90s Street Style vs. Hyper-Neon Skiwear

My Final Project Aesthetic – 90s Street Style

In order to emphasize comfort and everyday wear in my final design project, I will be making snowboarding pants that are baggy and contain cargo pockets. By making large-fitting pants, I will have enough room to move around and feel comfortable. Additionally, pants such as JNCOs have cargo pockets that I want to replicate to create the “street-style” look.

JNCOs are typically worn among skaters or as everyday wear. Owning a pair of these pants myself, I like how much room I have in them and their unconventional style. This style translates to boarders in the 90s as they broke through appearl norms of full ski suits and started wearing t-shirts and baggy snowboarding pants on the mountain.

Snowboarders in Exile by Jerry Dungan is an influential street and slope-style snowboarding movie that inspired boarders to embrace similar styles. The snowboarder on the cover is only wearing a t-shirt and baggy pants. I want to replicate a similar style into my wardrobe by making loose-fitting pants with pockets that resemble those from JNCO (Fig. 1).

Before street-style apperal was taken to the mountain, there was hyper-neon ski suits. This is another option of clothing that I could incorporate into my final project.

Alternative Aesthetic – Hyper-Neon Skiwear

Beginning in Scandanavia in the mid 1800s (“History of Skiing”, 2025), skiing began to take hold of outdoor enthusiasts. It was not until the 1980’s when hyper-neon skiwear began.

Typically, skiers wore full suits of one bright color during the last couple of decades of the 20th century. My mom even had a ski suit just like this, even though she was a snowboarder.

While this bright, eye-catching apparel assures your friends can find you anywhere on the mountain, I do not like the attention it draws. If I were to copy this aesthetic, my pants would be tight and neon blue. I do not like tight-fitting pants as they restrict my movement while snowboarding and I also do not prefer to wear any bright colors.

My Final Project – Reflecting on Aesthetics

While the hyper-neon wear is something I would never wear, it is a good reflection on just how many different styles there are on the mountain. To this day, I see skiers wearing neon-colored suits. While this is rare, it does happen. Additionally, there are riders who wear animal onesies, butterfly wings, tutus, costumes, etc. There are so many ways to express yourself on the mountain and I am excited to express myself in homemade, neutral-colored, loose-fitting, snowboard pants.

References

History of Skiing. (2025, March 8). Wikipedia. History of skiing – Wikipedia

80s Skiing. (1989). Getty Images. 6,785 80s Skiing Stock Photos, High-Res Pictures, and Images – Getty Images

Jerry Dungan. (1990). Snowboarders in Exile.

JNCO. (2025, March 27).W Quad Cargo. 23″. Hand-Sand Dark Stone. W Quad Cargo. 23″. Hand-Sand Dark Stone. – JNCO Los Angeles