Delia’s, the teenage girls’ clothing line that defined girl fashion of the 90s, went bankrupt this week. The outfits Delia’s sold embodied the age of glittering “girl power”, replete with demure florals, spaghetti straps, long black polyester skirts, shirtdresses and thick-soled oxfords. Its outfits were the outfits of smart, sensible girls who still wanted to gesture at trends. In other words, Delia’s was aimed squarely at the everygirl, but the one who wanted to at least seem slightly original.

“Relatability” – with an edge – is exactly what pop culture at the time was looking for too, in an era when “empowerment” was starting to be a word girls applied to pop culture.

The characters in the following iconic movies and bands (not to mention Aaliyah herself), for example, often looked like they’d stepped out of a Delia’s catalogue.

The Craft

What did we like about The Craft?

Well for one thing, 1996 was the year of Neve Campbell. Seeming smart and bookish but also depressed, the Canadian actress’s image was very post-riot grrl: independent, but not too independent.

The Craft skillfully dug beneath that good-girl image to find Campbell’s sublimated anger. Along with Fairuza Balk, Robin Tunney, and Rachel True, she finds herself in a coven of misfits that resolves to destroy its enemies.

Even the critics who disliked the film wrote that they enjoyed the movie’s opening “celebration of adolescent nonconformity and female independence”.

What do we still like about The Craft?

Even today, you cannot help but admire its skillful deployment of shades of black and plum lipstick.

Revival potential?

It’d be nice to have a wave of popularity for Wicca again – it always riles the evangelicals so nicely.

Possible Delia’s catalogue outfit:

Scream

What did we like about Scream?

For one: Neve Campbell, again. For another, the movie’s post-horror construction suited a growing 1990s addiction to irony; no character in the film can seem to stop making an internal critique of horror conventions. This suited the bored American girl of yesteryear very well; Scream flattered us all into believing we were smarter than horror films, even as we all bought up tickets to go see … a horror film.

What do we still like about Scream?

Oof, not much. Where is Skeet Ulrich these days?

Revival potential?

I’m not sure if you can deconstruct an ironic cultural artifact; it may lay on too much meta.

Possible Delia’s catalogue outfit:

Bridget Jones’s Diary

What did we like about ol’ Bridget?

In fact Fielding’s novel was subject to an almost instant backlash – in this paper, Decca Aitkenhead sniffed: “Bridget Jones is merely a depressing character in an irritating book, but she is already in danger of turning into a social type” – but that does not seem to have harmed sales.

What do we still like about Bridget?

We are never going to be rid of the neurotic career girl, I’m afraid. Hannah Horvath is just the latest iteration.

Revival potential?

Please, we’re all still traumatized from the last Zellweger-starring sequel.

Possible Delia’s catalogue outfit:

How Stella Got Her Groove Back

What did we love about How Stella Got Her Groove Back?

It was the other major commercial bestseller of 1996, and it wasn’t about a neurotic white woman. How Stella Got Her Groove Back was a delightfully self-confident book. Per a reviewer in the Washington Post at the time, “Terry McMillan is the only novelist I have ever read, apart from writers of children’s books, who makes me glad to be a woman.”

What has stood the test of time about Stella?

Her magnificent anger.

Revival potential?

There’s always room for more female revenge fantasies in pop culture, by my lights.

Possible Delia’s catalogue outfit:

Spice Girls

What did we like about the Spice Girls?

Wannabe was released as their first single, in July 1996, followed by their first album in November. People were drawn to their girl-power happy-happy anthems like moths to a flame.

Mostly what was fun about the Spice Girls was their explosive use of color, though, and their incredible dexterity on platform shoes.

What do we still like about the Spice Girls?

Pleather does seem to have never quite gone away, after they popularized it.

Revival potential?

We might actually learn what “zig-a-zig-ahhhh” means, if we bring them back.

Possible Delia’s catalogue outfit:

Aaliyah

What did we like about Aaliyah?

Her second album, One in A Million, was released in August 1996. Rave reviews abounded among music critics for its tracks, produced in part by Missy Elliott and Timbaland. She married slick, beautiful vocals with a kind of wonderful tomboy look, often pairing bustiers with baggy pants.

What do we still like about Aaliyah?

The music.

Revival potential:

Sadly nil.

Possible Delia’s catalogue outfit: