchors the exhibition’s narrative. The unguarded realism of Corinne Day, the blunt intimacy of Juergen Teller and the constructed tension of Nick Knight dismantled idealised imagery and reframed youth, fashion and desire through honesty rather than perfection. These images challenged authority and taste while capturing a generation negotiating exposure and control.
Art and fashion unfold in parallel. Figures linked to the Young British Artists questioned authorship and spectacle, while designers such as Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood and Hussein Chalayan used the body as a site of tension, memory and critique. Clothing became narrative and gesture, staging confrontation as much as expression. The 1990s emerge here as a decisive moment, one whose visual language and tensions remain active in the present.
–
Follow us on TikTok @veinmagazine
