History Main / FashionsNeverChange

* Just about any giant robot anime predating ''Anime/{{Macross}}'' includes disco haircuts and collared jumpsuits.

** Tom Usher of Vice [http://www.vice.com/en_au/read/we-asked-young-farmers-how-they-feel-about-flat-caps-being-appropriated?utm_source=vicetwitteranz has also observed] the following:

* Subverted on the NewsRadio episode that takes place in a futuristic spaceship. Everybody else wears "space clothes", but Jimmy comes in wearing the same suit he wears in every other show, and Space Dave mocks his ridiculous clothes. Jimmy defends the suit by saying it was the height of fashion in the late 20th century.

* Anton Corbijn's ''Control'' gets all the changing 1970's fashions right. So the Ian in 1973 goes to see Bowie with guyliner and a fluffy jacket, but by 1979 is wearing the familiar austere JoyDivision outfit.

* Played with in Diana Wynne Jones's ''{{Hexwood}}'', where Vierran, the girl providing costumes for intergalactic travellers, has a puckish sense of humour. The Reigners end up with a business suit (Reigner One), New Look-style ladies' suit and high heels (Two), outfit that "looks like Superman" (Three, but then he didn't bother to ask for a costume), ill-fitting NormanWisdom suit (Four) and monk's robe (Five). Vierran gives herself authentic 1990s casual clothes (jeans and long jumper) and Two tells her "You look like a peasant from New Xai".

* Just about any giant robot anime predating ''{{Macross}}'' includes disco haircuts and collared jumpsuits.

* In this instance, it's not time travel but production values. The producers of ''HogansHeroes'' blew their entire costume budget on those nifty reproduction Nazi outfits, so all the non-Nazi and non-main-character actors had to bring their own outfits. Thus you will see every secondary non-Nazi on the show - which takes place during UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo - dressed in the fashions of the era of the show's production - the late 1960's.

-->--''Webcomic/DresdenCodak''

* Inverted in ''Film/BackToTheFuture'', as Marty arrives late from the dance because he wanted to change back into his 1985 clothes.
-->'''Marty:''' You think I'm going back in that ''zoot suit?!''
* Parodied in ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII'', when Doc Brown dresses Marty up in a vintage-1955 TV cowboy costume (bright red and pink in color) before sending him back to TheWildWest; Doc assures him that he'll fit right in; after all, that's how cowboys dressed back then, right?
* Averted in both [[Film/TheTimeMachine1960 film]] [[Film/TheTimeMachine2002 versions]] of ''Literature/TheTimeMachine'': one way the passing of time is shown is that fashions in a shop window change.
* Directly subverted ''Film/SomewhereInTime''. Christopher Reeve's character (Richard Collier) has enough foresight to buy a suit from a vintage clothing shop before heading back in time. When he gets back to 1912, he discovers that he is wearing a suit that was in fashion two years before and he sticks out like a sore thumb. Fortunately, the object of his journey finds this goofiness charming.

* Averted in ''Film/AKnightsTale'', where our hero was laughed at for wearing old-fashioned, out of style armor in his first tournament.
* Averted in ''Film/TheMagnificientAmbersons'' which opens with a montage of a character wearing various fashions that appeared over the past few months.

* Averted in ''Film/TheThreeMusketeers2011'' as King Louis and the Duke of Buckingham use the changing fashions of the day as an extension of their feud.
* Subverted in ''Film/AVeryLongEngagment'', which is mostly set in the 1920s, but where many characters still wear ''Belle Epocque'' fashions. This is because the makers of the film saw from studying old photographs that older people and many of those living in the provinces continued to wear their pre-World War 1 clothes.
* Averted in ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact''. The first thing Picard does before beaming down to mid-21st century Earth is order the computer to replicate appropriate attire for the away team. Considering they were heading into a post-WorldWarIII society in the middle of Montana, their uniforms would've been much more noticeable than in [[Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome 1986 San Francisco]] or [[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS3E8FuturesEnd 1996 Los Angeles]].

* Parodied in ''[[Film/BackToTheFuture Back to the Future: Part III]]'', when Doc Brown dresses Marty up in a vintage-1955 TV cowboy costume (bright red and pink in color) before sending him back to TheWildWest; Doc assures him that he'll fit right in; after all, that's how cowboys dressed back then, right?
** Inverted in the first film, as Marty arrives late from the dance because he wanted to change back into his 1985 clothes.
--->'''Marty:''' You think I'm going back in that ''zoot suit?!''

* Parodied in the ''{{Futurama}}'' episode "Roswell That Ends Well"; in an attempt to fit in in 1947 New Mexico, Leela dons a poodle skirt and beehive hairdo, and Professor Farnsworth wears a zoot suit and fedora while swinging a pocketwatch on a chain. Leela also tries to fit in using Fry's 1990s slang, with similar success.

* Averted in ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact''. The first thing Picard does before beaming down to mid-21st century Earth is order the computer to replicate appropriate attire for the away team. Considering they were heading into a post-WorldWarIII society in the middle of Montana, their uniforms would've been much more noticable than in 1986 San Francisco or 1996 Los Angeles.

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

[[folder: Comic Books]]

* Also parodied in ''Film/BackToTheFuture III'', when Doc Brown dresses Marty up in a vintage-1955 TV cowboy costume (bright red and pink in color) before sending him back to TheWildWest; Doc assures him that he'll fit right in; after all, that's how cowboys dressed back then, right?
* Averted in both [[Film/TheTimeMachine1960 film]] [[Film/TheTimeMachine2002 versions]] of ''TheTimeMachine'': one way the passing of time is shown is that fashions in a shop window change.

