# Are there really places stuck in a fashion time warp? (and an experiment) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 11, 2005, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-really-places-stuck-in-a-fashion-time-warp-and-an-experiment/335083 "2005-12-11T01:06:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b3f665/32.png) [@Hanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hanna)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2005, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-really-places-stuck-in-a-fashion-time-warp-and-an-experiment/335083/21 "2005-12-11T16:26:43Z")
> [@Hello Again](#): > > The Farah Fawcett flips in pic 1 say 1976 to me. As far as I know that aspect of the 70s never made it back šŸ™‚ That flip hairstyle is making its way back now! :eek: Heidi Klum, taken Dec. 9th 2005: > **[Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines](https://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=%2F051209%2F483%2Fwcd23512092319)** > > The latest news and headlines from Yahoo! News. Get breaking news stories and in-depth coverage with videos and photos. Sheā€™s not the only one Iā€™ve seen. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2005, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-really-places-stuck-in-a-fashion-time-warp-and-an-experiment/335083/22 "2005-12-11T16:33:04Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > Yearbook photo 1: Buffalo, New York 1984 > Yearbook photo 2: suburban Los Angeles, California 1984 > > So, if Buffalo is buffalo is behind the times Hairstyles might be a bit behind (fluffy hair was still big then) but those clothes are 1984 all the way. Check out the skinny tie, man. Thatā€™s all 80s. Nobody in the 1970s wore little ties like that; he got that idea off MTV. ---
**Author:** ![BoringDad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ad7895/32.png) [@BoringDad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoringDad)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2005, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-really-places-stuck-in-a-fashion-time-warp-and-an-experiment/335083/23 "2005-12-11T16:56:58Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Hairstyles might be a bit behind (fluffy hair was still big then) but those clothes are 1984 all the way. Check out the skinny tie, man. Thatā€™s all 80s. Nobody in the 1970s wore little ties like that; he got that idea off MTV. Yeah, plaid shirt, solid color narrow square tieā€¦ thatā€™s a black Alex P Keaton. Mid 80ā€™s right from Hollywood. The comparison was totally rigged. One rigidly posed group where all aspects of hair and dress were easily seen vs 3 active shots of ill defined clumsps of people. Plus for all we know the Buffalo picture was of the chess club or something. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2005, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-really-places-stuck-in-a-fashion-time-warp-and-an-experiment/335083/24 "2005-12-11T19:49:48Z")
> [@BoringDad](#): > > The comparison was totally rigged. One rigidly posed group where all aspects of hair and dress were easily seen vs 3 active shots of ill defined clumsps of people. Plus for all we know the Buffalo picture was of the chess club or something. Actually, [this was the chess club](http://img15.imageshack.us/my.php?image=buffalo198455ue.jpg). Letā€™s up the sample size. More 1984 Buffalo: > **[ImageShack - Deleted photo](https://imageshack.com/i/0fbuffalo198419daj)** > > Store and share all of your images @ IMAGESHACK.com > **[ImageShack - Deleted photo](https://imageshack.com/i/0fbuffalo198422ozj)** > > Store and share all of your images @ IMAGESHACK.com > **[ImageShack - Deleted photo](https://imageshack.com/i/0fbuffalo198439vsj)** > > Store and share all of your images @ IMAGESHACK.com > **[ImageShack - Deleted photo](https://imageshack.com/i/0fbuffalo198443llj)** > > Store and share all of your images @ IMAGESHACK.com More 1984 LA: > **[ImageShack - Deleted photo](https://imageshack.com/i/0fhighlights840013uuj)** > > Store and share all of your images @ IMAGESHACK.com > **[ImageShack - Deleted photo](https://imageshack.com/i/ckhighlights840118aaj)** > > Store and share all of your images @ IMAGESHACK.com > **[ImageShack - Deleted photo](https://imageshack.com/i/32highlights840126mlj)** > > Store and share all of your images @ IMAGESHACK.com > **[ImageShack - Deleted photo](https://imageshack.com/i/31highlights840845avj)** > > Store and share all of your images @ IMAGESHACK.com > **[ImageShack - Deleted photo](https://imageshack.com/i/32highlights840831yxj)** > > Store and share all of your images @ IMAGESHACK.com > **[ImageShack - Deleted photo](https://imageshack.com/i/7ohighlights840963vaj)** > > Store and share all of your images @ IMAGESHACK.com ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2005, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-really-places-stuck-in-a-fashion-time-warp-and-an-experiment/335083/25 "2005-12-11T20:27:41Z")
