History Main / NoNewFashionsInTheFuture

* ''StarWars'' has this on some planets. While many people wear robes or bulky SpaceClothes, there are many that wear something that resembles our clothing. Dexter Jettster, the diner owner in Episode II, wears something you'd expect a diner owner today to wear, albeit with an extra pair of sleeves. Otherwise, ''StarWars'' is pretty good about averting this trope with clothes, although the characters' hair is incredibly 70s/80s in the Old Trilogy.

->''The movies that [[TaughtByTelevision you're dressing like]] are just [[TwoDecadesBehind copying other movies]]. These goddamn 20th century affectations. Do something new, you know? Put a glowing thing around your neck or use rubberized--just be ''new!''

->''[[DeconstructedTrope The movies that you're dressing like are just copying other movies.]] These goddamn 20th century affectations. Do something new, you know? Put a glowing thing around your neck or use rubberized... just be new.''

** Dave Bowman's wife Betty wears a ''{{Flashdance}}''-style off-the-shoulder T-shirt, [[HilariousInHindsight which actually came ''back'' into fashion in 2010.]]

* In ''MeetTheRobinsons'', which takes place only 30 years from when the film was released, people have flying cars and [[RobotBuddy robot buddies]]... but kids still wear jeans, t-shirts, and Converse All-Stars. Huh.
* Largely averted in ''Film/BackToTheFuture Part II'''s overblown and very tongue-in-cheek vision of 2015, but early in the movie Doc Brown gives Marty a set of modern clothing...which looks almost exactly like his regular clothes, except that it's electronic and automatically adjusts its size. One size fits all, indeed!

* The original ''Film/{{Rollerball}}'' and ''{{Death Race 2000}}''. Very 70s look in the GameOfDeath future.

** The civilians shown in ''Into Darkness'' however, have clothes that have touches of 2013 in them, but much more high fashion like.
* Somewhat averted in ''BicentennialMan,'' which clearly shows fashions change over its [[GenerationalSaga 200-year timeframe]]. Granted, suits, jeans and tuxedos seem largely preserved in that time, which can look jarring compared to the more futuristic styles.

* InTime takes place at least one hundred years in the future (one character mentions being 105). Cops ("Timekeepers") now dress like they're in the Matrix, and there were some unusual outfits worn by the rich women, but in the ghetto everyone dresses like it's 2011 and even the more "unique" outfits worn in New Greenwich are the kind of thing a bold person might wear today, not exactly futuristic. [[FridgeBrilliance Maybe it's some kind of comment on how fashion progress has stopped due to the lack of overturn among the kinds of wealthy people who would be setting the fashions?]]

* ''{{Gattaca}}'' is set in some undefined point in the future, but the clothing, hairstyles, and cars people have look like they came out of the 1950s and 1960s.

** Gloriously subverted in ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'': since it takes place in a new GoldenAge of humanity, clothing is designed according to a "[[TheRenaissance Neo-Renascentist]]" style that emphasizes embroidery, decoration and [[RuleOfCool plain old awesome]] while retaining a practical, realistic appearance. Well... [[http://www.incgamers.com/images/screenshots/27690orig.jpg most of the time]].

* Subverted in the episodes of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' that take place in the future. Most of the older versions of characters wear clothes similar to their normal outfits, but with subtle changes for some i.e. upturned collar, rings on the shoulders, Homer's shirt looks like [[WesternAnimation/TheJetsons George Jetson's]], etc.

** To be fair, kids were wearing that thirty years ago, as well.
*** And thirty years before that. And so on...and so on...All-Stars were invented in the early 1910's. More an example of likely RealLife.

** As a modern suit and tuxedo are effectively the same as the Victorian Era, this is less jarring that one might think. While the details might differ, a man in business or formal attire could go back in time, call a hansom cab in London, and be relatively in place. The only significant change is the elimination of the top hat and reduced formality of the 21st century.

* ''WildPalms'': Going quite the other way, this 1993 miniseries, set a decade into the future, depicted the prevailing fashions as Edwardian.

-->Chimmy-Chummy on the fashion of the future, from BradNeely's web animations.

