# Fads that have come back in new generations **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 19, 2017, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fads-that-have-come-back-in-new-generations/789356 "2017-06-19T04:17:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Anny\_Middon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc79bd/32.png) [@Anny\_Middon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anny_Middon)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2017, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fads-that-have-come-back-in-new-generations/789356/21 "2017-06-19T14:40:23Z")
Troll dolls. I was informed by someone recently that they are making a comeback. They are different from the ones from many years ago, but they are still troll dolls. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2017, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fads-that-have-come-back-in-new-generations/789356/22 "2017-06-19T14:43:17Z")
The current virtual reality fad amuses me, because it reminds me of the 1990s VR fad. There still isn’t any real purpose to the technology, and the applications being talked up are the same ones that were being discussed twenty years ago. And I was amazed that Facebook spent two billion on Oculus VR. The current season of Silicon Valley is parodying this. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2017, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fads-that-have-come-back-in-new-generations/789356/23 "2017-06-19T15:33:19Z")
Polaroid cameras in the form of the Fujifilm Instax mini. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2017, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fads-that-have-come-back-in-new-generations/789356/24 "2017-06-19T15:53:56Z")
> [@Anny\_Middon](#): > > Troll dolls. > > I was informed by someone recently that they are making a comeback. They are different from the ones from many years ago, but they are still troll dolls. This is likely due to the Trolls movie that just came out, and is similar to the resurgence of Transformers, My Little Pony, Star Wars, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2017, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fads-that-have-come-back-in-new-generations/789356/25 "2017-06-19T15:57:29Z")
Skateboards. When I was in high school (75-78) skateboards were a relic of the 60s. A few years later they came back with a vengeance. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2017, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fads-that-have-come-back-in-new-generations/789356/26 "2017-06-19T16:44:45Z")
3-D movies were big in the 50s, then went away, only to return decades later. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2017, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fads-that-have-come-back-in-new-generations/789356/27 "2017-06-19T17:13:03Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > That seems odd, since two of the three examples you gave in your OP were fashion related. > > So I’ll go with anther one: Shoulder pads in women’s blouses. Those were popular, IIRC, in the 1940s and then made a comeback in the 70s. Yeah, I guess I need to try to explain the differences I see. My Members Only jacket example was indeed a fashion example, and not really what I was looking for. The raccoon coats was closer, though, because the coats were not worn as a fashion statement so much as a costume at sports rally events. But they, too, were clothing, and what I’m looking for is more Pet Rocks or Beanie Baby in nature, except that neither of those came back. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2017, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fads-that-have-come-back-in-new-generations/789356/28 "2017-06-19T18:22:06Z")
Yo-yo’s seem to get popular for a short time every 10 or so years. Maybe not anymore. No buttons to push with thumbs. ---
**Author:** ![Taco\_the\_cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@Taco\_the\_cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taco_the_cat)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2017, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fads-that-have-come-back-in-new-generations/789356/29 "2017-06-20T17:51:03Z")
Hair dyed unnatural colors. Flip phones. Doc Martens. Ripped jeans. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2017, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fads-that-have-come-back-in-new-generations/789356/30 "2017-06-20T19:19:46Z")
> [@Taco\_the\_cat](#): > > Flip phones. Flip phones are back? Once again, my uncool stuff has become cool! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2017, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fads-that-have-come-back-in-new-generations/789356/31 "2017-06-20T19:57:18Z")
I’m starting to see Afros again. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2017, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fads-that-have-come-back-in-new-generations/789356/32 "2017-06-20T22:25:11Z")
One big seller in our store recently has been hula hoops. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2017, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fads-that-have-come-back-in-new-generations/789356/33 "2017-06-20T22:34:49Z")
