As Oasis gear up for their highly-anticipated UK tour, it’s not just their songs that are bringing back memories.
Frontman Liam Gallagher’s parka became part of Nineties uniform, while brother Noel’s Adidas zip-ups and baggy windbreakers defined Britpop fashion.
It wasn’t just Oasis that impacted fashion – Damon Albarn, the lead singer of the band’s rival, Blur, also had a distinctive look sporting graphic Tees, parachute pants and vintage knitwear.
Britpop emphasised anti-glamour, pulling away from the over-stylised pop bands of the past and forming a new look through vintage sportswear, bucket hats and mod heritage.
Oasis led the charge with branded sportswear and baggy – bordering on sloppy – silhouettes, forming a new look that became synonymous with ‘lad culture’.
So, here’s a look back at some of the best fashion of the Britpop era – and why it was so uniquely influential.
When Oasis first came onto the scene in 1993, releasing Definitely Maybe in 1994 – which became the fastest-selling debut album in British history at the time – their style was noticeably unnoticeable.
The Gallagher brothers’ casual cargos and pared-back parkas were a sharp departure from Eighties UK bands like Duran Duran, Bros and Spandau Ballet. The Manchester-born band would frequently wear the same relaxed looks – featuring tracksuit bottoms and rain jackets – to both practice and perform in.
While Oasis were experiencing a meteoric rise for their volatile antics and stellar alternative/pop rock sound, another spearhead of Britpop was a Southern band called Blur.
Formed in December 1988, when bassist Alex James joined singer Damon Albarn’s band named Circus, Blur began performing the following year and gained traction when their single ‘She’s So High’ entered the UK Singles Chart in 1990.
By 1994, the commercial success of Blur’s hit ‘Parklife’, was seen as Britpop’s defining record.
The release of ‘Country House’ in 1995 was said to begin the public rivalry between Blur and Oasis, which was dubbed the “Battle of Britpop”.
Partly due to increasing antagonisms between the groups, Blur and Oasis released their new singles on the same day, an event the NME called “The British Heavyweight Championship”.
The debate over which band would top the British singles chart became a media phenomenon, with Albarn even appearing on the News at Ten.
At the end of the week, ‘Country House’ ultimately outsold Oasis’ ‘Roll With It’ by 274,000 copies to 216,000, becoming Blur’s first number one single.
The following year, in 1996, the bands would take part in the Music Industry Soccer Six Tournament at Mile End Stadium in East London.
Both Liam Gallagher and Damon Albarn sported some iconic outfits that wouldn’t look out of place on a Britpop album cover.
Gallagher wore a Kangol bucket hat and Adidas sweats while Albarn wore a Kappa jacket and a Chelsea FC beanie. To Oasis’ dismay, Blur were victorious once again, winning the match 2-0.
By the late Nineties, both bands had clear camps of fans. Oasis was viewed with more raw identity in contrast to Blur’s art-school persona, and this was reflected in their fashion.
Oasis’ nonchalant attitude to their on-stage style was pared-back and intentionally unpretentious.
While headlining some of the biggest festivals of the time, such as Knebworth, the group rejected flashy trends in favour of their own comfortable wardrobe staples.
Blur, on the other hand, strayed from simply sportswear, incorporating mod and casual pieces, which Albarn himself has described as “mod-ual”.
Blur also embraced more surf and skate-inspired fashion, including graphic Tees, beaded necklaces, preppy V-necks and skate shoes.
By the millennium, the bands’ increasing fame had them caricatured by papers, talk shows and satirical programmes like Spitting Image.
Consequently, their fashion became immortalised in popular culture, namely Liam Gallagher for his bucket hats and parkas, and Albarn for his baby-Tees and Fred Perry polos.
While Definitely Maybe was reaching its 10th anniversary, growing tensions between members of Oasis had begun to surface.
Long-time drummer Alan White, who at this time had played on nearly all of the band’s material, had been asked to leave the band and was replaced by Zak Starkey, the son of Ringo Starr.
At this time, the band’s members began to form more individual identities. Noel, the guitarist and de facto leader of the group, was characterised as ‘reverent-yet-confident’ in both style and song-writing.
The beginning of the Noughties saw a breakdown of Britpop, as Blur’s Graham Coxon left the group in 2002 leading to a hiatus, and Oasis dramatically split in 2009.
Two decades on, the fashion of Britpop remains as culturally resonant as the music itself – casually cool and unmistakably British.
Whether it’s a parka, bucket hat or preppy-come-casual ensemble, Blur and Oasis helped make classically trivial clothes symbolic of a certain scene.
As Oasis return to the stage, it’s a reminder that Britpop wasn’t just about sound, but character and identity.
