French Connection revives FCUK amid wave of 90s nostalgia

High street chain French Connection has revived its signature FCUK t-shirts and ad campaign, which put the brand on the map in the 90s. The move is part of a wave of 90s nostalgia that will wash over fashion, music and popular culture this Spring.

The FCUK T-shirts are once again available on French Connection's website priced at £20 and the controversial FCUK campaign has been resurrected and this time pays homage to 90s culture, such as the ad featuring a dress similar to that worn by Kelly McDonald in the cult movie of the decade Trainspotting (pictured above).

The new FCUK T-shirt

FCUK as a concept was devised by the bad boy of the advertising industry Trevor Beattie in 1997. Beattie is said to have scribbled the legend down on a napkin having spotted a fax that was being sent from the brand's UK headquarters, which was headed "From: FCUK".

FCUK ad 1997

Beattie translated this into ads which bore slogans such as FCUK Fashion and FCUK Advertising, and sales of T-shirts emblazoned with the cheeky wordplay, such as the immensely popular COOL AS FCUK, sent the brand's popularity soaring in the late 90s. By the mid-2000s though, the public had tired of the joke and, to some extent, of the brand which has struggled to regain the popularity it enjoyed at its peak.

Given that's the case the brand can hardly be blamed for wanting to cash in on the current wave of 90s nostalgia. Grunge is set to be a big fashion trend this summer, in part aided by Saint Laurent creative director Hedi Slimane who took Courtney Love, former wife of the late grunge hero and Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, as his muse for SS16.

Saint Laurent's "Grunge Princess"

Slimane's "grunge princess" slip dresses and tiaras are bound to spawn countless high street copies and it's a look we can expect to dominate come festival season. Slimane knew it would go down well in this space, so much so, he even sent models down the runway styled in Saint Laurent wellies, which are set to hit stores, such as MATCHESFASHION.COM any day now. Despite the £315 price tag, they are likely to be a sell-out hit.

Courtney Love in the 1990s

For those that can't afford the Love-inspired Saint Laurent offering, Love herself has teamed up with US young fashion brand Nasty Gal to launch an 18-piece collection, thus enabling her to cash in on the current obsession with her 90s persona (and why not?). The range features slip dresses, frilled baby-doll dresses, cropped tops and Mary-Jane shoes (to be styled with knee-high pop-socks if you want to be purist in your 90s styling).

Courtney Love X Nasty Gal

The 90s craze won't just be reserved for fashion. It is already spilling over into music, film and TV even if it turns out the hotly anticipated reunion of US sitcom Friends isn't going to happen after all, because the come-back series of British comedy drama Cold Feet is definitely on, as is the sequel to Trainspotting.

And we have a sneaky feeling that is far from the end of it.