* The Second volume of OsamuTezuka's ''Manga/{{Phoenix}}'' series actually gives a pretty brilliant (and tragic) justification for this. People living in a CrapsackWorld that has seen the near complete destruction of Earth's ecology & the apparent failure of a space colonization program that was supposed to save the human race have given up hope for the future & spend their lives trying to relive the past. This trope is taken to truly ludicrous levels in the manga, where not only do people wear mostly ordinary looking modern clothes of various fashion eras as well as more classical Victorian finery & even [[CrystalSpiresAndTogas togas]], there are also people who dress up in medieval armor or wear animal skins like a caveman. Since this book was written in the late 50s/early 60s, the SpaceClothes that the officials wear also look [[ZeeRust anachronistic]] to modern eyes, which gives their constant bemoaning of people's nostalgic tendencies a layer of irony.

* Averted in WhiteWolf's ''[[TabletopGame/TrinityUniverse Trinity]]'' game, where much of the artwork featured speculative fashion and architecture.

** The film was made in 1984, and is dated, but the clothing worn in the film is pretty similar to what people wore (space suits aside) in the RealLife 2010 so it's justified for the most part. The American space suits were even designed to look more like space suits used today[[hottip:* :They were even made with the same kind of $200/yard Teflon-coated fabric that real space suits use]] rather than the ones from ''2001''.

->[[DeconstructedTrope The movies that you're dressing like are just copying other movies.]] These goddamn 20th century affectations. Do something new, you know? Put a glowing thing around your neck or use rubberized... just be new.
-->'''Abe''', ''Film/{{Looper}}''

* Don't forget ''{{Robocop}}'', although that was, in many ways, a parody of contemporary society made in the 1980s.

** The page picture comes from this show, wherein women all across our futuristic Federation wear gogo boots, mini-skirts, and beehives that could trap small children ''as their work clothes.'' As we get further and further away from TheEighties, there's no doubt that ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'''s outfits will eventually look just as awful.

* ''Series/BattlestarGalacticaReimagined'': Played with. Despite being set ALongTimeAgoInAGalaxyFarFarAway, with no apparent historical connection to Earth, Colonial fashion is almost identical to that of 2000s Earth. The motif was chosen partly to make the characters easier to relate to, and partly since buying from thrift stores is cheaper than designing original costumes.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': Though the old favoured SpaceClothes, the new series seems to have some rather mundane clothes for the future. Case in point: the 2005 series finale, set in the year 200,100, features office drones identical to today's.
** Defied in ''The Ark'' with those streamer outfits.

* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'': The episode "Riding With Death" (a "movie" cobbled together from episodes of ''GeminiMan'') supposedly takes place ten years after it was made in the mid-70s, but all the characters look like they are getting ready to go to the Bicentennial.

* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': The page picture comes from this show, wherein women all across our futuristic Federation wear gogo boots, mini-skirts, and beehives that could trap small children ''as their work clothes.'' As we get further and further away from TheEighties, there's no doubt that ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'''s outfits will eventually look just as awful.

* Justified in ''Anime/LegendOfTheGalacticHeroes,'' at least for the inhabitants of the Reich, whose fashions range from the 18th to early 20th Century. Those in the Free Planets Alliance, on the other hand, wouldn't look too out of place in modern-day America, while many on Phezzan seem to like TheEighties.
* The clothing in '''Anime/AKB0048''', despite being set way in the future, are exactly like the clothes worn in the 00-10's. Fans of the real life AKB48 may notice some of the casual wear of the girls are actually reused by the characters in the show.

* ''Film/LogansRun'', set in a hi-tech far-future city where the inhabitants -- those who ''are'' wearing clothes -- look as though they've just stepped out of a '70s-era disco. This is arguably the most depressing aspect of the movie's [[{{Dystopia}} dystopian society]].

* Justified in ''LegendOfTheGalacticHeroes,'' at least for the inhabitants of the Reich, whose fashions range from the 18th to early 20th Century. Those in the Free Planets Alliance, on the other hand, wouldn't look too out of place in modern-day America, while many on Phezzan seem to like TheEighties.

