Even in our highly eclectic landscape, it’s natural to want to refresh your wardrobe, especially if you love the 90s aesthetic. While trends shift, personal style remains constant, and sometimes it’s more about modernizing rather than reinventing. In this series, I’m sharing how to update 90s-inspired outfits while accomodating each Kibbe type. Today, we’ll focus on the Romantic and Gamine Kibbe families—the Theatrical Romantics, Romantics, Soft Gamines, and Flamboyant Gamines.

This post isn’t about trends, but how to take inspiration from 90s styles and make them work for today’s fashion landscape without feeling like you’re wearing a costume from another era.

90’s Plaid Skirt and Sweater for the Kibbe Romantic

Outfit Inspiration

Our first outfit inspiration is Christina Ricci wearing this cute plaid skirt and sweater, and you’re like, “Oh yeah, plaid skirt and sweater,” and everyone wears that. But here, with a Romantic, what we’re seeing is this buttery, soft, delicate rib knit on this sweater that just hugs everything. Like, a little petite, soft curve, and then it just kind of seamlessly blends into the shape of the skirt that also honors those soft curved shapes on the lower body. We’re not seeing angularity. We’re not seeing really strong contrast banding. We’re not seeing big pleats or flares or A-lines. This shape and these fabrics are very soft, and that is what accommodates the Romantic silhouette in very yin.

To refresh the outfit and make sure it doesn’t look like the 2010s, we are avoiding the very flared or pleated skirt with the super tight turtleneck and a lot of contrast between the top and bottom here. We’re not wearing it with over-the-knee suede boots. We’re also not going twee; we’re not wearing a little Peter Pan-collared button-down under a kunek. We’re not going to wear a super mini or micro mini skirt, and we’re not wearing oxford-inspired sneakers.

Outfit Examples

I wanted to give you a little bit of variety because—let’s be honest, it’s kind of easy to just put on a sweater and a skirt. I don’t need to put three examples of those, so I wanted to give you some more variety with longer options because with shorter options, I feel like you have less to work with. Obviously, there’s less fabric, but with longer options, it can be a little bit more interesting.

1. Longer Skirts: Notice that a longer skirt is still soft. You can still see the shape of her hips. You can see where her knees are or deduce it quite easily. Um, it’s not so long that it covers up her ankles, so you still see all of these important reference points for the petite frame. It’s really easy for the petite frame to get lost or dragged down into much fabric. So, to avoid getting dragged down, just leave reference points exposed.
2. Strong Waist and Sleeves: We have a strong waist definitely, with a sweater vest and soft, lovely sleeves. You see how lovely this rounded t-shirt sleeve is. It’s not flaring out to the side. It’s not overly cropped. It’s like developing her upper arm very softly. At the top and the bottom, it’s not overly contrasted. Yes, there’s separate pieces, but there’s a sense of beauty in the fit and the color scheme.
3. Versatility: Yes, this outfit—and, you know, all of these outfits—could look really great on some other types as well, but I don’t think that should be a deciding factor when trying to figure out what works for you. Focus on what looks good on you, and not these concepts of Kibbe types.

90’s Power Blazer for the Theatrical Romantic

Outfit Inspiration

With the Theatrical Romantics, yes, we’re seeing this big band of knit kind of like at the chunky neckline and at the bottom, but the overall shape of the sweater is what comes across first, and it’s soft, and it’s rounded. And like the skirt, it’s very yin and fluid and kind of downward oriented. Yin fabrics act like water; water flows to the lowest level. Oppositely, yang fabrics tend to be a little bit more crisp, a little bit more upright tailored—sometimes even perky. So, just think water flows to the lowest level. It’s a lot more drapey.

Style Tips

Here, again, we’re seeing soft shapes being prioritized, a longer skirt, but the skirt isn’t overly pleated or voluminous. We’re seeing the strong reference points—like the ankles—and the soft kind of tapering of the lower halves. That’s all great, and it just looks really cozy.

