Do decades still have the strong identities they used to have?

Maybe it's partly because we're still too close to those decades. Or it may be because we've become so homogenized.

[quote]Maybe it's partly because we're still too close to those decades. Or it may be because we've become so homogenised.

Both those I think...

But I remember thinking the '60s looked incredibly different by 1975...in films, fashion, music...& I was only a kiddie.

If you look at movies from the 1950s and 1960s, the clothes, cars, and even planes, look entirely different between those two decades.

If you look at movies from the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s, the clothes, cars and planes basically look the same.

In 1981 the Stray Cats could sing "Well, there's a real square cat, he looks 1974" and you knew what they were talking about; there was a yawning chasm between eras in those 8 years. Could you stigmatize someone in the same way now if you said they "looked so 2008"?

They look so 2000 & late.

R5 = W&W!

For a while in the late 80s I drove around (London) in a very ordinary 1960s car.

People would stare. Stop me. Ask me questions...it was a pain, actually.

I wouldn't even notice a 1990s car if it stopped in front of me.

When people talk about 80s hair or clothes, it really means 1985-1995... these boundaries are blurry and somewhat arbitrary anyway.

I think there have been big shifts with internet usage, technological advancements, medical advancements, social changes (SJWs ), housing bubble, dot com bubble, and the terrorism era that would define the last 10-20 years, but nobody has a word for the decades... the zeros? The tens?

[quote]but nobody has a word for the decades... the zeros? The tens?

If they had a name it would help.

The '20s start in four years time.

OP - great thread. Was just chatting about this subject with friends. Yes, we're probably still too close, but it does feel like the 2000s and 2010s will be less well defined or easily identifiable than prior decades.

[quote]Yes, we're probably still too close, but it does feel like the 2000s and 2010s will be less well defined or easily identifiable than prior decades.

It's because nobody creates anymore or has any imagination. All anyone does is play on their phone and live in their own little world. The younger generation just doesn't seem to care about having any of their own ideas or styles or trends.

I can't wait until 2020 when we see tons and tons of advertising showing someone at the optometrist getting a vision test and the doc says "you have 2020 vision!".

My friend and I also always discuss this. From the late 90s to now, I would say there is a sameness. The previous decades all had their own individuality. You can identify the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s by clothes, cars, electronics etc.. Technology has changed everything.

I don't understand why the cars all look so alike and no colors...and this has gone on for a very long time.

Colors in clothing seems to have returned now. The black clothes of a few years ago will stand out when people look back in years to come.

& fashions/fads go on for years. Reality TV...how long's that been going?

Whenever I see a guy wearing a cap, and it's not winter, not only do I wonder how they can stand that (even when at the gym and they are sweating), but I think "that is so mid nineties".

Some cars are getting color again, but they are rare and in danger because this is not a good time to stick out in any way.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

1990s:

Feathered hair

Neon clothes

Princess Di

"Ahi...did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky, not a single time."

"It depends what on the definition of 'is', is."

Mother Teresa

John Paul II

The European Project

Oklahoma City/Militias/White Supremacy/Idaho cults

David Koresh

Irrational exuberance

Boy bands

Circuit parties

The Starr Chamber

The failed Equal Rights Amendment

Read my lips! No New Taxes! Oops!

Just off the top of my head!

Heaven's Gate Cult

Seinfeld

Cheers/Wheel of Fortune/Judge Judy/Dr. Phil

....

1990s: I was Borked! Who am I?

Anita Hill. I was being sexually harassed by a slobbering bear of a man with severe aspies at that same time. I got reassigned. Awful experience.

Rachel haircuts, ripped jeans & Doc Martens

[quote]ripped jeans & Doc Martens

They're faddy in every decade.

I wore them in the '80s...& Rocco's wearing them now.

Well of course you won't be aware of how any particular time "looks" because at the time everything just looks normal. It's only with hindsight that things will have a definable look. Trust me, in ten years when you see a guy with a beard, or anyone with a tattoo, you're going to think "Boy, that's so 2015!"

We never see pants on the ground and say, how 2005. We see it and recall it was one of those black things we don't understand and that the fashion had something to do with being submissive in prison.

Slim dress pants, 2015...& hawt.

[quote]We never see pants on the ground and say, how 2005. We see it and recall it was one of those black things we don't understand and that the fashion had something to do with being submissive in prison.

One of the 'we' people has arrived.

r26 is being Jewish again.

Actually, you still see plenty of guys wearing Timberland boots and dropped pants, r17. I remember that style starting around 1990 and am shocked to realize that it's become a traditional way to dress. I'm more shocked to see 40ish year olds still dressing that way.

For me, 1995 till right now is only distinguishable from advances in computer technology, wireless phones, medicine, along with ever-changing current events. Fashion, music, and films seem rather similar.

Wow, and there was also AIDS! I participated in a die-in in front of the White House at the 1993 March on Washington! I didnt actually know in advance, and then everybody around me fell to the ground.

A lot of sameness from 2000-2015. It seemed that the grunge period was the last identifiable segment of fashion and music that was a chunk of time.

Even in the 70s you could tell the difference between 1974 and 1977

Here's 100 years of men's fashions. The only truly ridiculous decade featured is 1975.

Was just having this conversation with a friend the other day.

We just watched Field of Dreams and other than no internet and cell phones, the clothes would not look out of place today and that was 1989.

The 90s were grunge-- that was the big fashion trend-- and Friends and Seinfeld, but as others have said cars and clothes and houses and business attire still looks the same. Even mainstream stores like Banana Republic and J. Crew started selling flat front dress pants in the late 90s and they still sell them now.

This decade may be represented by hipsters with beards and lumberjack clothes and skinny jeans. Maybe yoga pants (Lululemon) for moms. But jeans and khakis and everything else look more or less the same. There's that bizarre Macklemore hairstyle that blue collar kids seem to be sporting (shaved on the sides) but everyone else's hair seems to have stayed the same. No big 80s hair or 70s Farrah dos.

Note to R18- you have your decades mixed up. A lot of what's on your list- neon clothes, feathered hair, read my lips, no new taxes, Cheers, Wheel of Fortune-- those are all from the 80s or even the 70s.

God, that model's attractive, R32. So glad (most of us) left goatees (and soul patches) back in the 90s.

Time stopped, and America stopped, in 1995 when the Jews plopped that Holocaust monument on Boston's Freedom Trail.

Great video R32 and yes he is hot R34

I guess guys wearing their shirts untucked, even with a blazer, is a 2000s innovation.

Was also looking at the 1965 guy thinking that you could not sell shirts that tight anymore-- American guys have gotten so much fatter since then, even the younger ones.

[quote]I guess guys wearing their shirts untucked, even with a blazer, is a 2000s innovation.

& the shaved heads came in, in the 2000s.

No -- shaved heads started in the mid 90s.

You mean for bald guys, R37?

The last 15 years has been a reach back into the past and modernizing old trends and looks - keeping the good and discarding the bad. I think the focus has shifted to interiors rather than our clothes and hair.

There's soooo much more furniture and household design items that just did not exist 20+ years ago - except maybe for the very wealthy.

I'm actually glad about this - clothes used to go out of style in a year or two and a lot of it was just ridiculous.

[quote] There's soooo much more furniture and household design items that just did not exist 20+ years ago - except maybe for the very wealthy.

Not sure I'm following you on that R40. Can you give some examples of the sorts of things you are talking about? Thanks!

Cmon! In 10 years some of us men will say remember when we had beards, had manbuns, tatted up our bodies, were lumbersexual, drank craft beer & cold pressed juices, twerked & nene'd. The list goes on! Yes Virginia, we'll be nostalgic about the present in the future.

Thank you, R33. I need a better research assistant.

Oh, no, not you, Randolf! I just mean that [italic]you[/italic] need an assistant! .. ... Wow, dodged that bullit.

now the time markers are technological. flip phones will seem terribly out-of-date. cathode ray televisions will seem a 20th century convention.

Remember combat boots and short-shorts? Also skirts/kilts.

[quote]beards, had manbuns, tatted up our bodies, were lumbersexual, drank craft beer & cold pressed juices, twerked & nene'd.

None of those had any cultural impact -- outside of being annoying to some and a comfort to others.

They are just things that happened.

YouTube has been major & it transformed the internet, but it's become so much a part of our lives we don't even notice it.

That's true, r47 -- we won't think about it until it is gone and nothing better replaces it.

Some people miss USENET.

[quote]That's true, [R47] -- we won't think about it until it is gone and nothing better replaces it.

I can't imagine it ever going anywhere.

At the same time, none of the others seem able to compete, at all.

R32 They have 1935 and 1945 reversed .

The 90s look vastly different.

I was watching the first season of "Friends" awhile back and I thought, "DAMN!! Those are some BAGGY pants!! Men did not wear form fitting clothes at all!"

Even music in 2005 is vastly different from music in 2015.

