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I’m ENTHUSIASTICALLY rewatching “Friends” from the very beginning right now. I’ve been busy having babies and trying to keep them alive for the last almost decade and there just hasn’t been any random TV show viewing time available – so it’s been a long time since I’ve hung out with Ross, Rachel, Joey, Monica, Phoebe and Chandler. It’s possible I haven’t watched an episode since the series ended until now. I’m finding there’s nothing better than reliving 90s TV shows and 90s fashion!
“Friends” is the best time machine in the world for me. I just happened to be in the exact same life stage those guys were in at that same time. Single, hanging out with a tight group of friends who were like my family, navigating the dating and working worlds, tooling around town in my velour shirts and high-waisted stone-washed blue jeans… In fact, I used to get told I looked like “Rachel from Friends” by guys all the time but I always figured it was just a pickup line.
Those days are long gone now but as I watch “Friends,” I’m noticing big and little things that take me right back to that time. And I like it there – it was FUN.
So I decided to compile a list, hoping it would be just as much fun for you.
Here are 90 ways the show “Friends” will help you relive the 90s. (Scroll to the bottom to see a collage of me and my “friends” from the 90s, and play “spot the 90s trends.”)
2. The Rachel hairdo
3. Belly shirts
4. “How YOU doin’?”
6. Empty frames around front door peepholes
8. The One with the …
9. Central Perk
10. The big white dog statue.
11. Having time to hang out in coffee shops all day.
12. Keds – with socks – with dresses
13. The Magnadoodle by Joey & Chandler’s door.
14. Ms. Chanandler Bong
15. I’ll Be There For You (The Rembrandts)
16. High-waisted, stone-washed jeans
17. Gunther
18. The orange couch
19. The nubbin
20. Fat Monica. “Shut up, the camera adds 10 lbs.” “So how many cameras are on you?”
22. Ugly Naked Guy
23. Marcel the monkey
24. Sweet & Low
25. VHS tapes
26. Smelly Cat
27. GIANT cordless phones
28. “We were on a BREAK!”
29. Giant teacup-shaped coffee mugs. It was a caffeinated decade.
30. Leather trousers and baby powder
31. Hair clips
32. Giant teacup shaped coffee mugs
33. Janice (Oh. My. God.)
34. pagers
35. The Friend Zone (Ross, you’re the mayor of the Friend Zone)
36. Regina Phelange
38. “Gum would be perfection.”
39. The laminated list
40. “See? He’s her lobster.”
41. What Mario isn’t telling you. VD: You never know who might have it.
42. Velour. Velour shirts, velour dresses, velour leggings. The girls were rocking it, the guys were rocking it. And I rocked it like crazy.
43. The Wenus
44. The foosball table
45. Giant boom boxes
46. Scrunchies
47. GIANT rent-controlled apartments in NYC
48. “Hey, that monkey’s got a Ross on it’s ass.”
49. Vests, vests, and more vests – on guys and girls.
50. Hootie & The Blowfish (“That would be the work of a Blowfish”)
51. Black mini skirts with black tights and chunky shoes
52. “Hello kettle, this is Monica, you’re black.”
53. Pocket chains
54. “Chandler Bing – it’s time to see your thing!”
55. The semen of a righteous man
56. “I went out with the guy for 2 months, I didn’t get to win once.”
57. Chokers (especially leather and especially with crosses hanging off of them)
58. Wristwatches
59. Mock turtlenecks
60. Holding up lighters at concerts
61. Fun Bobby
62. “Smell the fart” acting
63. Chandler’s bowling shirts
64. Wide ties
65. Telephone books
66. Radio dedications
67. “Did you just FLICK me?”
68. Monica’s weird fringe in season 2 (which becomes Joey’s weird fringe in season 3)
69. “Look at me, I’m Chandler – Could I BE wearing any more clothes?”
70. The hug and roll.
71. “It’s not that common. It doesn’t happen to every guy. And it IS a big deal!
72. The color brown as fashion statement. Never before and never since the 90s could 20-something-year-old women be mistaken for UPS delivery people.
73. “When a guy says he’s going to call, it doesn’t mean he’s going to call.”
74. The chick and the duck.
75. Sheer shirts over tanks.
76. Encyclopedias
77. “I just danced with a wonderfully large woman and 3 other girls made eyes at me over the buffet. Oh I’m not saying it’s something I want to pursue but it’s nice to know I have options.” (Rachel’s mother at Carol & Susan’s wedding)
78. Pay phones
79. Pulling a “Monica”
80. CD towers
81. “Drink the fat.”
82. Guys in baggy sweaters and giant sport coats. Why are all their clothes so BIG?
83. “Sometimes I like to hold stuff like this and pretend I’m a giant.” (Chandler with an airplane mini vodka bottle)
84. Tights. Black tights, brown tights, wine tights, puce tights. A tight to match every skirt and dress in existence.
85. Tightly tucked in shirts on the guys and the girls
86. “You are a huge crapweasel.”
87. Cappuccinos
88. “I have a Malibu Barbie that will no longer be wearing white to her wedding.”
89. Phoebe’s mom, the cat.
90. “Alright, now you go get that beautiful pig!”
There you go. 90 ways to relive the 90s through 90s fashion, 90s TV shows and specifically the incredible, incomparable show Friends. I can’t get enough of it and now my husband has gotten sucked in too. It’s hard not to stop and watch it even if you’re just passing through the room while it’s on. The chemistry of the cast is so evident right from the beginning and you never feel like they’re pretending to be friends. It’s just so genuine, and the show is an awesome representative of the 90s. I’m just about done with the 90s portion of the show and am looking forward to seeing how the second half of the decade-long show reminds me of the early 2000s.
Here’s to Friends and all the memories that go along with it.
One of my readers let me know that the episodes on Netflix are missing some scenes (2 to 3 minutes worth per episode) that are on this DVD packet of the complete series. She said they are some of her favorite moments so, even though I just finished the Netflix series, I’m ordering this DVD set now so I can catch those missing moments. (Don’t order the Blu Ray set though – it’s the same as what’s on Netflix, it doesn’t have the extra scenes).
If you’re looking for a way to continue reliving the 90s (and combine that with the hot new adult coloring trend), I highly recommend the 1990s coloring book. I’ll just be over here coloring in a picture of Rico Suave.
Join me on my Facebook page where I mostly talk about what happens AFTER you leave the Friends stage. Come hang out for my daily musings on motherhood, marriage and life in general. Life may not be as carefree as it was, but you still gotta laugh.
Now take an amusing look at me and my group of friends from the 90s. How many 90s fashion trends can you spot?
I see black leather knee boots, leather jackets, velour, crop tops, overalls, hair clips, The Rachel, sheer tops with cami underneath and chokers. What am I missing?
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