# What historical fashions are too archaic to ever return? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 13, 2009, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-fashions-are-too-archaic-to-ever-return/496262 "2009-05-13T06:49:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-fashions-are-too-archaic-to-ever-return/496262/21 "2009-05-13T18:13:26Z")
> [@seosamh](#): > > Codpieces (men) and ruffs (both) They’re [still around](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hE0TRpE-p8U/SSrU73zIARI/AAAAAAAAPjY/w16WvXjRSoc/s400/cup4.jpg). They’re just worn under the clothes. ---
**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:** [May 13, 2009, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-fashions-are-too-archaic-to-ever-return/496262/22 "2009-05-13T19:46:32Z")
> [@Nom\_de\_Plume](#): > > Chastity Belts Oh, you’d be surprised. And in some circles (;)), there are chastity devices for men. ---
**Author:** ![ThePylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@ThePylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThePylon)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-fashions-are-too-archaic-to-ever-return/496262/23 "2009-05-13T19:48:46Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Yeah, my friend and I were talking to some 20-something year old guy in a bar a few weeks ago and he was telling us about how [this](http://www.membersonlystyle.com/shop/shop.php/mens-core/c_23.html)horror has come back. Just fyi (and not sure what, if any SDMB’s policy on this is) - that link is infected… ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-fashions-are-too-archaic-to-ever-return/496262/24 "2009-05-13T20:03:39Z")
Shoulder pads on women. Anything from the 80’s. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-fashions-are-too-archaic-to-ever-return/496262/25 "2009-05-13T20:37:07Z")
[QUOTE=BrownEyedGirl] Chain mail. [/QUOTE] Chainmail is fucking badass, and your lone, unwelcome and unloved dissenting opinion must stem from… from something very very bad that you oughta be ashamed of yourself for having, that’s what. > [@](#): > > 15th century pointy shoes A [modern revival](http://www.rueducommerce.fr/m/image-offre/3/a/1/9/3a199b61d6f8b956e1042152d35aa546-500x500.jpg)\* is now back in fashion in France. Or was a year ago and is now layered with layer upon layer of unbearably kitsch meanings, I don’t follow these things hour by hour. Don’t you fucking dare make a French joke right now. It’d be so easy, it’d be beneath contempt :D. > [@Nom\_de\_Plume](#): > > Chastity Belts Ahem. Still, in the same spirit : chastity _bags_, as seen in the movie _The Patriot_. I admit, I have absolutely no idea whether or not they really existed. Yet the concept of sewing unwedded people inside bags so that they can enjoy physical contact without any opportunity of, you know, \*physical \*contact, _while at the same time_ denying them any possibility of chaste physical contact (beyond a kiss, maybe) damn near makes my head asplode. - : low average representative sample. Far from the extremes one can still chance upon an average walk in the streets of Paris. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-fashions-are-too-archaic-to-ever-return/496262/26 "2009-05-13T20:58:19Z")
[Chastity belts weren’t as common as you might think.](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/61/how-do-chastity-belts-work) -Fur stoles with the head of the animal still on them. ---
**Author:** ![shy\_guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a6a055/32.png) [@shy\_guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shy_guy)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-fashions-are-too-archaic-to-ever-return/496262/27 "2009-05-13T21:03:32Z")
Anyone who doesn’t think stuff from the 80’s won’t come back must not be paying much attention, because 80’s fashions have been back in for a few years now. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-fashions-are-too-archaic-to-ever-return/496262/28 "2009-05-13T21:06:59Z")
Saggin’ pants. What? Not yet? Damn! ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-fashions-are-too-archaic-to-ever-return/496262/29 "2009-05-13T21:08:07Z")
> [@ThePylon](#): > > Just fyi (and not sure what, if any SDMB’s policy on this is) - that link is infected… Infected with what? I opened it in another tab and then closed it when I read your post. Or was this a joke that whooshed me because I didn’t look at it? ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-fashions-are-too-archaic-to-ever-return/496262/30 "2009-05-13T22:29:10Z")
Girdles not made with Spandex and not made for sexual/erotic pleasure (hey, they do nothing for me, but apparently some women and lots of guys like that bustier look). Women wore them routinely in the 1950s and before. White gloves for going out to shop etc (again the 1950s etc). Zoot suits, especially the extra long watch chains and fobs. Women wearing hats for every day occasions (depends on the community you belong to). Nurse wearing all white skirted uniforms (usually known as dress whites or whites). Gauchos. Please god may they never come back. And keep that lil vestigial vest women wore with them, too. The medieval custom of wearing one blue hosen and one red (or whatever-2 different colors, one for each leg). Huge leg o’ mutton sleeves (Edwardian or late Victorian). Bloomers for bicycling for ladies. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-fashions-are-too-archaic-to-ever-return/496262/31 "2009-05-13T22:56:21Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > Saggin’ pants. > > What? Not yet? Damn! They started when I was in 7th grade…in 1991. (Oh, and gauchos ARE back.) I want hats to come back in. I LIKE hats. Ooooh – how about “modest bathing suits?” ---
**Author:** ![mariposalabrown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ad7895/32.png) [@mariposalabrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mariposalabrown)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-fashions-are-too-archaic-to-ever-return/496262/32 "2009-05-13T23:08:39Z")
> [@Shirley\_Ujest](#): > > Shoulder pads on women. > > Anything from the 80’s. As had been said before, 80’s has been back for a few years now, hell Target carries 80’s stuff. Just recently at all the Fall Fashion shows, shoulders pads were everywhere. However, I don’t think that will go past the fashionistas, I just don’t see “normal” people wearing them. You have to be extremely tall and slender with no hips to pull off the proportions, so yeah, I don’t think they are coming back on a mass appeal level. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-fashions-are-too-archaic-to-ever-return/496262/33 "2009-05-13T23:19:48Z")