The 2000s were very trashy

Any movie/tv show from the 90's and 2000's that have cell phones or computers in them with people using them makes them dated. Yet I remember watching them back then and being impressed by the technology.

I can see a massive difference between 90s/00s/10s fashion. Mostly I see it in women's fashion, but men's fashion has changed too.

How old are you people? I was born in the 90s and I cringe at some of the things my friends and I wore in middle school and high school and that was during the 2000s.

Even within the last 5 years fashion has changed a lot. I was watching the finale of Nip/Tuck not too long ago, and the finale was from 2010 and I couldn't believe how outdated looking some of the hairstyles and clothes were.

I remember working at the mall in 2012 and I remember seeing this very preppy fashion on girls everywhere, I don't know what the name for that style was but I called it the "Lana Del Rey" look cause it was exactly how she dressed at that time, but I don't see girls dressing like that much anymore. It seems very much like the grunge of the 90s is coming back.

You lost all credibility at "I remember working at the mall" R54

What's your point [R55] ?

[quote]You lost all credibility at "I remember working at the mall" [R54]

I stopped reading when I read, 'How old are you people?'..not so much the old part, but the 'you people'.

Horrid.

[quote]What's your point [[R55]] ?

I think he made his point.

Is this thread for real??! The 90s had its own distinctive style. Grunge, Doc Martins, and the Rachel cut I can name right off the top of my head for that decade. The 00s were all about the 80s and looking like white trash -- Ed Hardy trucker hats, pajama bottoms, UGG boots in the summer, ugh!

Lilith Fair and girl power = 90s.

r59 and r60 -- but those were the last identifiable styles. After 1995, nothing much else and nothing changing.

Styles haven't really changed much since the late 90s, except for a few minor details. Looking at pictures of people from that time period, most of the styles would look the same today, nearly 20 years later.

All of the decades of the 20th century had radical shifts in fashion, cars, etc. but since the late 90s it seems everything has stayed pretty much the same. I have no idea why.

Technology has changed from the late 90s, dumb dumbs.

Well the decades that radically changed were in fact anomalies. Throughout history, fashion trends didn't swing that wildly and quickly ordinarily.

[quote]All of the decades of the 20th century had radical shifts in fashion, cars, etc. but since the late 90s it seems everything has stayed pretty much the same. I have no idea why.

I was watching some TV show from the mid 90s and I'd forgotten how many men still wore jackets and ties all the time...often colorful ties, with quite loose jackets. Can;t find a link to illustrate my point.

[quote]Technology has changed from the late 90s, dumb dumbs.

This point has already been made. I won't insult you, you've already done it for yourself.

The video at R32 isn't all that accurate. A lot of the styles shown were Hollywood and television's idea of fashion.

The style they show for 1975 is a good example: it's only accurate if you were a Black or Latino Times Square pimp.

I think of the 1970s as the era of BrooksBrothers shirts, khaki pants and top siders. See the films of Woody Allen.

[quote]I think of the 1970s as the era of BrooksBrothers shirts, khaki pants and top siders. See the films of Woody Allen.

Maybe for you, preppie.

In the late 70s more and more people were dressing that way, but really only preppie types &/or fashionable people in the big cities. Annie Hall was a big influence....all baggy & retro.

[quote]I think of the 1970s as the era of BrooksBrothers shirts, khaki pants and top siders. See the films of Woody Allen.

Some of us transitioned early back to prep (real '70s clothing was so hideous, who would wear it?), but 1980 is when preppy clothing really got a boost, when Lisa Birnbach's THE OFFICIAL PREPPY HANDBOOK was published.

Poor Woody -- he wanted to look as though he attended Yale, because he didn't -- that is how "looks" become fashion. The Ivy League types always dressed in Brooks Brothers shirts, khaki pants and wore those strange top siders (I think it was something about boats) and then the aspirational people intruded and not only wore the clothes, but then tried to get everyone else to wear them too.

Maybe because those marketing the look didn't want their aspirations to show.

I'm 28, and I agree that fashion hasn't changed much since I became aware of such things in the late '90's. If you wanted to set a movie in the late 90's, sure you could have the cast wear clothes that are identifiably 90's, but you could also have the cast wear clothes from present-day and it wouldn't seem out of place. Could you do the same for a movie filmed in the 90's that was set in the 70's?

[quote]Could you do the same for a movie filmed in the 90's that was set in the 70's?

No.

The 2010s were when we forgot proper comma usage - especially parenthetical and dependent/independent clause-wise:

"But I'd find the 1990s and the decades since, a lot harder to define."

Peter Fonda, stylin' -- 1976

Slim fit dress shirts and skinny jeans didn't exist in the 90s. One or two brands had them in 00-05...now every single store / brand has them. That's one big change for men. Who ever wanted big blousey dress shirts to begin with?

North face denali jackets that 80% of the (younger) male population wore in 03-08 aren't worn by anyone now....jacket is below. People still wore jean shorts in the 90s and early 00s...and pleats lingered for a while... how quickly we forget.

There have been a lot of fashion changes for men and women. It's not as drastic as going from the 70s to the 90s but it's there.

No, because we still haven't figured out a name for 2000-2009 or 2010-2019. "The Oughts" is taken, and even so, sounds too old-fashioned. "The Tens" sounds plain odd. Of course, we could call this decade "The Trans-itory Tens" or "The Kardashian Decade."

Every North Face (and its ilk) jacket looks more like every other North Face jacket than it looks different from any other North Face jacket. And North Face is still making jackets. I bow to the fineness of your ability to distinguish among them, R75.

"The video at [R32] isn't all that accurate. "

You can't really just choose just one outfit to represent a whole decade and please anybody, so yeah.

But you do realize that the major purpose of that video was to watch the model get undressed to his underwear 11 times (under the guise of "learning about the history of fashion").

In the 1990s, ABBA videos like "Take A Chance on Me" looked so wonderfully dated, totally 1970s--the clothes, the hair--and in a way, fresh. The clothes, hair, makeup have made their way back and wouldn't be out of place in 2015.

As has been said this is largely a case of being too close to the time periods in discussion. Differences will be seen when there's more time separating us from those decades.

Take a look at the car attached, from the 90s. Then walk past a new car lot and see if you can find anything that looks like that. Everything in the mid 2000s to today is more rounded with a less prominent roof.

But it is undeniable that the cultural upheaval of the 1960s eventually lead to a more homogeneous, casual culture. The people who are now parents (or even grandparents) were rebellious teens in the 1960s. They grew up to take over the world and their more casual, counterculture clothing became the generic wear of the west. Jeans used to be a statement, now they're pretty much the default trousers.

I live in a post-fratboy-laden area (guys up to 30 - still have that vibe). So, the shifting North Face trends are impossible to miss. My elevator is a fashion show every day. That's why I was surprised by the fashion comments that nothing changed. Oh, it has... though I don't really pay attention to women, they are changing a lot too from 10 years ago. I think now that I am older & not interested in impressing anyone (vs. being lazy and comfortable) - I don't care that much about what I wear. But these 23-30 year olds who live here are so well dressed, I constantly think they're gay until I hear the endless string of "bro dude man beer sports" come out of their mouths.

Also, I owned 2 denali jackets. One I left at TSA at Logan (still pissed about that cuz they discontinued the color) and then I bought a new one but I can't wear it because it looks like the 2015 version of a member's only jacket. Even the NF shells (that once were $500) are out of style because the old ones are too baggy. It's obvious that you're wearing something very old.

lead = led

Cars are getting big again. I have a 2005 car still, and when i went shopping the last few times, I was surprised how massive the cars were now....just regular sedans...but huge now. They all seem to have doors that are very tall and wide. The modernized version of my model is enormous. I live in the city so I was concerned about parallel parking something that bulky... I never bought it. It's not like I drive a compact car...they just have been growing. My parents bought a Lexus (LS I think? The smaller one) and it's just so huge. The old ones were basically fancy toyotas and similarly sized.

oh, and the whole SUV explosion took place sometime in the 00s...right? Only a small % of people had jeep grand Cherokees in the 90s. Now, every single person has a land rover to drive from their high rise condo to whole foods and back. ..or a Cayenne. Definitely a post 00s thing.

Same make and model car in the same color, early 2000s:

Same make and model today (it's a Ford Taurus by the way)

It's a drastically improved design....though I wonder if the handling is still shitty. Hertz gave me a taurus every week for years, and I always thought that car was like driving on a wet road, even when it was dry.

I'd say theres a big difference in how people dressed in the 1990s to the 2010s - I'm writing a story right now that starts in the early 1990s and finishes in the present day and one of the things I decided to do was get copies of home shopping catalogues from a near-thirty year period to see what sort of clothing was on offer a few years back as opposed to nowadays. We don't really think of how drastically different fashion was back then, but there *are* major differences.