I canā€™t help but notice that the Buffalo shots, even the photography looks older. The shots are all black and white, and they donā€™t even look as good as the B&W shots of the LA class. I also cannot help but notice that the LA high school apparently has no minority students. Thatā€™s kind of weird, huh? ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2005, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-really-places-stuck-in-a-fashion-time-warp-and-an-experiment/335083/26 "2005-12-11T21:06:28Z")
Well, I called the first one. The second I guessed 1986, but I may have been hanging out with a somewhat more sophisticated crowd (At that time in Rochester, ironically enough). I think that fashions have a much smaller ā€œlag timeā€ these days. Itā€™s not so much the knowledge of these fashions. I could pick up the New York Times Magazine (metro edition! never mind) as it was a certain reticence to embrace them and possibly be caught up in a fad that was already on the downswing. This would be a product of a certain attitude toward the ways of the big city and the apparently incomprehensible logic they follow. These days Iā€™d say provicial kids identify more with other kids in their marketing demographic, and less with kids in their geographic area. ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2005, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-really-places-stuck-in-a-fashion-time-warp-and-an-experiment/335083/27 "2005-12-11T21:30:34Z")
This is an intriguing thread, and a subject Iā€™ve thought about quite a bit. I grew up in podunk, Utah before cable TV got there. A few rich kids in HS had satellite and MTV (which had just started.) It was truly a tight Wrangler Jeans and Farrah Fawcett hair-do town: Iā€™d say with the exception of a few of us dorks who, inspired by MTV, decided to go ā€œNew Waveā€ we were five-eight years behind the fashion curve. I remember as a kid that I looked different than my more metropolitan cousins who lived in Salt Lake City ( šŸ˜ƒ .) However, when I go back to Utah now it seems that most of the kids and people my age look more or less like their counterparts in Los Angeles and New York City (Iā€™m talking normal peep looks ā€“ not ā€œSex in the Cityā€ haute couture.) There are exceptions, and the exceptions revolve around a regional propensity for big hair and mulletts for both sexes and a certain cowboy ethos of dressing. My theory for the creeping homogenization of the U.S. is wide availability of cable TV and the 'net. I teach college in a rural area of the northeast and for the most part an observer wouldnā€™t be able to distinguish my students from a mainstream kid in San Francisco. Many of my students have piercings, tattoos, Ryan Seacrest hair, etc. ---
**Author:** ![15\_noon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/ea5d25/32.png) [@15\_noon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/15_noon)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2005, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-really-places-stuck-in-a-fashion-time-warp-and-an-experiment/335083/28 "2005-12-11T21:50:32Z")
I found Oklahoma city to be a decade behind in fashion and everything else. It was hell the year I spent there. And they drove like it was the 50ā€™s and you would honest to god see hand signals and people on the interstate going 50 in the fast lane. But for all that they bragged they were 10 years ahead of Tulsa, and a century ahead of Ada. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2005, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-really-places-stuck-in-a-fashion-time-warp-and-an-experiment/335083/29 "2005-12-11T22:18:16Z")
Whoa! Los Angeles is **way** ahead on fashion then, because many places wore those styles of clothes in the early 90s. The hair came into fashion in about 91, and was established in 92. (By that I mean I remember reading articles in the Doctorā€™s office magazines about how long straight hair without hairspray was ā€œinā€ around that time.) ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2005, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-really-places-stuck-in-a-fashion-time-warp-and-an-experiment/335083/30 "2005-12-12T02:11:46Z")
Wow, I had no idea how behind _we_ were, because those LA pictures are totally what we were wearing in the 90ā€™s. The early 90ā€™s, anyway. And those Buffalo chess guys are definately the snazziest dressers. Doesnā€™t Buffalo get fashion from New York? Or does it have to make its way aaaalll the way from LA because New Yorkers only wear black? ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2005, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-really-places-stuck-in-a-fashion-time-warp-and-an-experiment/335083/31 "2005-12-12T02:21:30Z")
