When I was a kid, clothes were ‘groovy’. Lots of bright floral patterns, etc. I have Disney’s The Love Bug* DVD, and there’s some footage of Love Bug Day at Disneyland. I’d have to look at it again, but IIRC the person with the grooviest VW Bug won a new Beetle (not a New Beetle, obviously). The winner was this guy in red-and-white striped trousers. I thought, 'My god. People actually dressed like that? :eek: ’ Me? I tended to wear Levi’s 501s, a T-shirt or other '70s-style ‘normal’ shirt, and a flight jacket. Basically I still dress the same. In the ‘80s we had the New Wave look – sort of ‘conservative Punk’ with a mixture of oh-so-ironic suits. (Or maybe not so ironic. Maybe just a reaction to our parents’ liesure suits of the '70s.) Then there was Grunge and flannel. Oh, and the cowboy craze. And next came ‘retro’. Yeah, all of those groovy styles from the '60s were back.
Now? I haven’t been paying attention. In the immortal words of Popeye, ‘I yam what I yam.’ I just don’t have the interest or desire to dress to impress people. I started out wearing flight jackets as a child, and for a little while in the mid-to-late-'80s I guess I was trendy. Now I’m not. But I’m too old to care.
Maybe fashion will one day go 18th century, with guys wearing heels and powdered wigs, with patches and lacy jabots. I don’t think hoopskirts will ever come back, though. Girls are a wee bit too active these days for that.
Put your money on the neo-brutalist S&M look. Dog collars will go mainstream for women, knee-high boots for men. Hat brims worn right over the brow for a sinister, authoritarian look. Wrist chains, too - looong ones that go to a collar, pocket watch or ankle bracelet. And forehead tattoos: the face as inescapable statement to a captive audience.
Everybody will have shaven heads with grooves surgically dug into their skulls, and when they want a little bit of head decoration, they will plant chia seeds.
If the young couple I saw at the train station are anything to go by, blue hair, powdery white makeup, facial piercings, day-glo contact lenses and faux-Communist military hats and jackets. And pants that are done up with a belt around the mid-thigh region revealing voluminous baggy cotton boxer shorts. Good lord they looked stupid. (Trans: I am getting old.)
As for beachwear, labia-as-jewelry seems to be the new trend. Type “Wicked Weasel” into Google. NSFW!!!
I’ve been waiting for kids to shave off their eyebrows. Or shave half of each eyebrow off and dye the remaining halves bizarre colors. So far, no dice.
Actually, Edwardian-inspired (pouty frou-frou and fin de siecle-ish) fashion has been mainstream for a while. I have a few high-collared blouses with many pintucks and lots of lace that I got at Old Navy. I’m not sure if the trend is a take off Edwardian fashion or if it’s a revival of 1970s prairie fashion. I was going through photos of my mom when she was around my age, and she had lots of little lacy blouses that I wish she had kept so I could steal them. Um, anyway, there’s been a definite swing towards more “feminine” styles in women’s fashion lately.
Dear lord, if capes were in fashion, I’d wear one constantly. Especially if the fashion for women were those little Victorian shoulder capes with lots of couched braid and frog closures. Mmm, decadence.
It would please my heart if piratical ware came back in fashion, but my bet is on a return to class, maybe swank. Or corsetry. One of the three. I would be amused to no end if my future children suddenly decided that they needed to be decked out at all times in full Victorian gear, because I would help them to that ends.
Unitards or jumpsuits in vivid, dayglow colors or a eye-catching pattern. Like Tiger Stripes, or Op Art patterns.
Soft, felt-like slip-on shoes or boots.
All of very modern materials that repel water or stains, & selected for climate.
Velcro instead of zippers, buttons or buckles.
The only consistant trend in clothing over the last 400-odd years is simplicity of design. The cut of our clothes is simpler & easier to make each generation, overall. Compare Men’s clothing of 400 years ago, to Men’s clothing of 200 years ago, to today’s business suits.