I remember an exercise fad a few years ago of using weighted hula hoops. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2017, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fads-that-have-come-back-in-new-generations/789356/34 "2017-06-20T22:47:22Z")
Can’t really do much searching from work, but I recall seeing several news stories lately saying that streaking is making a comeback. ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2017, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fads-that-have-come-back-in-new-generations/789356/35 "2017-06-20T23:23:02Z")
Huntington Beach Pier, summer late 60’s, early 70’s is when I first saw it. Gorgeous thin, tanned girls in tiny bikinis with long bleach blonde hair strutting up and down the shoreline turning heads left and right. The dawn of summer 2017 (50 years later) and one sees the exact same scene play out at the HB Pier (only these girls are the _grand kids_ of the original girls from the 60’s. I swear you could take a photo today and genuinely not know what era you were looking at. I guess young girls in bikinis were never really a fad, because they never went out of style. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2017, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fads-that-have-come-back-in-new-generations/789356/36 "2017-06-21T02:36:01Z")
On another front: Bigfoot and other various mythological giant hairy monsters were a huge thing in the 70s, with movies and even appearances on tv shows (Bionic man). The interest soon faded. Fast forward many years and now we have Bigfoot Hunters and other silliness on cable. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2017, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fads-that-have-come-back-in-new-generations/789356/37 "2017-06-21T03:45:15Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > If Rubik’s Cubes (for example) come back, they’ll be retro and hipster. They might be popular, but the “flavor” of their popularity will be very different. Rubik’s Cubes HAVE come back, and not as a retro-hipster thing either. Although they seem to have had a real surge of popularity lately, it’s definitely nothing like the craze of the '80s. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2017, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fads-that-have-come-back-in-new-generations/789356/38 "2017-06-21T04:07:29Z")
In roughly the same timeframe as the raccoon coat fad mentioned in the OP, it was trendy for guys to have their hair cut in a “mohawk”. Became trendy again in starting in the late 1970s. ---
**Author:** ![anomalous1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e56c9b/32.png) [@anomalous1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anomalous1)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2017, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fads-that-have-come-back-in-new-generations/789356/39 "2017-06-21T04:13:39Z")
Flannels, ubiquitous among fisherman, the paper towel guy, and bums were worn by “grunge” kids. Now they are back among hipster men who look like effeminate lumberjacks. That and those glasses mentioned above. I have noticed a comeback of “Miami Vice”-esque thin beards as well. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2017, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fads-that-have-come-back-in-new-generations/789356/40 "2017-06-21T12:51:36Z")
How about aviator-style glasses? Notably worn by[Gloria Steinem](https://goo.gl/images/NxX7ig) (with side-hair tucked under, no less!\*), they were all the rage in the late '70s and early '80s.\*\* Then, for a couple of decades nobody would have been caught dead in them. Even my father eventually had to stop wearing them - the optometrist refused to let him have another pair because they were SO out of style! (He switched to another gold-framed style that was not that different, but at least different enough that they were not aviators). Even actual aviators went with the more squared-off style. They’ve come back with a vengeance recently, although more typically as sunglasses than everyday glasses. My first reaction upon seeing my sister-in-law wearing her shiny new Ray-Bans was “Eww, gross! Aviators!” My second reaction was “Actually, they look pretty cool - and they look great on her too.” - That was a fad too, but hasn’t come back. \*\* The less said the better about certain family photos featuring Mom, Dad, the esteemed Billdo, and me wearing matching gold aviators. > [@anomalous1](#): > > Flannels, ubiquitous among fisherman, the paper towel guy, and bums were worn by “grunge” kids. Now they are back among hipster men who look like effeminate lumberjacks. Yeah, I’m not entirely sure how so many guys with full beards, flannel shirts, jeans, and boots manage to inadvertently come off looking effeminate, but they sure do. Maybe it’s the cut of their jeans? Speaking of hipster facial hair…the brief but furious resurgence of handlebar mustaches might count. I’m just not sure if they were a “fad” back in old timey times or just one variety of mustache that was popular over a reasonable period of time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fads-that-have-come-back-in-new-generations/789356.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fads-that-have-come-back-in-new-generations/789356.md?page=3)