Wow, I had no idea how behind _we_ were, because those LA pictures are totally what we were wearing in the 90ā€™s. The early 90ā€™s, anyway. And those Buffalo chess guys are definately the snazziest dressers. Doesnā€™t Buffalo get fashion from New York? Or does it have to make its way aaaalll the way from LA because New Yorkers only wear black? ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2005, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-really-places-stuck-in-a-fashion-time-warp-and-an-experiment/335083/32 "2005-12-12T07:34:49Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > Yearbook photo 1: Buffalo, New York 1984 > Yearbook photo 2: suburban Los Angeles, California 1984 > > So, if Buffalo is buffalo is behind the times, as the responses seem to indicate, the question qould be why? Why are some places in the country in a time warp, when they share the same media and retail outlets? Why would high school girls in Buffalo ā€“ and I assume in some other aprts of the country as well ā€“ still have Farrah hair in the 1980s? As an Upstate New Yorker I might be able to help. Big hair (for whatever reason) is still pretty popular with a certain percentage of our population. While it might take a little more digging you could find similar hairstyles in high schools in the area today. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2005, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-really-places-stuck-in-a-fashion-time-warp-and-an-experiment/335083/33 "2005-12-12T14:04:31Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Doesnā€™t Buffalo get fashion from New York? Or does it have to make its way aaaalll the way from LA because New Yorkers only wear black? To be honest, I really donā€™t know. During college in the mid-to-late 1980s ā€“ a SUNY school not far from home ā€“ students from upstate _definitely_ looked different than their downstate peers. Upstaters tended to be preppy, with some goths and punks thrown in for good measure. Downstate girls far more often than not had big hair, while it was less common on the upstate kids. You saw a lot of ā€œguido wearā€ on downstate Italian kids ā€“ open silk shirts, Z. Cavaricci, short-sleeved sweatshirts over long-sleeved sweatshirts, and so on ā€“ while Champion sweatshirts formed the official uniform of the Jewish-American princess crowd. Correct me if Iā€™m wrong, but it seems like a lot of the youth fashion that comes from NYC is more urban-oriented; something that Shaniqua is more likely to pick up on than Emma. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2005, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-really-places-stuck-in-a-fashion-time-warp-and-an-experiment/335083/34 "2005-12-12T15:04:44Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > Yearbook photo 1: Buffalo, New York 1984 > some other aprts of the country as well ā€“ still have Farrah hair in the 1980s? Hudson Valley, NY here, graduated 1985 and that Buffalo picture looks just like our crew as well. But now I am in New England and some folks still have that hair from 1985. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2005, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-really-places-stuck-in-a-fashion-time-warp-and-an-experiment/335083/35 "2005-12-12T15:54:29Z")
I picked 1990 or so for the second photo. Now that I look again, though, it should be obvious that the skinny dude dancing is doing his impression of Tom Cruise in [Risky Business](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086200/). ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-really-places-stuck-in-a-fashion-time-warp-and-an-experiment/335083/36 "2005-12-13T05:08:15Z")
Speaking of Salt Lake City, Alex Shoumatoff in his book _The Mountain of Names_ described a visit to the central Mormon genealogical institute. The secretaries were young women wearing _Little House on the Prairie_ dresses. This is not some whacked out violent authoritarian fringe cult in the hills. This is the center of official Mormon operations in the 1980s. Right there is your authentic Americana clothing time warp, a full hundred-year spread, beat that, OK, Colonial Willamsburg, a 230-year spread. Shoumatoff also noted how many yawns the _LHotP_ gals had to stifle because they canā€™t drink coffee. ā˜¹ ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-really-places-stuck-in-a-fashion-time-warp-and-an-experiment/335083/37 "2005-12-13T07:14:32Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I also cannot help but notice that the LA high school apparently has no minority students. Thatā€™s kind of weird, huh? > [@saoirse](#): > > These days Iā€™d say provicial kids identify more with other kids in their marketing demographic, and less with kids in their geographic area. Iā€™d suggest the case with these photos could also be about demography and not geography. **RickJay** is onto something - that itā€™s quite possible the LA photos are from a wealthy (and predominately-white) school, where the kids have access to the latest fashions from expensive hairdressers, shops, etc. The Buffalo kids are more down-to-earth. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2005, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-really-places-stuck-in-a-fashion-time-warp-and-an-experiment/335083/38 "2005-12-14T02:43:39Z")
