Just as your Instagram feed was becoming saturated beyond repair with the same old regrammed and reblogged images of fashion editorials torn from dusty archive magazines, Berlin-based creative partnership Vincent Mank and Jayme Miller are documenting the lesser-known side of the 90s. Cultivating their mutual love of 90s fashion aesthetics while working in Mario Testino’s London agency, the pair started the @ninetiesmoments account as a way to share the fashion photography from 1990–2000 that inspires them the most.

But it’s not just any 90s photography that catches their eye, they are drawn to “authenticity, rich colours, raw beauty, and always something extra that you can’t quite put your finger on”. A finely-tuned inspiration page or visual stream of fashion references, @ninetiesmoments’ posts range from Joaquin Phoenix’s Prada campaign shot by photographer Glen Luchford and Juergen Teller’s early 90s shots of Kate Moss for British Vogue, to street style fashion editorials shot by Wolfgang Tillmans. Here, Vincent and Jayme tell us more.

Who are you?

Jayme Miller: We are a creative partnership based in Berlin. I’m Canadian and Vincent is a true Berliner. Now that we live in the same city we’re finally executing our ideas and concepts through creative direction of photo shoots, campaigns, and other platforms. And of course, we’ve got a thing for certain 90s aesthetics.

So what made you start @ninetiesmoments?

Vincent Mank: Shortly after we met each other, we noticed our common obsession with finding relatively unknown 90s imagery by going through photographer’s archives. Since then, we’ve continued to constantly exchange images and inspiration, and at some point we had built up such a vast archive from the 90s that we felt the desire to share at least a part of it with others. We decided Instagram was the perfect medium due to its directness and immediacy. 

When did you first become fascinated by 90s fashion?

Jayme Miller: I think for both us, our love for 90s fashion was established while working at Mario Testino +, his agency in London for art direction among other things. Working there, we were introduced to his archive, where we had access to his entire body of work through the 90s and 2000s. In our opinion, Mario was a real pioneer of 90s aesthetics, which I think a lot of people forget. Those images are so raw, the colours are incredible, and above all they are totally original. Contemporary photography owes a lot to him.    

Where do you go about sourcing your images?

Vincent Mank: In the beginning, we mainly used the internet – there are a couple of nerdy forums and great archive sites with pretty good content. But shortly after, we switched almost completely to analogue research by going through physical issues of magazines from the decade. We find it so much more satisfying to stumble upon images that have never been seen on a digital screen before – especially when working on a new project. We frequent art libraries that have extraordinary collections and sometimes we buy old issues of magazines we love.

How do you go about selecting which images to publish?

Jayme Miller: There’s really a lot of 90s photography that we’re not interested in, and sometimes it takes us a while to find good content! Now we know what we both like without even thinking about it, but ultimately I think we’re drawn to authenticity, rich colours, raw beauty, and always something extra that you can’t quite put your finger on.

Do you have an archive saved?

Vincent Mank: There are three archives – Jayme’s, mine, and our joint cloud space. We try to be on top of organising our material – it’s extremely frustrating when you know you’ve seen an image but you just can’t find it. And then, of course, @ninetiesmoments is our public archive!

Has anything unexpected come from posting your content?

Vincent Mank: We receive amazing feedback from our followers, but we also enjoy the immediate contact with the industry members involved in our posts – photographers, stylists, hair and make-up artists, and editors. Katie Grand was the first major industry member to repost one of our early selected editorials, and since then others such as Suzanne Koller, Edward Enninful, Nicolas Ghesquière, and Vanessa Reid, among others, have become supporters as well. 

What are your all time favourite 90s fashion moments?

Vincent Mank: The editorial titled China Syndrome in American Vogue by Wolfgang Tillmans; Joe’s Magazine, the short-lived magazine by Joe McKenna; Craig McDean assisting Nick Knight; Mario Testino’s self-portrait with Kate Moss on the cover of Dutch Magazine #34, which he guest edited. Collier Schorr’s obsession with Germany, and every configuration of Buffalo Boots.

Lastly, what are your other favourite Instagram accounts?

Jayme and Vincent: @mark_peckmezian, @rarebooksparis, @camillebwaddington, @galerieutopie, @messinaloris and @ecce____homo.

@ninetiesmoments