Look at some of the clothing that was on sale in menswear in the early 1990s. We were just coming out of the 1980s, when power-dressing affected everything, from suits right down to t-shirts. It was also the decade of brilliant block colours (I'd say they were muted compared to today's colours) and bejebus-awful patterning. The fit of menswear changes drastically over the course of the 1990s up until the present day - there was a time when the fashion for super-skinny jeans wouldn't have been acceptable - or even possible (thanks to mass production of stretch blends). In the early 1990s, menswear was...baggy. It reaches a point of hideousness in the late 1990s, goes to a point of structured bagginess (one of the best places to see this is the Next catalogue. Download a copy and laugh) and then, very recently, tight as fuck. Jeans are a good indicator and identifier of the era. In the 1990s right up until around 2005 mens jeans were predominantly boot-cut or loose-fit. It's only recently that we've started wearing more fitted jeans. The *colour* of jeans in this time is also interesting. Would any of you actively seek out white denims or flares? The choice of fabrics for things like shirts is also a damned good indicator of the era - denim shirt, anyone? How about a pirate-style shirt made of chambray or worse, pseudo-suede? Shoes also give a good idea of when the era is. When I was a teenager (between 1990 and 2000) I would have rather been shot than be seen in a pair of trainers - Doc Martens and Cat boots for me. Trainers were for the school gym or your college sports centre. Believe it or not, but there are styles of shoes that have fallen out of fashion since the 1990s - skate shoes had a brief moment in the later part of the 1990s and early 2000s and there are some formal shoes that you just look at and go "christ!" - I'm thinking of the neon-green leather Oxford lace-ups from Hugo Boss that once commanded a price tag around £300. Leisurewear has changed dramatically. Nowadays we don't think anything of a woman in a gym in a pair of lycra leggings or a man in a pair of boardshorts and a muscle shirt. Back in the 1990s...shellsuits. Or, for the Americans chortling in horror - tracksuits. There was a time when entire fucking families going on holiday would wear matching shellsuits in a variety of Helen-Keller-terrifying colours. Yes, my family tried to get me to wear the family uniform of neon pink and blue with a green "sash". Never. Again. Invariably polyester, these fuckers could go up like a Roman Candle if you got too close to a flame. In the meantime, I'm going to leave you with one of those tunes that shriek "1990s!" - Exterminate...

[quote]It's a drastically improved design....though I wonder if the handling is still shitty.

Yes, it is...night & day.

[quote]I wonder if the handling is still shitty.

Not at all.

You're welcome to come in and take a test drive at your convenience.

[quote] I'm writing a story right now that starts in the early 1990s and finishes in the present day

Before you continue, you need to have someone explain paragraphs to you.

Paragraphs are repressive and paternalistic, r89, and not part of his "vision."

I think the big difference is that the internet has allowed styles to go national and to spread very quickly (and die off just as quickly). Was not around then, but from what I've been told, a fashion trend that was big in California and New York would take a year or two to hit Des Moines and Albilene. Today it takes a day or two. Big national chain stores that carry more or less the same merchandise coast-to-coast certainly boost this trend.

The other big difference is that a lot of the trends of earlier years swept everyone, regardless of age or social class and they hung around for a while. Compare that to "the Rachel" which was a trend for a year or so and then Aniston got a haircut and it went away-- it was never as popular as 80s big hair or 70s feathered hair either.

And yes, I applaud R81s ability to distinguish between various North Face styles. Kind of all looks the same to me.

Here's a photo of Matt Perry and Matt LeBlanc from Friends. If you saw two guys looking like this today, you would not think "they look so 90s"

Those two Ford cars do like very different.

Back a few decades you could immediately tell if a street scene on TV etc...was in The USA or England...car-wise. Now it's much harder to differentiate.

In fact you could do the same with European countries. No longer.

Heh. R89 here - yeah, I should have hit that return button more. Oy.

God, the "Rachel" - how many tragic cows I knew who asked for a "Rachel" and ended up with the "Divine"...

[quote]Here's a photo of Matt Perry and Matt LeBlanc from Friends. If you saw two guys looking like this today, you would not think "they look so 90s"

True. You wouldn't even notice.

Na, you would notice the difference pretty much - the difference in hair style, the loose fit of Chandler's top and jeans and that Matt Le Blanc doesn't look like something you yanked out of a hair trap.

lol R94 so true! And the fraus hadn't owned flat irons yet, so they would go home and try to keep it up and look like their head exploded...using the hot curling brush w/ a blod dryer.

Thanks R88 (tony) - I did drive the old Taurus a LOT - and I got in a huge accident in one... after that it was all AWD for me.

Sigh. R96, those are subtle differences that only a gay man with a strong interest in fashion would pick up on. Most guys do not wear tight clothes, they like them loose and a little baggy. They would not stand out the way someone in 1960s hippie gear would have in 1980.

What a lot of you are forgetting is that things like skinny jeans are relegated to a small percentage of the population. There's a high school near my house, most of the kids wear regular fit jeans, especially the boys. They are not all wearing bandage tight jeans.

Back in the 80s, no one was wearing 1970s bell bottoms.

R87, in the '90s, we used paragraphs.

R97 - my sister was given a Rachel (she demanded "anything but that fucking Rachel. Horse-faced slut") - went home and went all Sinead O'Connor on us. She actually *really* suited a skinhead. Shame she grew it out!

[quote]And the fraus hadn't owned flat irons yet,

Right. The very flat, straight hair thing is this decade and not often to great effect.

^^Regular fit jeans, t-shirts, hoodies and sneakers, exactly what we wore in the mid-90s. Main difference is the sneakers are rarely white these days.

And maybe where you lived R101, but my sister and her friends were flat combing their hair back in 1999. As were the girls on Friends, IIRC

Here in the UK, we'd only had crap American telly like Saved By The Bell and USA High to base our concepts of US teenage fashion on (christ, Lisa Turtle as a fashion icon. Fuck. No wonder that girl went gaga) and along came "Popular" - Leslie Bibb's hair was *revolutionary* at my school. Actually, the cast of that show were *really* gorgeous. Hellooo Bryce...

Well, I started straightening my hair in 1996 but I really had issues with it after I went through puberty and looked like a monster. So, this gay white boy would drive to a black neighborhood 10 miles away to get his hair relaxed, but I was fucking determined not to look like the white version of buckwheat (I don't know where I got these shitty hair genes. I could've at least gotten a big dick if I was gonna get black person hair!).

Hair started getting straighter around 2000 - and more and more products came out to make it shinier and less frizzy (frizz ease started it - but then 100s more followed).

The fact that there are now places that just do blow outs for women (and profit) is clearly a 2010s thing. Some curls are coming back now, finally... but I doubt we will ever see the frizzed out / crimped messes of the 80s and early 90s. Those were once ina lifetime.

[quote]If you wanted to set a movie in the late 90's, sure you could have the cast wear clothes that are identifiably 90's, but you could also have the cast wear clothes from present-day and it wouldn't seem out of place.

That's because the 90s are back in fashion.

[quote]ut I doubt we will ever see the frizzed out / crimped messes of the 80s and early 90s.

They looked horrid at the time, not just in retro.

It's not that they're back in fashion, R105 - *some* of it's back in fashion. I don't see the fraus going on out there with their frizzy perms done up with masses of hair mousse and with that one section at the front pushed/combed up to "create interest", and I sure as shit don't see shirts with mirrors on the lapels. What the *hell* was the point in mirrored lapels?!

[quote]No, because we still haven't figured out a name for 2000-2009 or 2010-2019.

Retard, 2000-09, is called the Noughties, or the Millennium. 2010-19 is the Tens.

r107, what trailer park did you grow up in?

Since 2000, there's been a definite blurring of time. the 1990's have meaning for me, mostly because it was the peak of people dying of AIDS in the early years. There was grundge, REM, Outkast, The Real World began, the prosperity of the Clinton years, AOL chatrooms, and the last years of gay ghettos.

The 2000's ushered in a new proto-Fascist post 9/11 world of security everywhere, cell phone cameras, webcams, security cameras, airport hell, and the whole "if you're not with us you're against us" mentality. In the gay world, there was a new era of marriage equality on one hand, and the new nihilism of resurgent barebacking on the other. Not sure where we go from here.

The 2010's is the decade we're in now and is devoid of any personality. It's mostly anti-social piercings, tattoos, earlobe enlargements and other fashion statements of embracing ugliness. The culture itself has gotten coarser, with broadcast television being overtaken by more hardcore fare on expanded basic cable and HBO. The level of over-the-top violence that our culture has been numbed to is really scary. Video games, blood-soaked dramas, and recurrent themes in movies of our civilization being wiped out by marauding zombies, vampires, demons, aliens, all contribute to a generalized paranoia adrift in the land. The reinforces paranoia about immigration, Islam, Asians, etc. Not sure what the 2020's will bring, but I'm doubtful that we're heading to a good place.

R109 - not a trailer park, but a seriously unfashionable town in Scotland.

