Marc Vallée has long photographed the subcultures, styles and scenes emerging and evolving around him. Few periods proved as rich a source of material as the 1990s, a decade fuelled by youthful ambition, when Britain’s art, fashion and music worlds collided in a way that felt spontaneous and full of possibility. Pre-millennium, pre-smartphone, pre-social media. Vallée’s latest self-published book, 90s Archive: Volume Four, expands and bookends his series of photographic collections documenting the 90s. Inside, there’s a young Kate Moss and Jade Jagger backstage at a London Fashion Week runway show, skaters with DIY dye-jobs, and Blink-182 roaming Soho at the height of their Enema of the State–era fame. Across candid backstage moments, street-cast faces and rising stars, Vallée’s images preserve the energy and unpredictability of an era increasingly looked back on with nostalgia.

As Tate Britain gears up for its big 90s show this autumn, Marc Vallée launches 90s Archive: Volume Four at The Photographers’ Gallery on 2nd July with an in-conversation with the novelist and art critic James Cahill. Before that, the photographer took us through some of the publication’s most memorable shots.

London Fashion Week, London, 1999

“This was the first time I had been asked to shoot backstage at London Fashion Week. As soon as I walked into the large tent in the grounds of the Natural History Museum, I saw Naomi Campbell, then Kate Moss, and thought, “This is going to be a memorable day.”

This picture of Kate Moss with Jade Jagger (daughter of Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger and human rights advocate Bianca Jagger) and Viscount Daniel Macmillan (great-grandson of former British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan) still resonates with me today. It perfectly encapsulates that feeling of saying goodbye to the 90s – fashion, music, and political legacy all wrapped up in one frame. That said, if I’m honest, it was Daniel who had caught my eye (especially his jacket), and it was a lucky accident that I managed to capture all three of them in one shot.”

Blink-182, London, 1999

“I first saw Blink-182 play at the London Astoria in 1997, with Lagwagon headlining, alongside a friend from art school. A few years later, in 1999, I got the opportunity – after a series of phone calls to their management in California – to spend around an hour with Travis Barker, Mark Hoppus, and Tom DeLonge in Soho before they performed at the legendary Borderline. We only scanned the negative of this picture earlier this year for the book, but when I posted it on Instagram the Blink-182 fanbase noticed and it all went a bit crazy. We ended up producing an open-edition print to meet the demand.”

Vans Generation 97, London, 1997

“I shot this image at Vans Generation 97 (World Skateboarding Championships) held at Wembley Arena in 1997, and it’s on the cover of the book. The boy with the red hair just pops out of the frame – I love his attitude and pure joy.

That summer I had just graduated from my degree and was already picking up occasional editorial commissions from the fashion and lifestyle magazine Sleazenation. Steve Lazarides was the picture editor at the time and played a key role in setting up PYMCA (Photographic Youth Music Culture Archive), which I signed with in 1999. It was exactly these kinds of pictures that PYMCA loved – documenting a scene or group of young people in the most authentic way possible.”

Limehouse, London, 1999

“This is an image of three members of the skate-rock band Skirtbox – Jon Dow, Tom Wright and Matt Oliver – at my old studio in Limehouse in 1999. On the table you can see a copy of Glen E. Friedman’s Fuck You Heroes. I interviewed Glen in 1997 at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) for my undergraduate dissertation. Next to the book are the end prints of Blink-182 that I shot that year. On the wall above the green filing cabinet hangs a Larry Clark print from his Kids exhibition at The Photographers’ Gallery in 1996, and on the back wall sits a stack of The Face magazines.”

London Fashion Week, London, 1999

“This picture of Naomi Campbell was taken after she had walked the runway, as she paused for a moment amid the febrile chaos backstage.”

Goodbye to the 90s with Marc Vallée launches with an in-conversation at The Photographers’ Gallery on Thursday 2 July.