the essential
They never experienced it, yet this decade left its mark on them. World Cup 98, Michael Jackson, portable music player… We went to meet the young people from Toulouse. And everyone has their own evocation of the 90s. Report.
On Saint-Pierre Square in Toulouse, the scene of many wild evenings, no more midnight devils wander around on this winter morning. Two young students from Generation Z – born between the end of the 90s and the beginning of the 2010s – cross the square. When we ask them what the 90s mean to them, “it’s obviously the 1998 Football World Cup,” says Quentin. Almost the impression for this 21-year-old of having experienced it through his parents’ story.
A few steps away, there is the Toulouse Capitole University, the obvious reserve for these crazy nights which unleash the Pink City every Thursday evening. And at 10 a.m., students swarm in front of the university entrance.
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Cigarette in hand, Clara lists her references to the 90s: “Fashion with leopard clothes, which is making a comeback elsewhere, exclaims the student. The 90s are also discos with good music to which we still dance a lot, like the Spice Girls and Larusso And then above all the positivity, there seemed to be fewer problems, because fewer phones and no social networks.
Fashion is cyclical
A disconnected period to which Hugo seems to agree. Covered in a pastel-colored cap, a small earring in his left ear, he is sitting with a friend on the terrace of a sandwich shop. “I see the 90s as a more open world where we were less fixated on screens. We had this culture of going out a lot and enjoying the outdoors, which we perhaps have a lot less today .”
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Like an air of nostalgia for this young person, who, at the age of 27, has barely known this decade: “I would have liked to have been born 15 years before, to experience this freedom, far from social networks.” In front of him, Yanis describes a “cool” nostalgia: “For me, the 90s, it’s Will Smith, R’n’B, cinema, sound… smiles the young man. And this period continues to live today. Especially since it is cyclical, we see it with the clothes which are coming back into fashion today”.
The 90’s is music
As ideas flood the thoughts, the morning passes and fine drops begin to trickle onto the table. In front, Garance sneaks past. On his back, a musical instrument in a bag on which ten pins are attached.
And obviously, it’s an artistic vision that the 22-year-old student has over this period: “The photos from the 90s are incredible. There were also portable music players for listening to music.” And she continues her active walk near a café where five 19-year-old students are slumped around a table.
For Axelle and Lorenzo, the 90s are above all music. From parents’ playlists to American rap. Without forgetting “Michael Jackson and the concert in Berlin in 1997, adds Nawfal. For me, he is the best singer ‘all time’!”.
On the terrace, another group of students. And who says law school, says, as a reference “the entry into force of the Penal Code in the 90s”, smiles Emma, 21 years old. Hearing our discussion, Matis, 24, calls out to us, shouting “Zizouuu”. And he’s not the only one to refer to the 1998 World Cup. Around the table, two other young people agree: “The French team, world football champions, is the major event of that decade.”
By surveying the younger generation, we realize that the art and culture of the 90s had a greater impact on people’s minds than geopolitical issues such as the end of apartheid, the wars in Yugoslavia or the fall of the USSR.
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