Marcel Winatschek

When the Nineties Came Back

The nineties are back. Which makes sense—the eighties got picked to death. The nineties are less aggressively embarrassing to look back on, less apologetic. Just clothes that happened to look decent without trying too hard. That’s what makes retro work: not the decade itself, but the stuff that aged well enough to matter to people who didn’t live it the first time.

Ellesse’s been around long enough to have actual history. They basically invented the template for modern ski wear back in the sixties with the Jet Pant—one of those designs so clean and functional it became the blueprint everyone copied. So when they dig into the nineties now and pull out pieces that mattered then, there’s actual weight behind it. They’re not pretending to have invented something they just happen to have made.

Nostalgia in fashion is usually hollow. Some logo slapped onto whatever’s cheapest to produce, calling it heritage. This feels different—like someone actually looking back at what worked and thinking whether it still does. Whether it lands depends on how cynical you want to be about it all.