As an online writer and editor for a pop culture website, I am occasionally compelled to log onto an image wire like Getty Images to find a photo of a celebrity. Occasionally, my exact search terms send me spiralling through time to the halcyon days of the 1990s, where I am confronted with beautiful analog photographs of the red carpets of yore – before the age of influencers and the electric eye of social media, when stars were comfortable absolutely slumming it on some of the more, shall we say, mid-range events on the Hollywood calendar.
Now, there’s an excellent Twitter account collecting this bygone archaeological era of frosted tips, baggy jeans, being high all the time, and also wearing like nine shirts at once for some reason. Movie Premieres Unlimited (@NightOpening on Twitter) actually covers a wide range of releases – from the schlock of the 1980s, all the way through to the post-9/11 paranoia of the 2000s, when this era found itself wilting away into nothing.
I mean, just look at the situation going on here:
https://twitter.com/NightOpening/status/1104869871983230976?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1104869871983230976&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.avclub.com%2Fajax%2Finset%2Fiframe%3Fid%3Dtwitter-1104869871983230976%26autosize%3D1
Or here:
https://twitter.com/NightOpening/status/1105270268107329541
A personal favourite, capturing the thrumming energy of 2003 in the alarming paucity of just 4 images. This is truly a forgotten period of Vince Vaughn looks.
https://twitter.com/realdaveimboden/status/1104821313506603008
There’s a huge volume of respect for Val Kilmer, who I am quickly learning was the understated icon of the 90s premiere, often serving frankly terrifying looks far ahead of their time.
https://twitter.com/NightOpening/status/1105131602735230976
I sense a rich vein of content here for many moons to come. Check it out here.
