Before we watched Winona Ryder talk to Christmas lights and cry over her son getting lost in another dimension on Stranger Things, she was the darling, the ultimate IT girl of the 90s. Every young girl wanted her hair, skin, clothes, boyfriends—heck, at some point some of us even wanted to talk like Winona. She was just the perfect muse, whether it’s for that Christian boy next door or the mysterious rebel from bad part of town.
To welcome the new season of Stranger Things, take a quick stroll down memory lane with me and look through some of Winona’s most memorable moments.
Even contemporary teen movies can’t compete with Heathers
Heathers is that teen movie that would scare away the likes of Mean Girls and Bring It On. It’s dark, twisted, and oddly funny in several parts. If you haven’t seen Heathers, watch even just the last 5 minutes—I guarantee it’ll be worth it.
She obviously had Johnny Depp at his best
Let’s face it: as far as 2017 and the rest of eternity goes, Johnny Depp is pretty much CANCELLED. But if you’re old enough to remember a good chunk of the ’90s, you’d know that Johnny and Winona were the couple of the decade! They were gorgeous, reckless, and so deeply in love that many of us wished to have a brief, trainwreck love just like theirs.
Girl, Interrupted spawned a generation of eccentric girls
Every kid from the 90s has their own favorite version of Winona but my personal favorite will always be her short hair, Girl, Interrupted era. This was one of the films of that decade that really opened the public’s eyes about depression among the youth, and allowed many girls of that age to open up about issues on their mental health. This film also Angelina Jolie and Brittany Murphy household names all over the world.
Black Swan awakened the hearts of long-time Winona fans
Let’s jump out of the 90s and fast forward to 2010. While the rest of mankind marveled at another Natalie Portman psycho-thriller, 90s girls went gaga over Winona’s first supporting role in a major film after nearly a decade-long hiatus. Of course, true to her style, Winona didn’t phone it in with a random supportive tita role. She blessed our lives with a role that was so dark and creepy, we were reminded that no one could do eccentric like Winona does.
