October 5th, 2011 
Learn more about NEO-90ies at www.kaylamattes.com
Kayla Mattes is a textile artist & designer, based in Los Angeles, CA. She graduated from Rhode Island School of Design in 2011 with a BFA in Textiles. Her most recent collection NEO-90ies epitomizes the generational nostalgia derived from trends, fads, and media of the 1990′s and the cultural effect of this pioneering decade of technology, especially in terms of the internet.
In the 90′s the birth of the internet resulted in new forms of communication and information, which began to contribute to the spread of pop-culture. Certain iconic imagery like smiley faces, and aliens exploded as trendy graphics seen not only on t-shirts and accessories, but as gifs and clip-art on webpages. For the first time trends became guided by the internet.
Since this new form of communication has now integrated into our daily lives, there will never again be a generation that has lived without the influence of this technology. Therefore, the children of the 90′s in a way mark the last generation of ‘purity’, and the only generation that experienced this transitional phase.
NEO-90ies comments on these ideas with it’s focus on the kitschy artificial nature of toys, food, material, media, and technology of kid culture in the 90′s. The naivety and sincerity of these ‘tacky’ trends embraced a playful attitude and style in a way that was ‘real’, compared to the present day where our culture is embedded with irony. The collection includes digitally printed fabric, industrial knits, manual machine knits, and handcrafted embellishments.
This post was submitted by Kayla Mattes.
Posted in 
Tags: 