What's funny is magazine articles etc today...they get the 60s & 70s mixed up.

No one said 'groovy' in the 70s or called themselves a hippy by 1975 or talked about 'Swinging London'.

[quote] the 1990's have meaning for me, mostly because it was the peak of people dying of AIDS in the early years.

Er, hello!

People talk a lot about how one of the effects of social media is that people tend to stay in their own bubbles and aren't exposed to other points of view, so if you are a right wing Evangelical, all you will see is what other Evangelicals are thinking/reading/wearing.

I wonder if that applies to fashion too-- people tend to live in bubbles and so dress/decorate like that group, which prevents any one fashion trend from becoming huge the way they did in the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s

Er-hello, R113

[quote]people tend to live in bubbles and so dress/decorate like that group,

2010-20...The Bubble Decade.

Bad mid-'90s men's fashion: frosted tips, puka shell necklaces, and bowling shirts

2000-2009 = the ohs

2010-on = the teens

If you want, R115, I can go all the way back to the summer of '78 with a guy I met in Venice, CA. But "peak" is the point, which I don't think 1983-85 is part of.

Earlier, i mentioned the peak of AIDS as being in the 1990's. I remember the entirety of AIDS in the U.S. I lost many friends in the 1980's, but it was in the 1990's that friends started dropping almost weekly. Also, I lost my lover in the 1990's. So, yes, different decades mean different things to different people. I guess I should have explained better. The attached graph demonstrates how the early 1990's were the peak years for AIDS deaths in the U.S. I didn't mean to discount those deaths in the 1980's.

[quote]2000-2009 = the ohs

[quote]2010-on = the teens

Even the 1900s and 1910s never got nicknames in the US

In the UK, they were the Edwardian period (even for a few years after he died when the Titanic went down) and then it was all about The Great War -- especially in hindsight.

I've started to hear America in the 60s described as The Swinging Sixties.

The Swinging '60s an English phenomenon...

They tried to call the 70s The ME decade in America, but I don't think it really caught on.

I remember the media pushing the ME decade.

It was actually the Boomers being the ME generation.

Life Magazines last issue of the '60s

Let's call the '00s the Georgian Period, then, R121.

R122 is apparently too young to remember The ME Decade.

[quote][R122] is apparently too young to remember The ME Decade.

I was old enough to sneak into Goodbar when it opened....so, no.

R56, it's just pointless bitchery, ignore it.

At least the tin tin hair seems to have passed, along wit h frosted tips.

I'm not quite sure I get the compulsion to give calendar decades little nicknames, and then to try to squeeze styles and historical events into those decades. Fashion doesn't work that way, and neither does history. Something like "the me decade" doesn't catch on because it's meaningless to try to encapsulate the events or mindset of an arbitrary ten years that way.

[quote]I'm not quite sure I get the compulsion to give calendar decades little nicknames, and then to try to squeeze styles and historical events into those decades. Fashion doesn't work that way, and neither does history.

Strangely, in England, which sort of owned the '60s, sort of...when the '60s ended, when the numbers changed...so did everything. Watch a British movie made in 1970...mini skirts gone, music different, no more Beatles...totally different atmosphere.

But I think the '60s went on for longer in the USA, but they started later, so it's understandable.

You also used to have that thing of a particular city belonging to a decade.

Rome in the 50s. London & later San Francisco, the 60s. New York, the '70s...

You don't have that now.

I know the 70s ended with riots and Thatcher, but how did they begin in the UK? What replaced the Beatles and Twiggy?

[quote]What replaced the Beatles and Twiggy?

People like T Rex, Elton John, Bowie...various singer songwriters. I don't think there was another model as high profile as Twiggy in the 70s.

North Face jackets are the Member's Only jackets of the present day. Mark my words.

Identities of decades are about more than fashion. They're about music, television, movies, cultural trends, political trends, etc. And this is going away FAST.

I just met a 20 year old who had no idea who hosted JEOPARDY. She hasn't been tied to whatever screen her parents are watching. And the parents are not tied to a few channels of programming either.

When I was growing up, you might not have liked Madonna but you'd listen to her songs on the radio and know when she had a new album out. If you didn't like her, you'd still watch her videos on MTV because you'd be waiting for the next one to come on.

Her new video has over 150 million views and I had no idea it existed--and I'm a Madonna fan. Someone at a party happened to show it to me.

So, the Beatles gave way immediately to brooding singer songwriters and Glam Rock?

Had the exuberance that spawned the Beatles, etc, dissipated so quickly?

When did the tattoo craze start?

[quote]So, the Beatles gave way immediately to brooding singer songwriters and Glam Rock? Had the exuberance that spawned the Beatles, etc, dissipated so quickly?

In the US pop culture had split into different directions by the time 1970 rolled around. There were the brooding singer songwriters and there was heavy metal rock but there was also light silly bubble-gum pop. "Sugar, Sugar" was the No. 1 single for 1969.

I wanted add: Tommy Roe was king of the bubble gum genre with big hit's like the incredibly lame number posted above.

I miss the good old times, also an era where goods were made to last. Not like the crap produced today. I went shopping for socks the other day and I couldn't find 100% cotton socks.

R108, you are the cretin here. Nobody calls this century's first decade "The Noughties". And nobody refers to this decade as "The Tens." Perhaps these are the correct terms, but no-one is using them.

Moreover, there are no slang nicknames for theee decqdes.

"these decades"

There definitely hasn't been anything new produced in the past 15 or 20 years. Music and fashion right now are very 80's influenced. Rap has gone uncontested as a popular music form since the late 80's. In any other decade, something would have come along to knock it into the past. When's the last time there was a dance craze, like the Twist, or disco, or break dancing? Even the popular movies now are continuations of famous franchises from the 70's or 80's, like Creed and The Force Awakens. The big spring movie is Batman and Superman, a pairing of film franchises from the 70's and 80's that they keep rebooting. All the Superhero movies are based on comics that came out in the 30's, 40's, 50's, or 60's. The only medium that has expanded into something new and different is TV. TV has been better that past 15 years that it has ever been, more adult, more daring, and more experimental, and shown on more platforms than ever before, but the rest of popular culture seems stuck in a time warp.

And let's not get started on how pathetic politics are in the U.S., how regressive, angry, and downright stupid so many voters are, wanting to take the country back to the 19th century, which seems in line with everything else in the culture. About the only positive has been the steady progress of gay rights, though other minorities and women haven't gained any ground at all.

Yep, I agree with you R134... that's why I ditched the Danali (after everyone else around here stopped wearing them overnight).

There are still nicer ones - like the quilted vests and stuff especially...and of course they are doing puffer coats like everyone. The shells are more fitted now to go with modern aesthetics (though I don't want a new shell for $600 - I'd rather get something from a "real" designer).

What is so interesting about this thread is that everyone has a totally different view on what shifte dand what didn't. For me, I lived in this building in 2006 - and then moved back a few years ago...it has almost 800 people, with many in the 25-30 range...who are the most fashion conscious. So, I've seen all the changes. Being older than them, I don't really feel like keeping up (or look that great in fitted clothes, tbh... let's not accentuate my love handles w/ a fitted waffle T...ok....)

Boat shoes / top siders were mentioned by someone earlier. EVERYONE here is wearing them. I bought a pair and they ripped all the skin off my heel within a day.

I'm not built to be trendy.

Hipsters will define the late 2000s, somewhat. Recognition of timeframes will likely be based on technology, though, and how there's constant evolution of phones, computers, tablets, etc. We'll probably also be defined more on how our technological change has spurred how we interact and socialize.

[quote]Boat shoes / top siders were mentioned by someone earlier. EVERYONE here is wearing them. I bought a pair and they ripped all the skin off my heel within a day.

I can't understand why. They're the most comfortable shoes in the world. Maybe you bought cheapies.

The 2010s will really be the decade of the hipster will was lastly a 90s trend. The 2010s have all been about the 1990s revival. Revivals happen in 20s. Millennials have finally come of age and want to relive their childhoods and the industry and more than willing to comply. Nickelodeon has created an entire network that plays nothing but its 90s television shows and just announced that it intends to bring back all-new episodes of its 90s series. The highest grossing film pre-The Force Awakens for this decade was "Jurassic World." MTV brought back "Beavis and Butt-head" and Liquid Television. Ab Fab is back, along with "The X-Files," "Twin Peaks," "Mystery Science Theater 3000," "Full House," "Problem Child" is being turned into a television series, grunge is big, Soundgarden is back, everyone cares about Nirvana, "Point Break" is getting rave reviews, and so on and so forth.I for one am sick to death or it, but after the endless 80s crap of the 2000s, at least it's a change. I don't see where it could go next. We done everything else. The 2000s offered nothing new. How can we do a 20 year revival of the 00s???!

[quote]The big spring movie is Batman and Superman

It's going to be a disaster. It'll make money, but it's going to be tragic.