* ''TheVillage'' is supposedly set in 1897, and features a Pennsylvania farm village where everyone dresses like it is 1797. Possibly deliberate [[spoiler:because it is actually the 20th century]]. Perhaps the Village's founders discovered it was easier to stay 100% self-sufficient with 18th century technology, [[spoiler:but their historians knew more about the 1800s and based the community's backstory on that.]]

* Averted in ''AKnightsTale'', where our hero was laughed at for wearing old-fashioned, out of style armor in his first tournament.
* Averted in The Magnificient Ambersons which opens with a montage of a character wearing various fashions that appeared over the past few months.

* Subverted in ''AVeryLongEngagment'', which is mostly set in the 1920s, but where many characters still wear ''Belle Epocque'' fashions. This is because the makers of the film saw from studying old photographs that older people and many of those living in the provinces continued to wear their pre-World War 1 clothes.

** Averted in ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact''. The first thing Picard does before beaming down to mid-21st century Earth is order the computer to replicate appropriate attire for the away team. Considering they were heading into a post-WorldWarIII society in the middle of Montana, their uniforms would've been much more noticable than in 1986 San Francisco or 1996 Los Angeles.

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

[[folder: Real Life ]]

** Dress uniforms have remained very similar to their origins in the 18th and 19th centuries, especially in European militaries with long traditions (witness the British Buckingham Palace guards, for example). This is because they were designed to stand out and make it easier for their commanders to see them on a smoky battlefield, and they were also designed to look sharp (for recruitment at home) and intimidating (on the battlefield, again). So they still look good for showing off at formal events.
** Once concealment and mobility became more important than visibility, "battle dress" or "working" uniforms began to change rapidly and have continued to do so to this day. Militaries continue to try to refine the uniforms for the maximum concealment, practicality, and mobility. Additionally, as new technologies are invented, specialized clothing are also needed to adapt to the new battlefield conditions: hence chemical suits, gas masks, flight suits, ghillie suits, body armor, etc.

The main reason for this trope is that people think that fashions didn't change from season to season until the rise of the middle class in the 20th century. This is not the case; there's a lot of evidence showing that fashion has changed with the seasons in Western Europe since at least the 12th century and possibly much earlier. There have always been people with enough money to spend on new clothing every year, and there have always been fads. SamuelPepys writes in his 1660s diaries about how both men's and women's fashions changed so quickly he could hardly keep up -- and because how he and his wife dressed ''really mattered'' with respect to him being thought genteel enough to hold an important post, it wasn't something he could afford to ignore, either.

-->--'''''DresdenCodak'''''

Of course, some fashions ''don't'' change so quickly; jeans and a T-shirt have survived basically unchanged since the end of WorldWarII (though the number of situations in which it is acceptable to wear them has increased), and dinner jackets (the most formal tailed version, at any rate, the shorter Tuxedo style being later), along with the suit-and-tie, have been around for over a hundred. Ceremonial garb, such as the "scholarly" robes you see at universities, is similar to what was actually in fashion for scholars 1,000 years ago when the first universities were founded. Likewise, many religious orders wear centuries-old fashions for special occasions, and in rare cases all the time.) But when you have details that any real-life native of the time period would gawk at, you're doing something wrong.

* Parodied in ''[[Literature/{{Discworld}} Pyramids]]'', where the Tsortian envoy to Djelibeibi dresses in a mishmash of garments from half a dozen periods of that nation's 7000-year history. A footnote compares this to wearing a mix of old Celtic, medieval, and modern British garments to pass as an Englishman.

* Discussed in HGWells's ''TheTimeMachine''. In chapter 1, the Medical Man points out that observing the Battle of Hastings in person would attract attention: "Our ancestors had no great tolerance for anachronisms."

* In this instance, it's not time travel but production values. The producers of ''HogansHeroes'' blew their entire costume budget on those nifty reproduction Nazi outfits, so all the non-Nazi and non-main-character actors had to bring their own outfits. Thus you will see every secondary non-Nazi on the show - which takes place during WorldWarTwo - dressed in the fashions of the era of the show's production - the late 1960's.

** Also largely averted, with much made of the different fashions that the hoi polloi wear at any given point. Stephenson usually [[ShownTheirWork does the research]].

** Averted in ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact''. The first thing Picard does before beaming down to mid-21st century Earth is order the computer to replicate appropriate attire for the away team.

** Averted in ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact''. The first thing Picard does before beaming down to mid-20th century Earth is order the computer to replicate appropriate attire for the away team.

** Neckties have been around for almost ''[[ThirtyYearsWar four hundred years]].''

* Parodied in ''TimeTrax'', when a time traveler from the 22nd century arrives in the 1990s in something more appropriate to the 1950s. When the protagonist (who has been in the 90s for over a year now) points this out, she complains that she did the research and her wardrobe should be fine.

* Kurt Andersen [[http://www.vanityfair.com/style/2012/01/prisoners-of-style-201201 writes in Vanity Fair magazine]] that modern fashions have barely changed since the early 1990s, thanks to the digital age which has allowed older fashions to be preserved and enjoyed.

* Averted in Michael Crichton's ''{{Timeline}}''. The time-travellers have a full-time tailor who takes great pains to make sure their clothing is accurate. The characters point out that their clothes do not always match their expectations.