90s nostalgia is alive and well in the hearts of many a millennial. I love the lasting prominence of shiny Doc Martens, high-waisted Levi's, and oversized flannel shirts. I, myself, often find my closet making a nod to the styles of those totally fly characters from the great movies and TV shows of the decade. I'm losing count of how many big flannels I've stolen from my dad, and I haven't worn a low-rise pant in years. But, when I take a look at the styles that have pervaded my wardrobe from my own years in the 90s (my oh-so-exciting first five) to now, there is one true icon that continues to inspire: Winona Ryder.
She was the ultimate alternative darling of the late 80s and 90s. Generally dark and usually strange, she favored black clothes and leather accents when the trends of the time called for bright colors and clashing patterns. There was an authenticity to her every look--from those of her characters, to paparazzi candids, to red carpet shots. She was, and remains, an inspiration to the slightly off-kilter, trend-ignoring, weird girl within us all.
When she first burst onto the scene in Tim Burton's 1988 romp "Beetlejuice", she played Lydia Deetz, a totally misunderstood teen living with her parents in a house haunted by a very sweet, young ghost couple. Declaring herself among the "strange and unusual," Lydia's wardrobe consisted almost solely of gothic-inspired all-black outfits topped off with huge, flamboyant hats. Lydia spends the course of the film standing up for her new ghost-friends-turned-surrogate-parents, and weaseling her way out of any tricky situation with a combination of spunk and wit. Her daring ensembles are a great supplement to her tenacity. When I first saw "Beetlejuice" as a little girl, it wasn't the giant monsters of the afterlife, or Michael Keaton's quirky title character that stuck with me, but instead the unwavering originality of Lydia's style. As someone who even then was known to disregard popular trends in order to do my own thing, I loved seeing a whole film where a girl character was allowed to be unabashedly weird, with no derogatory comment as to her unconventionality.
The same year that "Beetlejuice" premiered, the would-be cult classic "Heathers" arrived on the scene. The original clique movie, "Heathers" would be the predecessor that paved the way for films like "Mean Girls" to follow. But, while some of her choices led to the murders of her classmates, Ryder's Veronica Sawyer is perhaps a better role model than even Cady Heron. Even after being accepted into the most powerful group in the school, Veronica still holds on to a sense of self, mostly through dating who and wearing what she wants. Though both the Heathers and Veronica sport oh-so-80s outfits of plaid skirts and shoulder pads, Veronica isn't afraid to put a dark spin on things, sporting blacks and greys that match the moodiness of her angst-ridden diary entries. While she and her boyfriend navigate the tricky ups and downs of their romance-fueled murder spree, Veronica's style game stays consistently on point, teaching two very important lessons: always be yourself, and stay fly even in the hardest of times.
My favorite of Winona's movie looks is and most likely always will be from 1999's "Girl Interrupted". The character of Susanna Kaysen is a stripped down, sensitive young woman in the 1960s, spending a year in a mental institution to deal with her newly diagnosed borderline personality disorder. Along the way, she manages to learn about herself as both a woman and an artist, and has more fun than you'd expect in a flick about a hospital. The most unrealistic thing about "Girl Interrupted", however, is how Susanna manages to keep a perfectly coiffed pixie cut throughout the film. Winona Ryder's short hair look for the film is incredibly aspirational. I know I've taken stills from the film to my hairdresser on numerous occasions to try and recreate it. Otherwise, the Susanna Kaysen look is very simple, mostly featuring very tight pants and a plethora of striped shirts and warm sweaters, but Winona-as-Susanna pulls it off with a stylish panache that can remind us all why the striped tee is a staple of any wardrobe. A simple, put together look works for 1967, 1999, or 2016.
Off-screen Winona always exhibited a polished nonchalance, wearing whatever she wanted, and pulling off whatever styles she tried. With a look that exuded such confidence, it's no wonder Johnny Depp tattooed "Winona Forever" on his arm as an attempt to forever capture their romance. There was nothing standard about her looks, and that is perhaps the best style advice to take away from Ms. Ryder: whether you're a fan of black, leather, and velvet or not, a style that is all your own is always a showstopper. May we all continue to take inspiration from Winona's many looks for decades to come. And, with her reappearance as the face of Marc Jacob's new beauty ad, we may have many new iterations still to come.