I’m kind of partial to the Top Hat. Probably the last time one was worn in an official “fashion” event. [http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l?imgurl=2947c9aeaeb744fb&q=kennedy%20top%20hat&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dkennedy%2Btop%2Bhat%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1%26ie%3DUTF-8](http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l?imgurl=2947c9aeaeb744fb&q=kennedy%20top%20hat&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dkennedy%2Btop%2Bhat%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1%26ie%3DUTF-8) ---
**Author:** ![I\_Am\_The\_Lorax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19adc/32.png) [@I\_Am\_The\_Lorax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Am_The_Lorax)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-fashions-are-too-archaic-to-ever-return/496262/34 "2009-05-13T23:35:43Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > I think your username was throwing me off. I could have sworn you were much older and male (with, in my mind, a big walrus mustache…sort of Wilford Brimley like). Wow, the picture could be worse. Now I’m trying to imagine Wilford Brimley in my old outfit, lolz!! You made my day! ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-fashions-are-too-archaic-to-ever-return/496262/35 "2009-05-13T23:36:27Z")
> [@Mahna\_Mahna](#): > > (few men are willing to wear their pants that tight any more… such a pity) I agree with this. I have been waiting for the tight white jeans that were popular in my formative years (late 50’s to early 60’s) to return, but to no avail. I remember my older sister’s boyfriend’s jeans were so tight I could tell he wasn’t Jewish. Them was the days, all right. I’m afraid they shall never return. And this is one case where I would be glad to be wrong. Roddy ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2009, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-fashions-are-too-archaic-to-ever-return/496262/36 "2009-05-13T23:52:55Z")
I really hope [these sort of outfits](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/Dudleyportrait.jpg) come back for men, as well as the tradition of wearing [parade armor,](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/Franciszek_III_Breto%C5%84ski.JPG) [half armors,](http://images.artnet.com/images_US/magazine/news/jeromack/jeromack10-22-07-2.jpg) and [three-quarter armors](http://moderato.files.wordpress.com/2007/06/titian63.jpg) along with the lavish Elizabethan-era clothes. ---
**Author:** ![mariposalabrown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ad7895/32.png) [@mariposalabrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mariposalabrown)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-fashions-are-too-archaic-to-ever-return/496262/37 "2009-05-14T00:28:31Z")
> [@Icerigger](#): > > I’m kind of partial to the Top Hat. Probably the last time one was worn in an official “fashion” event. > > [http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l?imgurl=2947c9aeaeb744fb&q=kennedy%20top%20hat&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dkennedy%2Btop%2Bhat%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1%26ie%3DUTF-8](http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l?imgurl=2947c9aeaeb744fb&q=kennedy%20top%20hat&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dkennedy%2Btop%2Bhat%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1%26ie%3DUTF-8) When I saw Tom Waits last year, three different dirty hipsters were wearing top hats. I just prayed that one wasn’t going to be sitting in front of me. Then a month ago, I saw Les Miserables, and a guy was wearing a top hat, but he was one of those guys desperately trying to look like Gary Oldman from Dracula, and looked completely ridiculous. I figured he was a theatre major who was a shunned upon Goth in high school. I think armor could potentially come back in the far future when the robots rule, gotta even up the odds as much as possible. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-fashions-are-too-archaic-to-ever-return/496262/38 "2009-05-14T00:52:12Z")
I’ve said this before, but…every year, guaranteed, there will be a headline in the fashion section of the newspaper: “Hats Are Back!” Uh, no. Hats NEVER come back. (I’m not including winter hats, ball caps, skullcaps, fedoras, churchgoing hats, jaunty Irish tweed mens hats,sunhats, berets, and fashionistas actually wearing exotic hat creations…wait a minute, that’s a lotta hats I just named!..I mean hats worn by women on a regular basis to accessorize an outfit. Those hats left the building at the same time white gloves and seamed nylons did.) Oh, and that’s a good one, those pelt stoles with little heads, tails, and feet! Godawful, those are! ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-fashions-are-too-archaic-to-ever-return/496262/39 "2009-05-14T00:57:59Z")
I think the [maternity corset](http://www.hsl.virginia.edu/historical/reflections/winter2008/maternity_corset.html) probably won’t be back for a while. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-fashions-are-too-archaic-to-ever-return/496262/40 "2009-05-14T01:07:07Z")
> [@mariposalabrown](#): > > I think armor could potentially come back in the far future when the robots rule, gotta even up the odds as much as possible. Heh. How about modern body armor, over otherwise regular clothing? Kinda that “VIP/correspondent in a war zone” look. I could actually see this happening, artistically, although the cost of the vests and the slight puzzle of the mindset that would have to be _behind_ such a fashion coming about remain a problem to my mind. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-fashions-are-too-archaic-to-ever-return/496262.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-historical-fashions-are-too-archaic-to-ever-return/496262.md?page=3)