Here at MSU, each student organization has embraced some trends of the 1990s. The more extreme fashion choices, such as grunge, are barely present, most likely due to MSU’s more isolated location. While students were aware of more radical trends, these clothing choices were probably unavailable or too difficult to obtain in Wichita Falls. Compared to other universities, MSU seemed slower to adopt and to embrace the new fashion trends in the ’90s, especially during the earlier ’90s when women’s hairstyles are still reminiscent of the 1980s with the curled and teased styling. Of course, as time progressed, more popular trends, such as the baggy tee-shirts and high-waist jeans, made common appearances in the students’ lives.
In general, each student organization was not radically different from each other. While the fashion choices seen in the organizations seemed to align with each group’s values (i.e. Chi Omega’s sisterhood and similar dress; Alpha Phi Alpha’s good character and smiling; Amnesty’s diverse voices and diverse dress; Wai-Kun’s information gathering and their neutral style), none of the organizations could be picked out just by their fashion choices.
This is confirmed in our interviews with professors who were at the university during the ’90s.
During this time, students were not as divided as they are today, “They were more social and more open” (LaBeff)
At the end of the ’90s, there was a “demographic shift …. [the university] became more urbanized… [there was] more ‘big’ city kids from Dallas area, San Antonio, Houston … more students from Caribbean area” (Giddings).
So the university shifted from a small, local university with students that shared a common identity, to a larger university with students that had more diverse identities. Perhaps the diversification not only revealed more fashion styles to the area, but also encouraged groups to solidify and strengthen their identities compared to others. This would explain why current students and student organizations have stronger identities, that are expressed in fashion, to separate themselves from others. In the 1990s, fashion was not a tool that separated students and gave them their own identities, but instead fashion was simple and made students more synonymous with one another.