Borders
Three hours in the armchairs with a stack of books you never bought, a chai from the café, and a lap through the CD listening stations — Borders wasn't a store so much as a place to be. Then it was gone, all of it, in a single September.
#Trends
4 items
Chunky Highlights
Thick, bleached stripes in stark contrast against your natural color — the opposite of subtle. Chunky highlights ruled the late '90s and early 2000s, applied at sleepovers with box dye and a plastic cap, and every 2003 yearbook photo proves it.
Frosted Tips
Short hair gelled into stiff spikes with the tips bleached pale blond — the signature boy-band-era men's look. If a guy on TRL had it, so did half the boys at your school.
Rollerblading
Knee pads, wrist guards, a helmet your mom insisted on, and a driveway full of wobble: for one long decade, America put its shoes on wheels. Rollerblading was the '90s outdoor craze — a brand name that swallowed an entire sport.