Between the whitewashed walls of Visions Video Bar, a London club, a crush of brothel creepers and flannel shirts throws spry shapes in the air as Nas's NY State of Mind segues deftly into Camp Lo's Luchini. "Tune!" howls a boy in a peaked cap to his girlfriend with an undercut.
London in the 90s? Wrong. This is Dalston in east London last weekend.
For many of us, the 90s was a decade imbued with anti-fashion, grunge and naff hair, seemingly mercifully resistant to a revival. But with the return of "Madchester" stalwarts the Stone Roses, a proliferation of grunge on the catwalk and yet another sequel to American Pie, it seems that the 90s are making a return.
From art to literature via fashion and music, 2012 will see the 90s repurposed with a new wave of nostalgia. April will see Damien Hirst's first UK retrospective, with the focus on his work from the early 90s, including his pickled animals. In literature, meanwhile, Irvine Welsh's Skagboys, the prequel to Trainspotting, which tracks Mark Renton's initial descent into heroin addiction, is also out in April. On the catwalk, shirts are oversized and flannel, while archetypal 90s label Versace is back doing couture for the first time in 15 years.
For some a doting attitude towards the decade isn't that surprising. "Trends have a tendency to move in 20-year cycles," says Johnny Davis, deputy editor of Esquire and former editor of The Face. "In retrospect, we've come to realise that the 1990s was a very fertile period."
DJ and festival curator Rob Da Bank, who came to prominence during the 90s, perfectly understands the revival: "For me, the 1990s doesn't seem that long ago. Why? Because it shaped a lot of what I have been doing for the past few years. The reason I still book acts like Orbital and De La Soul [at his festival, Bestival] is because there is still a demand to see them. For a lot of people, the music transcended a time and a place."
But the difference is that this resurgence is binary. Not only is the revival being driven by those who lived it first time around; it is also being reimagined by those who didn't, for whom this decade is retro rather than remembered. Charlie Lyne, editor of feted UK-based movie blog UltraCulture, holds "a huge affection for the 1990s", even though he was born in 1991.
Men in Black III, Scary Movie 5 and a follow-up to American Pie will all hit cinemas this year. So what's the appeal of the sequels? "It was a golden age in cinema for teenagers. Scream, Clueless, films like that were just as sly and arch in their message as new films such as Juno and Superbad, but without the irony. Teen films nowadays seem to be either too clever or too stupid," says Lyne.
"It's a double comeback," agrees Alex Miller, executive editor of vice uk magazine, a yardstick for youth culture. "I was 16 when Parklife came out and while I'm still into it, I'm also into reincarnations of that era." Miller namechecks new artist Grimes, "whose sound resembles Aphex Twin", and James Blake, "who definitely references 90s Bristolian trip-hop artists like Portishead and Tricky".
Perhaps pivotal in the revival, adds Davis, is that artists who grew up in that decade have finally come of age. "Much in the same way that the revival of Doctor Who was governed by Doctor Who fans from the past, it's those who grew up in the 90s who are now influencing popular culture," he says.
Acclaimed Liverpudlian menswear designer Christopher Shannon is one such product of the 90s whose lauded SS12 collection, of myriad geometric prints and rucksacks, is reminiscent of Brooklyn hip-hop styles from that era.
"I'm not a revivalist, but a chunk of that decade has stayed with me," he says, adding: "I was 10 when the 90s arrived and I'm sure in processing those images in a pure, childlike way, I was perhaps subconsciously inspired by it."
Kay Barron, fashion features editor at Harper's Bazaar, thinks the 90s revival has been brewing for a few seasons, but "its moment is now".
She adds: "The decade was all about extremes, and that is what we are seeing again now. Where Versace were bringing out the supermodels and sending them down the catwalk in neon, at the same time Marc Jacobs was focusing on grunge, with flannel shirts and beanies.
"Now that divide has appeared again, but the most obvious example is that the dreaded mule [which was the power-dressing shoe of choice], as seen at Louis Vuitton and Miu Miu, is battling it out with hi-tops by Marc and Pierre Hardy."
For spring/summer 2012, D&G sent its models down the catwalk in signature 90s printed handkerchiefs worn as dresses and Isabel Marant repurposed 90s-style hi-top trainers alongside oversized flannel shirts. This week the face of Bart Simpson will appear on avant-garde designer Jeremy Scott's autumn/winter 2012 collection at New York fashion week.
Perhaps most tellingly of all, the decade's "supers" are also back. Roberto Cavalli's campaign stars Naomi Campbell and last week Yasmin Le Bon was announced as the face of Joseph Ribkoff's spring 2012 collection. Helena Christensen is modelling for Reebok and Linda Evangelista is on the cover of this month's Love magazine.
Brix Smith-Start, owner of Start-Boutique in London's Shoreditch, agrees that the 90s revival in fashion chimes with the current social mood: "In many ways it's about validating ourselves. These women remind our generation of a certain time and it makes my generation feel relevant."
Music is another case in point. Just as bands from the last decade or so – Franz Ferdinand, Interpol – were influenced by the 80s, modern music is also being influenced by the 90s. Azealia Banks – whose sound is reminiscent of 90s rapper Missy Elliott – as well as singer Frank Ocean have successfully revived a 90s-style "slow jam" style.
Adding to this saturation are the reformed bands from that period. Since the Stone Roses announced their comeback tour, other Madchester bands, including the Happy Mondays and Inspiral Carpets have also announced comebacks. NKOTBSB, a perturbing amalgamation of 90s boybands New Kids on the Block and the Backstreet Boys, are also peddling their ballads on a global tour this spring. "It seems the notion of bands reforming has lost its stigma and finally become acceptable," says Davis.