Outfit Examples

1. Casual Look: It’s just a very standard, kind of like tank top or t-shirt, bodysuit, plaid skirt, flats, and a cardigan. That’ll look good, you know? Cardigans and a skirt look good. Right on Romantics. So cute.
2. Layering: Don’t be afraid to play with longer cardigans and slightly heavier cardigans as long as they have that fluid kind of feel to them.
3. Statement Blazer: A statement blazer or coat for Theatrical Romantics is essential. We are looking to Jane Seymour and Ms. Jada Pinkett Smith for inspiration—plunging necklines, strong statement outfits.

What to Avoid

We are not doing very casual, distressed items underneath. We’re not doing the very narrow lapel kind of shorter blazer with a very modern feel. It just feels a little bit too precise, cropped, and modern. The 90’s spirit is a little bit more relaxed, slightly oversized compared to all the cropped and fitted things that we’ve been wearing lately.

Outfit Examples

1. Fabric Choices: Opt for supple materials, like velvet, suede, polished leather, and luxurious colors too.
2. Neckline: We’re exaggerating that narrow, plunging neckline. I’m looking for this lovely wide-notched lapel, strong shoulders. To exaggerate the neckline, you can button it up and pair it with a very sleek turtleneck, or you can just not wear anything under, or something extremely plunging under to spice it up even more.
3. Bottom Options: Pair it with very sleek tops, silky skin-like tops, and boot-cut jeans, or something that hugs your curves, or just a plaid mini skirt with simple knee-high boots.

90’s Animal Print for the Soft Gamine

Outfit Inspiration

For the Soft Gamine, statement animal print can work, though I usually don’t recommend animal print for Soft Gamines because a pattern or animal print that isn’t overly intricate and ornate or graphic is essential. However, since we are borrowing from the 90s, it has a different spirit to it; the rules are different.

Style Tips

To refresh this outfit, we’re avoiding strong contrast banding and very graphic, stylized animal prints. It just looks a little bit too simplified and flat, I would say. We’re also avoiding very chunky shapes and a lot of texture and activity on the inner layers. It’s too busy. It’s too textured, it’s too matte, it’s too rugged. We need very sleek but contrasted inner layers, or overall layers.

Outfit Examples

1. Animal Print Coat: The most contrasted option is a well-formed leopard print coat with a very contrasted inner layer.
2. Casual Look: A graphic tee and kind of tracksuit-like pants with contrasting shoes for a sleek look.
3. Layering: This one reminds me of Before Sunrise—the slip dress over a half-sleeve kind of t-shirt. You can do any t-shirt length really, as long as the sleeves look distinct; don’t let the sleeves kind of melt into the shoulders.

90’s Bold Fur Lined Coats for the Flamboyant Gamine

Outfit Inspiration

For the Flamboyant Gamines, think of fur-lined coats, like these big, big old coats on Lucille and Gwen Stefani. They work it; they don’t get overwhelmed even though they’re, like, 5’4″ and 5’3″. I don’t know, they’re not the tallest, but they can still wear these without having the coat wear them.

Style Tips

To avoid alluding to other time eras, we’re not doing the shearling pilot coat with the big pockets, and we’re not doing the Penny Lane coat with very fuzzy, rounded kinds of lining and very retro inner layers. We’re opting for bold power shoulders, minimalistic inner layers.

What to Avoid

When it comes to fur, look for some width, look for some height, and the rest of it needs to be a very simple, relaxed shape.

Outfit Examples

1. Skin-tight Layers: You can wear almost skin-tight layers that are very sleek, or button it up and wear a sleek turtleneck with these fun kick-flares that add shape without too much excess fabric.
2. Fabric Choices: Turtlenecks are just really great for creating a lot of these 90s-inspired outfits; go for a sleek, cotton or cashmere turtleneck with a very, very smooth, buttery look to it, but you can’t wear tech gear. It’s not the

Stay tuned for part 3 and part 3 where I’ll explore options for the Naturals, Classics, and Dramatics.

As always, please see my services for highly customized style guidance.

xx

Nona