Last week, I heard a phrase I haven't heard since I was drawing peace signs on my chucks during geometry: "grunge rock boyfriend." This term used to apply to lithe boys in flannel with stringy bowlcuts and axes to grind, and while a decade has passed, it doesn't seem to have changed at all. My friend really has a new grunge rock boyfriend, complete with shitty vans and crackly black nail polish. And nooooo, her new beau is not a Marc Jacobs model. Skeptics.

The Times seems to think grunge is back and since I believe anything the Styles section has to throw my way (I'm still saying, See you on the flippy floppy), I think it's safe to say that a grunge boyfriend won't be too hard to find in 2007. Courtney Love has a new book out, this year's spring collections are valentines to plaid , and WWD says you can start polishing up your old Doc Martens. I wouldn't be surprised if berry-stain colored hair a la Angela Chase has a revival as well. It's about time pretty young things reclaim that style from crazy-looking old women with uneven eyeshadow.

So what does it all mean, this return of grunge? Perhaps it's a sign that we are ready to revisit a simpler time when MTV was a fuzzy, lo-fi medium and sex symbols didn't need to shower. In a world where it's impossible to keep up, it's refreshing to slow it down, slack a bit, and make out with your grunge rock boyfriend. Plus it'll be nice to wear flannel without enduring tired lumberjack jokes, right?—Rachel Syme

LINKS
• Mary-Kate gets it
• So does this guy
• You can have your own on-screen grunge boyfriend