Winona Ryder became one of Hollywood’s hottest celebrities in the 1990s thanks in part to her offbeat fashion choices.
By the time Ryder starred alongside Ben Stiller, Janeane Garofalo and Ethan Hawke in the 1994 cult movie “Reality Bites,” her edgy looks โ a vintage thrift store dress with chunky shoes one day, an Armani men’s suit the next โย had turned her into a style icon.
The “Stranger Things” star, 53, opened up about her style influences in a video interview with Elle UK. Her love of men’s suits, she told the publication, was inspired by the kooky 1976 kids’ gangster flick “Bugsy Malone.”
“Even when I didn’t have any money and was in school, we would always shop at the Salvation Army, and I was always picking out, like, the boys’ three-piece suits because I wanted to be like the kids in ‘Bugsy Malone,'” recalled Ryder.
Many of Ryder’s iconic looks were achieved by accident, she said. That choppy layered โReality Bitesโ haircut that all the Gen X girls flipped for? Turns out, it was a DIY cut Ryder gave herself.
“All during the โ90s I cut my own hair,โ said Ryder. “And I remember being incredibly surprised and flattered that my ‘Reality Bites’ haircut became (popular), or, you know, girls would go to the (hair salon) and bring that picture in, and I thought that was kind of cool.โ
Though the haircut was a hit, Ryder is the first to admit she has no clue how to cut hair properly.
โI mean, I literally just put my head upside down and went like that with the scissors. And I did that for any of my short hair,โ she explained.
Despite being singled out for her hip style in the ’90s, Ryder said her “relationship to fashion” during the era was “probably not what a lot of people think it was.”
“If I went to an event, I would wear a designer. Often I wore a lot of vintage,” she said. “I was working really quite a lot in the ’90s so I was often just on sets and wearing jeans and a T-shirt.”
Ryder told Elle UK she collects concert T-shirts.
“I have a T-shirt from every show I’ve been to, which started very young,” she shared. “My dad took me to a lot of the early, like, late ’70s, early ’80s punk rock (concerts).”
Ryder said she still has the first concert T-shirt she ever owned, from The Clash’s short 1980 tour of the United States. The shirt is so old that it’s unwearable, she said, so she keeps it framed.
Looking back, Ryder says her fashion choices in the ’90s were all about being true to herself.
“You know when you’re in your 20s, you try to, I don’t know, you almost try to do what wasn’t trendy. Because a lot of the trends were, I’m sorry, they were awful,” she said. “I just wanted to be my own self, and I was also very into recycling and showing people that you can look good and not spend a ton of money.
“Things are not meant to be worn only once,” added Ryder. “That was what always drove me nuts about the events. I remember re-wearing things a lot and apparently that was looked down upon sometimes. I thought it was a great thing.”