R146, it was the back of my ankle...they were $140 from nordstrom... roughly. The problem is that they need to be broken in to be "the most comfortable shoes in the world" ...they aren't right out of the box.

Besides, I can name a dozen other sneaker brands that are far more comfortable than Sperry Topsiders.

[quote]The problem is that they need to be broken in to be "the most comfortable shoes in the world" ...they aren't right out of the box.

I have a real problem with uncomfortable shoes and need them to be comfortable from the get-go....that's why I wear them. I've never had a problem with them. I'm sorry you have.

In fact, in recent years I've found versions that don't have laces which I like a lot more.

The 1990s, the 2000s, the 2000 teens. Did I miss something, or has American culture come to a stand still during the last twenty-five years? It seems like it's the same old thing decade after decade except for terrorism, unwanted wars, economic recession, crime, etc. Oh yes, we did have Downton Abbey for a few years. But nothing really new or exciting in the world of fashion or entertainment. I'm calling all gay men and women to swing into action once again, and save this country from boredom.

Regular (Authentic Original) Sperry Topsiders don't cost $140, even at Nordstrom. They're $95 at the Sperry website. You must have bought some schmancy version, R149.

I've been wearing them most of my life, not just when they're suddenly fashionable again, and I never have problems with blisters and such. They're the most comfortable shoe I can find. My right big toe is slightly bigger than it should be, and Topsiders aren't bothered by that, in a size that's also comfortable for my heel. I used to break through the stitching on Cole Haan shoes (loafers) at that point, and most other shoes hurt like hell, so I wear Topsiders whenever possible.

[quote] My right big toe is slightly bigger than it should be, and Topsiders aren't bothered by that,

OMG, mine too. Though I've never really put it into words before and I agree these shoes accommodate it very well...slight bulge only.

In the days when I wore Converse All Stars, I'd always break a hole with my mighty big right toe.

I was never able to wear Chucks, R153.

The further away we get form them, the more definable the 90's and 00's become.

Consider the fashions and styles in this early publicity still of the cast of Friends from 1994. Look at the women's shoes and skirts. And the guys' hair. Outlandishly dated. But then, they were regarded as modern, almost chic styles for young white urban hipsters.

[quote]But then, they were regarded as modern, almost chic styles for young white urban hipsters.

I don't agree, R155. Those clothes were shit, even then.

I remember that shirt on the guy on the far right and thinking how horrible it was.

The only reasonable clothes are on the guy on the far left.

The girls are all dressed like 1990s librarians.

[quote]has American culture come to a stand still during the last twenty-five years? It seems like it's the same old thing decade after decade except for terrorism, unwanted wars, economic recession, crime, etc. Oh yes, we did have Downton Abbey for a few years.

Downton Abbey is not part of "American culture." Its popularity in the U.S. Is wildly overstated and it's had virtually no impact on popular culture. Far more Americans watch the Housewives or Dancing with the Stars than anything on PBS, including Downton.

[quote]Far more Americans watch the Housewives

I have actually found myself thinking that the RHOB captures this era and in years to come, when archived, will be a very sharp illustration of aspects this period...whether you 'appreciate' it or not.

& maybe the other Real Housewife shows as well...I don't know them.

Sorry R155 - but none of those people would look horribly out of place if you ran into them on the street today. Compare that to how out of date someone in 70s clothes/hair would have looked in 1995.

Schwimmer's outfit would even pass muster in a gay bar.

I assure you R156 that flyover fraus considered those styles very modern back then, and they were keen to copy them.

R159 I agree that Schwimmer looks the least out of date. The women's styles though, you certainly would think it odd if a similarly aged woman in NYC dressed like that today. Remember that the Aniston character was actually meant to work in the fashion industry!

[quote]The women's styles though, you certainly would think it odd if a similarly aged woman in NYC dressed like that today

You'd think they were an ex-nun.

I was there too, R30. I didn't know either; did we make eye contact?

Decades are arbitrary. None had a real "personality." You've been misled by your Time-Life decade books!

R163, was that you? I remember using someone's tummy to rest my head while dying in the middle of the street. I survived to dance away my cares, later.

Today's young ladies look like prostitutes. I understand that this is a timeworn complaint, but seriously.

I was at the '93 March on Washington and I don't remember any die-in.

I remember wearing boat shoes to the NYC gay pride parade in the mid-late 90s (probably '96 or '97, I was mid 20s at the time). My boyfriend and I were standing on Christopher Street right across from the Stonewall. Bored by the parade, I started to look down at guy's feet, and saw only sneakers and sandals, sandals, sandals (the type Jesus wore - WWJW?). I started to become almost frantic, and left our spot to find someone, ANYONE, else wearing boat shoes! I could not accept that I was the only gay guy in NYC still wearing them. After what seemed an interminable amount of time, I finally saw a man wearing boat shoes - a schlubby, overweight tourist and his wife, probably from the midwest, who were clearly lost and had stumbled upon the parade scene by accident. I vowed at that moment to never wear those shoes ever again.

R167, if I recall correctly, we were in a parade of some kind, and were passing by the front of the White House. All of a sudden, most of the marchers just dropped to the ground. I didn't know what was happening so I just followed suit. After a few minutes, people started standing up, and we marched on.

If you were anywhere else except in front of the White House for those 5 minutes, you'd have missed it.

There was a cute sitcom, "Mad About You", years ago where a NY couple were trying to get their act together to leave their apartment and go somewhere before the Pride Parade blocked their exit. So, after much ado, they finally leave their apartment. The next scene is them reentering their apartment with long faces, and with a marching band sounding up from the street. 1992-1999.

The really low rise jean was a hallmark of the early 21rst century. bonus points if you had to remove pubic hair, or showed your "whale tail" thong.

The removal of all body hair, as well.

:::Today's young ladies look like prostitutes. I understand that this is a timeworn complaint, but seriously. :::

When I see young women going out to nightclubs in town nowadays, I have to force myself to not blurt out, "You look like hooker from an 1970's episode of "Starsky and Hutch" or "Baretta."

[quote]When I see young women going out to nightclubs in town nowadays, I have to force myself to not blurt out, "You look like hooker from an 1970's episode of "Starsky and Hutch" or "Baretta."

Yes. Hilarious!

& no one seems to have mentioned THE HEELS, they stagger along in. They can barely walk! That's very much this decade, I think...and will definitely show up on the radar in years to come.

Seriously R173, you think women have never worn high heels before or that young, often toasted girls, never staggered along in them?

Not as HIGH as in recent years. Where have you been?

Commuters 1958. Everyone tried to look their best.

I can tell the difference between the 90s and 00s, but not between the 00s and 2010s.

People today wear a mix of everything. There is not one distinctive look. The 20th century was a rapid journey through world wars to free people from the constraints of the 19th century. People said goodbye to corsets and multi layered clothing and tried on new shapes and designs.

Maybe in a time when people can wear comfortable cloths they don't feel the need to rebel and invent something new.

r123, my generation is the ME generation. The Middle East generation.

The Sperry Topsiders are not the only shoe that caused this.

I know they're super comfortable and popular. The back of my ankle is bizarre. I can't describe it. Me & my brother & dad all have like more bone than fat or skin over there...(this sounds freakish, but it's just how it is). If you look at any of my sneakers, the thick foam on the heel part gets worn away in about 12 months from my weirdo heel bone.

They sell stuff for this specifically...like moleskin pads & stuff that wraps around your heel. Sometimes it works but it won't stick to a shoe like that. I have a pair of Ferragamos that I got at an Outlet mall & love - (over 50% off and they look identical to the rest of them) - and they do the SAME thing. But, since they're built differently, the pad will stick in there. And, over time, it stretches out the back of the shoe so I don't need the pad anymore.

Oh also my right toe is bigger than it should be too! Is this a DL thing??

I can post pics for the foot fetishists later...am working now... but actually, i'm curious wtf is wrong with the back of my ankle. I once saw a podiatrist for a toenail problem and asked him and he was like - what are you talking about? What is wrong with your heel? You are like a woman who complains about not fitting into high heels - you can't wear shoes like that and complain. lol... thanks BRAH!

Oh actually they weren't Sperry - they were Eastland. I just looked in my closet. It's one of these - I think the $125 one... but not w/ a white bottom.

There's a show on now on The National Geographic channel called The 90s, the Last Great Decade? They are highlighting the Macarena right now. Ha

[quote]Oh actually they weren't Sperry - they were Eastland. I just looked in my closet. It's one of these - I think the $125 one... but not w/ a white bottom.

I think I can see the problem with them, the top of the backs curl in. That would probably annoy me too.

Next time get a much simpler, basic one with the backs that do not curl in.

