I can vividly remember the day Pearl Jam’s first album was released, the first time I heard “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and can with 100 percent certainty recall what I was wearing—flannel. Yes, that ultra soft, plaid delicacy that I also vividly remember donating when I could no longer even glance at it in my closet.
While the inevitability of its comeback makes sense to me, the speed at which it made its return is amazing. It wasn’t a matter of decades, like bell bottoms or the fedora. It was a matter of years.
What is both pleasing and strange about this comeback, (if there can be anything pleasing about flannel/plaid) is that high-fashion couture designers are creating these new looks, and tailoring them to women, who appear to be embracing it more than men. If Lindsay Lohan and Nicole Ritchie have anything to say about it, flannel is back. I wonder if we will be seeing any of it at the PPAI Expo?
For all you children of the 80s and 90s here is a great blog that reveals all of the usefulness of flannel.
Peace.
