Stop the Press! ’90s Nostalgic Holiday Style Is the Big Christmas Comeback at John Lewis – And It’s All About Fun, Not Beige

Christmas has become too tasteful for its own good. Every year, the colour palettes are perfectly assembled, the decorations artfully coordinated, and Christmas schemes have dominated the design narrative. The whole thing has well and truly lost its Christmas spirit. The 1990s, for all their design mishaps and questionable decor choices, were about colour, fun, and unapologetic chaos. It was an era before we became so self-conscious about having a 'tasteful' Christmas, when glitter and neon could coexist without guilt.

Christmas decorating in 2025 has ditched the muted and minimal for something livelier. This year’s John Lewis Christmas advert, the nation’s favourite festive signal, has reminded us why that particular era was so irresistible. For many of us, it is deeply nostalgic, and whether you love it or loathe it, you must admit, Christmas feels exciting again.

Let’s be honest: not every '90s trend aged gracefully. But that is the charm. In a world obsessed with beige and addicted to subtlety, embracing '90s Christmas decor is something of an antidote to mediocracy, and the ubiquity of a 'chic' and 'understated' Christmas. If you want to embrace the '90s, then tinsel, glitter, kitsch, and a little chaos are all mandatory. Here's what to shop for to get the look.

'I was a child of the '90s, so nostalgic Christmas decor to me isn't elevated, it's not chic or curated, and that's the whole point. Nothing matches, homemade decs sit alongside brightly colored glass ornaments, and the lights are colorful too. Nothing says '90s Christmas to me more than colored lights,' says Hebe Hatton, Head of Interiors here at Homes & Gardens.

'Of course, tinsel was a key player in the 90s Christmas too, hung on the tree but also from the ceiling around doors and picture frames - it's cozy but it's also kind of tacky, which again is the whole point if you are creating this look in 2026, don't overthink it!'

Embracing the tacky can feel daunting. If you approach it half-heartedly, nervously clipping baubles in muted shades while sneaking glances at your neighbours, the whole effect falls flat. The point of a 90s Christmas is to cut ties with your self-conscious self, to fling caution (and tinsel) to the wind, and to revel in decorations that are bold, joyful, and just slightly ridiculous.

The only hard and fast rule of decorating '90s style is to turn your back on the delicate, warm white fairy lights we all love and embrace multicoloured fairy lights instead. These colourful battery lights available at John Lewis are precisely the thing.

This 90s Christmas revival is unapologetic, mischievous, and just a touch over-the-top – which is why some will adore it and others will clutch their pearls. Gone are the beige perfection and painfully colour-coded monotony of modern festive decor. Here, the rules are looser, the ornaments cheerfully eccentric, and the whole effect utterly joyful. Still, even in this riotous celebration of chaos, one line I will never, ever cross is the fake tree. Some traditions, it seems, are worth defending – even amid tinsel-fuelled anarchy.