[quote]Oh actually they weren't Sperry

Then they weren't Topsiders. Buy these:

Decades do not have strong "feets" identities for me. I have worn Topsiders during the '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s, '00s, and '10s. And either Levis, khakis, or shorts to go with.

just because some people (shlubs) dress the same way now that the characters in Seinfeld did, doesnt mean that time and fashions have frozen. Its a world full of people who embrace fashion changes at different speeds. In the 80s there were older ladies and diner waitresses who still wore there hair in 60s bouffants. That didnt mean that fashion had stopped evolving. It meant that they had.

regular fit jeans in 1995 were totally different from regular fit jeans today. Mens and womens clothes were MUCH looser in the early to mid 90s. Then flat front boot cut black stretch pants came in style for women and were widely available at all price points. This followed with the mens flat front (which was still challenging to find outside of big cities almost until 2000)

the 2000s were all about boot cut jeans and juicy couture sweatpants and flatironed hair for everyone, boys and girls. With some truely atrocious results found in the emo sub culture, which again, no longer exists. This 00's also marked the ascendence of comtemporary hipster culture with skinny jeans, which were a widespread style that was not around in the 90s (even the hipsters wore wide leg pants in the 90s). Not since the 70s had men wore their pants so tight.

All those styles are dead now.

other styles from the past 15 years which will undoubtedly be identified with these times alone:

-ridiculous footwear (high heels without heels etc) thanks to lady gaga -Kardashian hair (long ,center part, falling in really fake ringlets at the breast) -drop waist pants -beards -plunging v neck tshirts "i peed myself" bleach patterns on jeans upside down crosses on everything "ghetto gothik" or "internet art" and "steampunk" subculture fashions i could go on....

[quote]just because some people (shlubs) dress the same way now that the characters in Seinfeld did, doesnt mean that time and fashions have frozen.

You're not kidding. I [italic]wish[/italic] I could get another "George" coat. They're just not made anymore.

I remember being a kid in the late 80s/early 90s and just getting into the then current episodes of the nighttime soaps Dallas and Knots Landing.

Both series were also in reruns on my local TV station and I couldn't believe how dated the reruns from the late 70s/early 80s looked, just a 10 year difference, at the time.

The fashion, hair, music, editing, lighting, EVERYTHING was different it felt like it was 100 years away

It's 2015/2016 and now I couldn't say the same thing for a show that was on in 2005/2006.

It's all the same look

I know that someone tried to bring back dungarees in the 1990s. *shudder*

When have dungarees (jeans) ever not been popular, R188?

[quote]When have dungarees (jeans) ever not been popular, [R188]?

The last 35 years?

Jeans aren't popular? What planet do you live on?

Not jeans, dungarees, R191...

Dungarees are those whole piece things.

How do you not know that?

Those are called "overalls," R192. "Dungarees" is a word that meant "jeans" before everyone called them "jeans." My mother called them "dungarees." Maybe it's regional. I'm from the northeast.

Overalls could be made of dungaree material, but not all dungarees are overalls.

[quote] "Dungarees" is a word that meant "jeans" before everyone called them "jeans."

Decade identification, please.

I was an extra in the Steve Jobs movie earlier this year. The scene was supposed to take place in 1998. People were asked to dress like people did back then and there were cars on the road from that time period. Fashion-wise, the only thing that really stood out was the difference in the length of the suit blazers that women wore then. They were a lot longer than what you see now. The cars didn't seem like a big deal at all.

What R195 says is why it is hard to make authentic-looking films that are supposed to take place 10-20 years back. The film-makers aren't far enough removed to be able to really capture the look of the period. I thinking this because I was just watching "I am a Camera" from 1955 or so which is supposed to take place in 1932. It still has a 1950s look about it. Very few retrospective films set in the 1920s, such as "The Roaring Twenties", really come off as looking like the time period they are purported to represent. In 20 years you will have a very good idea of what it means to look 2015, but right now one can't discern it.

Do your own research, R194. I found a citation on wiki that says the material is from the 1700s, but if I cite wiki, a twat like you will just go "Oh, wiki, you can't trust..." and blah, blah, blah.

I remember them being called dungarees in the 1950s, and that it embarrassed me that my mother called them that in 1970, when I wore "jeans" or "bells."

[quote]Do your own research, [R194]. I

You say this and then you answer my question.

[quote]if I cite wiki, a twat like you will just go "Oh, wiki, you can't trust..." and blah, blah, blah.

A twat like who? & no I wouldn't.

[quote]I remember them being called dungarees in the 1950s, and that it embarrassed me that my mother called them that in 1970, when I wore "jeans" or "bells."

Actually, you and your mother are a fucking mess.

My mother hasn't been a mess in quite a few decades, cunt. She's long since died.

My grandmother called them "dungarees" too-- I think it was a 1950s term.

[quote]I think I can see the problem with them, the top of the backs curl in. That would probably annoy me too.

Thanks R182! Yes, that must be it... it honestly ripped the skin right off my heel. The topsiders do have a noticeable difference right there now that you pointed it out. I can't believe I didn't notice this before.

My grandmother, born in the early 30s, always called them "dungarees."

I like all the old people getting mad in this thread whenever someone disproves them.

Dungarees are jeans, period. There is no "decade-specific" variety of definition. The one-piece is a jump-suit.

So we can now officially add Topsider Troll and North Face Troll to the DL pantheon.

[quote]Thanks [R182]! Yes, that must be it... it honestly ripped the skin right off my heel. The topsiders do have a noticeable difference right there now that you pointed it out. I can't believe I didn't notice this before.

I have my shoes made by hand, just for me...

r18 Yawn.

Great thread!

Corduroy needs to make a big comeback

r209 Remember to turn it inside outside before you wash them.

We're living in post-modern times, folks. All art is merely a copy, a reproduction, a recycling of old ideas. Creativity and originality is impossible, dead.

Yeah, if you didn't turn your corduroy pants inside out when you washed them, they would be covered in lint.

I found a a vintage looking corduroy blazer jacket when I was cleaning out my closet. I have no fucking idea where it came from. I don't remember ever hooking up with a corduroy fairy.

Does it really matter that the 2000s lack an identity? Like, I'm not crying that I can't say "Remember when we all had the same haircut and wore the same things and listened to the same music?" I find it REFRESHING that I'm not tied down by some hegemonic monoculture that gets to decide what we as a generation has to consume. The internet has allowed individuality to flourish. So what if we don't have a era-defining genre of music-- your 70s disco or your 80s rap or your 90s grunge. With the internet, we have seen an explosion of ultra niche genres that can cater to everyone's individual tastes. Like futuristic-bubble-gum-hyper-pop? See: PC Music. Like dark-synth electronica with a touch of shamanism? See: Forrest Swords. Like Appalachian folk music? See: Joanna Newsom. The same goes with film, TV, fashion. A ton of quality out there, you just have to pick your poison.

r214 Yes, that defines the era we live in perfectly: refreshing. God, I'll throw up now.

r215, In now way was I trying to even "define the era" and, had you read what I said a little bit more carefully, you would've understood that I would find that whole exercise rather meaningless.

This might be the first generation that doesn't feel the need to rebel. In the 20th century every ten years or so young people listened to music and dressed in a way that made their parents scream in agony. My rebellious years were during the 90s and early 2000s so I only experienced those, but there was certainly a feeling of rebellion against the 80s with grunge.

I can't think of any similar thing happening around 2010.

My father still calls jeans dungarees, and I have never heard the word apllied to any garment besides what we commonly call "jeans," for the poster flummoxed by regional variations in the English language. The "one-piece" I've always heard called "overalls" or more rarely "coveralls," and they have actually been in style a few times within the last 35 years. They were huge in the 90s, especially for women. I remember women wearing overall shorts with the cuffs rolled up and one strap undone (over some lacy camisole crap or whatever of course) for that sexy farmer girl look. Not exactly a timeless, classic look but it was in style for a while.

I'd say that underwear says a lot about a decade, come to think of it. I mean, the stuff you get nowadays would have been unthinkable about twenty years ago - I remember the hooha about Mark Wahlberg's crotch on the news and then the massive row had about the Wonderbra advert (and, when you look at models nowadays, she'd be considered "Fat"!)

I'd say that *anything* with an oversized logo screams 1990s. Someone tried to bring it back, thankfully the world say "No, queen!"

It's a LaCroix!!

r219 doesn't it seem so quaint nowadays? Marky Mark in his tighty whities was actually controversial back then. Today, Justin Bieber is bareassed naked and half-hard all over the internet and everybody is like "whatever."

R219 here...

I know of a tale that made the news a few years ago here in the UK - someone wanted to launch some underwear brand called Brass Monkeys. There was uproar re: an advert they planned to run with a guy with a pretty "meh" body and an okay bulge. Apparently the bulge was "Obscene".

Well, honeys, if you went online nowadays, you'd have a coronary!!

Here's one for the 2000s: American Apparel. In college, everyone was obsessed with their basic tees, v-necks, underwear, and jeans. And remember the horrible low-budget porno marketing aesthetic?

R223 - FRUIT OF THE LOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In 1974 I had an orange leisure suit!