I figured that the first one was the early 80s. Iā€™m not sure why I decided it couldnā€™t be the 70s, but thereā€™s something there that says it canā€™t be (honestly, I think it triggers one of my early TV memories, though of what show I couldnā€™t say). At first I thought the second one was around 90, but the shirts arenā€™t ā€œrightā€ so it had to be the 80s too. ---
**Author:** ![BoringDad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ad7895/32.png) [@BoringDad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoringDad)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-really-places-stuck-in-a-fashion-time-warp-and-an-experiment/335083/39 "2005-12-15T03:57:21Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > **RickJay** is onto something - that itā€™s quite possible the LA photos are from a wealthy (and predominately-white) school, where the kids have access to the latest fashions from expensive hairdressers, shops, etc. The Buffalo kids are more down-to-earth. The added photo samples make me agree with the class difference. **BoringMom** , being a little more observant than I, easily pointed out many mid 80ā€™s features in both sets of photos. The differences are not in overall style but in cost. So the location affects the fashion sense of the area not in distance from any fashion center, but in overall wealth and ability to buy nice clothes at the Galleria. (That and the previously mentioned poor photo quality from the Buffalo yearbook vs the LA yearbook which makes the Buffalo photos look older.) ---
**Author:** ![pokey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ebca7d/32.png) [@pokey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pokey)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-really-places-stuck-in-a-fashion-time-warp-and-an-experiment/335083/40 "2005-12-15T04:55:31Z")
Where I grew up in Toronto in 1984 rich kids and poor kids were mixed together and all the richer kids looked like the LA photo and the poorer kids looked like the Buffalo photo. I think the richer kids were actually less trendy. The big thing at the time was that traditional meant rich and trendy meant cheap. It was a new style at the time for teenagers to wear those sweatshirts with the neck cut out. It was the Flashdance thing. But it was not a refined style, it was somewhat slutty. As was cutting your hair in layers and using a curling iron. The LA photo, the kids have the young republican look. That look filtered down from actual rich kids very fast after 1984 but I do think itā€™s the fact that a white school in LA has genuine rich kids and Buffalo has wannabe rich kids. My analysis: In 1983/84 the Sheena Easton hair cut came in and it was a modification of the Farrah haircut where there were more layers over the ears. This would grow out into various stages of wings so it was always in between a mullet and a farah. Remember in 84/85 when Molly Ringwald became big the trendy girls cut their wings off and the back off to a modified bob. When the Breakfast Club came out Molly Ringwald wears an evolved Flashdance style of shirt. The other girl in that movie still has modified ā€œwingsā€ in her hair because sheā€™s poorer. At the same time that year, Demi Moore in St. Elmoā€™s Fire is the look of the rich mid-80s girl who never cut any wings or trendy stuff into her hair because she is rich and precious. The girlfriend in Ferris Bueller also has that look. Itā€™s the rich girl look. Regular girls figured this out and grew their modified bobs out to match that. So basically the girls in the Buffalo photo followed the haircut arc from Sheena Easton to Ferris Buellerā€™s girlfriend. The girls in the LA photo already were Ferris Buellerā€™s girlfriend because they were the rich girls everyone was making movies about. Prior to that it was not the style to be a rich girl, it had been the style to be a tough girl like Sheena Easton or Pat Benetar or the Flashdance welder/stripper. _Molly Ringwald was in style in 1984 because she justified the transition haircut that facilitated growing out layers_. So the paradox is that the LA girls were less trendy, but they were later immitated and the style of the late 80s was to be preppie and traditional and un-trendy. Thatā€™s what makes this example hard to figure out. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-really-places-stuck-in-a-fashion-time-warp-and-an-experiment/335083.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-really-places-stuck-in-a-fashion-time-warp-and-an-experiment/335083.md?page=3)