Neon T-shirts were big in the mid-80s but made a brief, tiny comeback this year.

Dung-a -what?

Marcia Brady helped popularize that long straight look.

They can be hipster fashion today!

In the 2020s everyone will wear their hair in bangs and all our clothing will be brightly colored polka dots and plaids.

Sure!

[quote]Yeah, if you didn't turn your corduroy pants inside out when you washed them, they would be covered in lint.

No one ever told me.

[quote]In 1974 I had an orange leisure suit!—wonder where the hell it is now...

I'm sure that's exactly where it is.

I'm very glad to see the virtual disappearance of those horrid nasty narrow glasses everyone wore for God knows how long.

Dungarees have been high fashion for the past 24 months. They came back due to niche denim lines manufacturing them again as part of the resurgence of the festival / grunge look currently being ransacked on the Saint Laurent catwalk. They are yet to take hold in the mainstream but they may well this summer, tucked into block heeled knee high boots.

This is a page from this month's W magazine.

Gigi Hadid this year in G Star dunagrees

The fashion houses had their new looks each year, but no one paid much attention

'Here's one for the 2000s: American Apparel.'

That trashy brand are largely responsible for the birth of the preppy female hipster look that took hold around 2008 -2012 : the librarian glasses, hoodies and brogues.

'The fashion houses had their new looks each year, but no one paid much attention'

Incorrect.

The big houses now stream their shows live in most cases, such is the appetite to see the new lines. Balmain, Saint Laurent and Gucci in particular have huge global followings among young people. Then Top Shop and Forever 21 turn around fast copies of the pieces seen in the shows and the kids rush out and buy them.

Before recently, people in their 20s had money and set the tone with their purchases.

Kids now have no money, so can't really set fashion outside of recycling old stuff

JFC those are overalls not "dungarees!" How many times do we need to go over this? "Dungarees" is an old-timey word for "jeans." The denim (or not) farmer's jumpsuits with bibs and straps are called "overalls." Dungarees are pants (synonymous with "jeans") and overalls are a sleeveless jumpsuit with a bib fastened with shoulder straps.

It's really not that hard to keep these straight.

'Kids now have no money,'

They don't need much to attain the current grunge / festival look.

Topshop and H&M practically give away merchandise in their sales. And there is always eBay and Etsy for vintage denim and leather jackets.

Sadly, R214, the fashion industry did not attend your lecture on the subject and calls 'overalls' made in denim, dungarees.

^R241 not R214

[quote]the current grunge / festival look.

Doesn't look that much different from the 90s grunge / festival look.

'This might be the first generation that doesn't feel the need to rebel.'

The kids today rebel. They have Anonymous, they have their Anti-Globalisation groups and Anti-Capitalism groups. Many of them are active in issues around unaffordable housing, student debt, etc. They have plenty to rebel about.

To a point, r245 -- they are also dogged by "Permanent Records" (Facebook, school evaluations) that we never had to worry about.

'Doesn't look that much different from the 90s grunge / festival look.'

It's a little more streamlined, a little prettier this time around. But yes, it doesn't look all that different. Saint Laurent is even doing tiaras like Courtney Love wore in the early 90's.

Remember Leisure Suit Larry? That was fun, if I recall correctly.

Who the fuck does R243 think she is? Anna Wintour? Fuck offwith your "dungarees." You type stupid.

They just use the word "dungarees" because it has much more flavor and character than the boring word "jeans."

That's it, R233!

Complete with the requisite clashng shirt.

My parents forced me to wear it to the Music Center in Los Angeles for some show, I think "The Wiz."

Apparently the Fashhhhhhhhhun Industrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry has decidedddddddddddddd "overalllllllllllllllllllllz" are now calledddddd "dungareeeeeeeeeeeeeeez." Even when they're not made of dungaree fabrickkkkkkkkkkkkkk, as in R236.

Next year, we must call poodle skirts "slips."

Next year, we must call poodle skirts "slips."

I'm going to call my eyeglasses "seal mousse."

I'm kind of with R214. Isn't it better not to have some overall monoculture to which everyone is expected to belong? It seems an improvement to live in a time without dominant fashions, music or other styles, in which everyone can just adapt themselves to whatever works for them personally.

Long straight hair parted in the middle goes back to at least 1968. I had a friend whose mother used a regular iron on her (my friend's) hair.

Ted Bundy began murdering girls and women with this hairstyle in 1971.

[quote] Isn't it better not to have some overall monoculture to which everyone is expected to belong?

I think you mean dungaree monoculture

Even before the hippies, (some) girls had long, straight hair parted in the middle. It didn't start with Marcia Brady. Or even Peggy Lipton, Michelle Philips, et al.

[quote]Long straight hair parted in the middle goes back to at least 1968.

Earlier than that.

[quote]The film-makers aren't far enough removed to be able to really capture the look of the period. I thinking this because I was just watching "I am a Camera" from 1955 or so which is supposed to take place in 1932. It still has a 1950s look about it. Very few retrospective films set in the 1920s, such as "The Roaring Twenties", really come off as looking like the time period they are purported to represent.

The Sixties were the absolute worst for movies and TV getting the period wrong -- witness Barbra Streisand playing Fanny Brice with a Vidal Sassoon bob and mod liquid eyeliner.

LOL r259

Up to three trolls now: Topside, North Face and DFI (Dungaree Fashion Industry)

[quote]The Sixties were the absolute worst for movies and TV getting the period wrong -- witness Barbra Streisand playing Fanny Brice with a Vidal Sassoon bob and mod liquid eyeliner.

Were the '40s any better?

or the 50s?

[quote]Long straight hair parted in the middle goes back to at least 1968. I had a friend whose mother used a regular iron on her (my friend's) hair.

The hair on either side of the part are called dungarees.

Those shoes everyone keeps screaming about are made by Sperry. They're called "leathers."

What are the black and white shoes women wore in the 1950s called? Whenever our school had a "'50s Day," all the girls magically appeared wearing long skirts and those black and white shoes. That day is all they ever used them for. The boys were perplexed because we never had any 1950s clothes to wear on those days. It's like the girls always had them ready in case a "'50s Day" happened.

[quote] Whenever our school had a "'50s Day," all the girls magically appeared wearing long skirts and those black and white shoes.

At first, I thought you were saying you were in high school in the 50s.

R269 saddle shoes

I live in a mega high hipster population center; Silverlake, CA. I rather like the different looks most of them wear. Lots of it is vintage, lumberjack, 50', 60's looks. Also lots tech influenced fashions. Hair style are all over the place for both the men and women. There's a lot of creative choices being made in their personal fashion expressions. Most of these hipsters are young, college age and older 30+

But what i find interesting is that i live a block away from a very large high school (side note you can see my building in the final number in Grease when they're singing on the football field). Anyhooooo, i see the teenagers come and go everyday, and almost 100%, have no fashion sense whatsoever. The mono look of these kids is: skinny black or blue jeans, over-sized black or dark colored t-shirt with some kind of graphic emblazoned on it, topped off with a black or gray hoodie, shoes are all dark athletic shoes. I never see girls in heels or fashionable footwear, never see girls in skirts or dresses. Hair style for girls is long straight parted down the middle. boys are sporting either shaved or very short cropped hair or the complete opposite crazy wild man unkempt hair. All of them wear this look, boys and girls, its very dark and depressing to me. I think teens today don't want to think about fashion, they don't want to stand out. so maybe its when their out of high school they can develop their personal style without being ridiculed or bullied.

Most of those Marshall kids are poor Guatemalans or Armenians -- the rest of the neighborhood kids are in private or charter schools.

r186- That "George" jacket looks like an L.L.Bean Barn Jacket. You can still buy them....they are classics.

[quote]So we can now officially add Topsider Troll and North Face Troll to the DL pantheon. - R205

[quote]Up to three trolls now: Topside, North Face and DFI (Dungaree Fashion Industry) - R264

Do you have some form of dementia / OCD? What did anyone say that was "trolling" about these topics? It was a single conversation about fashion changes, which is directly part of the topic. I can only assume you are too isolated from any department stores to have ever encountered Topsiders (which have been around for 100 years and aren't even that expensive) or scared of fratboys in North Face coats. Dungarees? I have no idea what your problem is with them.

Don't the alleged "hot guys" show up at your "Eldergay" neighbor's house in North Face coats?

Can we call you the "Hope For Eldergays" troll or the "Grindr Profile Turn-Offs" troll?

There were 5 people discussing the shoes... so good luck stalking me back...

R275, calm down. The dungarees thing is a funny thing because some dum-dum never heard of dungarees outside of some other dum-dum fashion intern using the term incorrectly.

BUT...that Topsiders stuff was out of control. Those Topsiders folks should have carried on the convo in a freakin' AOL chatroom or something, because it was about 30 or 40 posts about the stupid shoes. It was obsessive.

It was like the 3 weeks everyone talked about HushPuppies because Tom Ford did some for Gucci in 199whocares? It was just TOO MUCH.

Does AOL still have chat rooms?

Yes, R277. Log in with your MySpace or Friendster account deets.

I love the salesbottom meltdown at R275. Sounds like someone's "dungarees" are a little tight in the crotch.

Thanks, R271. Were those popular in the 1950s? And were they still sold in the 1970s? Or did 1970s high school girls get them from their moms?

Saddle shoes are still a part of many (girl's) school uniforms.

For decades (up until the 90s, maybe?) saddle shoes were always worn by cheerleaders. It was part of the uniform.

There hasn't been too much change since the late 90s. All kind of hideous, really.

One thing most have not noticed -- the disappearance of independent eccentricity across all classes. We've become one of those "cut down the tall poppy" cultures across the board, instead of only in small homogeneous towns.

Victim cultures prey first on eccentrics. That is why the alternative types have pretty much disappeared from the UK as well.

[quote]Victim cultures prey first on eccentrics. That is why the alternative types have pretty much disappeared from the UK as well.

About the time people started using the expression 'The UK' all the fucking time, probably.

Yes, r261 and r260, that is what "at least" means.

When should we use the expression "the UK"?

When should we NOT use the expression "the UK"?

My 2 cents as a long-time fashionista in his 60s.

Younger posters here (born in the 1990s or later) will surely see the fashion trends of the last 25 years more clearly because it's what they were observing in childhood and genuinely into in their teens.

By the 90s my style had more or less solidified, knowing what looked best on me so I've been somewhat immune to the fads and changing styles.

But I also think that the trends and fads of the last 25 years are mostly all about making people look more common, gritty and working-class or on the other hand more child-like, naive and certainly less sophisticated. Until the 1960s, fashion trends were just the opposite. The goal was to look more adult, more sophisticated and more knowing.

It's been downhill since then.

I recall the first time that 60+ year-old Mrs. Hollister tried to sound hip by saying "Take it easily".

I try not to do that, now that I'm an Eldergay.

The late 70s were all about people killing other people a lot more than normal and in bad ways.

It still happened after, but not as much and only in smaller towns.

Wait R275 are you the Topsider, North Face AND Dungaree Fashion Insider trolls?

If so, is there a particular shirt you'd like to opine on for several dozen posts? At least that way we could have an entire outfit for you.

[quote]When should we use the expression "the UK"? When should we NOT use the expression "the UK"?

Just say England.

In the (very rare) event that you're wanting to refer to Scotland, N. Ireland or Wales, refer to them by name.

That's true -- the English tended to have eccentrics while the Welsh, NI, and Scots did not.

Blame the Sex Pistols, R292

They should have named the song Anarchy In England if you didn't want us calling it the UK

We're "The States."

You are "The UK."

R292, What about the Island of Man? Guernsey? Cornwall? Are there more douchie Dukedoms? Are they English, or British, or something else? I have no doubt that the non-English in your Union absolutely hate being called "English".

As for myself as an American, I might know that something originated in the British Isles, but not know the difference between the constituent entities. I can't know everything, btw. It really gets tricky when you invite South Africans, New Zealanders, Aussies, and Confederate Southern descendants to the party.

[quote]One thing most have not noticed -- the disappearance of independent eccentricity across all classes.

What does this even mean? It's so vague and broad. Independent of what? What classes?

I know plenty of eccentrics. I live in a large city and work in the arts. The supposed millennial/hipster/SJW cabal so loathed here thrives on and celebrates eccentricity. Every self-expression, disorder, "personality type" and fetish is flaunted and applauded. I also see middle-aged and elderly eccentrics out and about, looking like they stepped out of an old polaroid or silent movie or perhaps a time machine from the future, or maybe an old-fashioned magazine feature on "the future." Weirdos still abound. Some are putting on affectations, some are a little mental, some are quite brilliant. Usually its a combination.

I'm not sure where you're seeing the "disappearance" of eccentricity. It continues to exist in cities, in the arts and on the fringes, where it always has.

[quote]I have no doubt that the non-English in your Union absolutely hate being called "English".

Yes, hence this hideous 'The UK' bullshit.

[quote]We're "The States." You are "The UK."

Aren't you a clever dick!

[quote]That's true -- the English tended to have eccentrics while the Welsh, NI, and Scots did not.

Who knows or cares, let the Welsh, NI, and Scots speak for themfuckingselves.

r297, r298, r299 = Jewish.

Is "UK" considered outdated PC now? I remember it was all that was said when I was there in the early 90s

SJW/hipsters are fake eccentricity - they are conformists in their fake eccentricity

It's the UK. What some people in the UK get pissed about - myself included - is being labelled "English" when we could be from Scotland or Wales or Northern Ireland. It's like calling all of you Yanks "Idahoans" or "Texans".

[quote] It's like calling all of you Yanks

But you all did that in ww2, outraging the Southruns.

Just to slightly derail the topic of conversation here...

But the UK is actually made of four territories and countries - England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Scotland is a different beast to England and Wales in that she has her own legal system and issues her own currency, likewise Northern Ireland. There are linguistic differences as well. To label us all as English is fucking pathetic.

FFS of course "the UK" is perfectly acceptable. R285 must be some crackpot to come up with the idea that there is something wrong with it. It's as silly as the person insisting that the US not be referred to as America.

[quote] [R285] must be some crackpot to come up with the idea that there is something wrong with it.

I didn't say there's something wrong with it, but I don't like it. Most of all, it sounds UGLY....& it's not necessary, when talking about England, to keep referring to a collective. But go ahead, use it if you like it. I don't care.

[quote]It's as silly as the person insisting that the US not be referred to as America.

No, that's quite different. Everyone knows when people talk about America that they mean the USA....the other 'American' countries all have names of their own. But again, call it what you like.

In the 80s, people were going on talk shows all the time and airing family secrets - molestations, affairs, etc. The culture of passive individual victimization was everywhere.

In the 90s, Oprah started harping on personal responsibility and the individual victim stories started emphasizing how people were overcoming bad things - being a "survivor" became a thing and the endings focused on what "good" things the victims did with their pain.

Now it's about group victimization and white, straight male privilege. Everyone is their victim The only real difference between now and the 80s is that the victim stories are always about race and gender, and the group, rather than the individual, perspective is emphasized.

Pubic hair trends have made some remarkable shifts through the years....for better or worse.

R306 - sweetie, when you've stopped sipping bleach, England is part of the UK. Here in the UK, we call the country "the UK". Please, do get over yourself or go set your vibrator to "frappe" and churn your mussy, slag.

JMO, but fashion for men and women has changed drastically in the last few decades. The 90s being the last "memorable " looking for most, but from the 60s nostalgia to grunge/skating and the rave scene ushered in ludicrously amazing looks, platform sneakers and body glitter...and cant forget the gothic crop that patronized Hot Topic overlapped with the club kids,the body modification movement picked up again, then the 2000s or end of the 90s into the 2000s, shoes changed dramatically in the toe and heel designs, super pointy Jimmy Choos or slide mules with kitten heels...then Western wear was EVERYWHERE along with trucker chic, Tom Ford revamped Gucci with his new take on women's wear, hardware was EVERYTHING as were the chunky belts, tiered skirts and there was a 70s esque surge in gimmicky tshirts ala Urban Outfitters...Around this time men in skirts were HAWT, and more were buying bias cut/women's jeans bc of the fit and lack of availability for the men's market...The 2000s were also a time when men were having more fun with fashion, the man-purse and malerwy (male jewelry), also was around this point makeup for men was introduced, and 2000s also gave rise to the 'collectible sneaker' that people would wait in line for like a new apple product launch...and the iArmy that marched through the 2000s and meandered into planned obsolescence while killing many products for one integrated experience.... bringing the new full circle of fashion to a new apex...late to mid 2010s-13ish the high heel took another evolution with the front platform and chunky heel, ties became more colorful, haircuts were more asymmetric and precise, colorblocking and colored Jean's along with peplums made a comeback, cars and phones have both gone to extremes in scale both small and large...the 2010s+ will have to be remembered for the technologically trendy wearables from beats to fitbits, for the insta-cult at work/play, the socially conscious efforts of many are as much trendy as anything else along with being vegan and having a "body-positive-culture (bs on that one), the late 2010s will also be remembered for the bootie, as well as the booty, yoga clothing that looks like you're going to work a pole after your class, hipsters have had a pervasive impact on making bad taste chic, and the mall model is broken! It's also a time when Drag is reigning more so than in the disco days and makeup is for all...and men as a whole are either dressing like Carhartt reps, like a teen in pants that they would require surgery to remove or the white shirt, black blazer and 'dress ' jeans as formal wear...trends have gotten so repeated that anything that you'd have worn a decade ago, will be wearable again as long as you stay the same size but consumers have to compete with their technology now...

310, forgot about the Juicy Couture tracksuits that were REQUISITE for anyone in the 2000s...