* ''Film/LogansRun'', set in a hi-tech far-future city where the inhabitants -- those who ''are'' wearing clothes -- look as though they've just stepped out of a '70s-era disco. This is arguably the [[TakeThat most depressing aspect]] of the movie's [[{{Dystopia}} dystopian society]].

* The Second volume of OsamuTezuka's ''Phoenix'' series actually gives a pretty brilliant (and tragic) justification for this. People living in a CrapsackWorld that has seen the near complete destruction of Earth's ecology & the apparent failure of a space colonization program that was supposed to save the human race have given up hope for the future & spend their lives trying to relive the past. This trope is taken to truly ludicrous levels in the manga, where not only do people wear mostly ordinary looking modern clothes of various fashion eras as well as more classical Victorian finery & even [[CrystalSpiresAndTogas togas]], there are also people who dress up in medieval armor or wear animal skins like a caveman. Since this book was written in the late 50s/early 60s, the SpaceClothes that the officials wear also look [[ZeeRust anachronistic]] to modern eyes, which gives their constant bemoaning of people's nostalgic tendencies a layer of irony.

* The original ''Rollerball'' and ''Death Race 2000''. Very 70s look in the GameOfDeath future.

* ''Gattaca'' is set in some undefined point in the future, but the clothing, hairstyles, and cars people have look like they came out of the 1950s and 1960s.

* In the early chapters of Dragon's Egg, the book takes the time to highlight the fact that main female protagonist in the year 2020 is so odd that she doesn't usually wear skirts! *gasp*

* ''Space: 1999'': The Andersons made a big selling point of the fact that Rudi Gernreich designed the Moonbase Alpha uniforms. The unisex versions used in the first season, however, look distinctly mid-'70s today, especially when you can see the glam-rock high-heeled boots everyone's wearing with them.

* Averted in WhiteWolf's ''Trinity'' game, where much of the artwork featured speculative fashion and architecture.
* Cyberpunk 2020's fashion looks pretty much the same as contemporary 80s fashion.
* The same goes for Shadowrun, which is set even farther in the future (2050s onwards). Obvious in the drawings of female corporate characters wearing their powersuits, with shoulder pads and big, angular accessories.

* ''MassEffect's'' clothing style is "just future enough" to feel future-y without heading into silliness. Even if the colors were a bit eye-straining on some of the outfits.
** In addition, whilst onboard the ''Normandy'', [[PlayerCharacter Shepard]], Ashley, and Kaiden wear an outfit consisting of a T-shirt, cargo pants, and boots. Judging from the second game, this is essentially military utilities.

** "The Kid" from the beginning of ''MassEffect3'' is intended to, according to WordOfGod, have an outfit, of a hoodie, jeans and a somewhat futuristic-looking shirt in order to have a somewhat advanced yet recognizable look.

* Most series in the ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' franchise tend to suffer from this, as the writers are constantly trying to make their respective series be analogue to modern times. Thus, the original series went by 1970s fashions, ''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam'', ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ'', ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack Char's Counterattack]]'' and ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamF91'' had 1980s wear (ZZ ''[[UpToEleven especially]]''), ''Anime/MobileSuitVictoryGundam'', ''Anime/MobileFighterGGundam'', ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing'' and ''Anime/AfterWarGundamX'' are all 1990s based, and anything made after the turn of the century follows along with ''that'' decade and beyond. The only series that breaks this trend is ''Anime/TurnAGundam'', which being more Fantasy oriented than previous series, had a general [[FantasyCounterpartCulture Victorian era setting]]; as a result, characters tended to wear styles based anywhere from the IndustrialRevolution to WorldWarI. Also, ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamUnicorn'', despite being made in TheNewTens, follows UC's general late-80s-to-early-90s trend to blend in stylistically.

* Most series in the ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' franchise tend to suffer from this, as the writers are constantly trying to make their respective series be analogue to modern times. Thus, the original series went by 1970s fashions, ''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam'', ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ'', ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack Char's Counterattack]]'' and ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamF91'' had 1980s wear (ZZ ''[[UpToEleven especially]]''), ''Anime/MobileSuitVictoryGundam'', ''Anime/MobileFighterGGundam'', ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing'' and ''Anime/AfterWarGundamX'' are all 1990s based, and anything made after the turn of the century follows along with ''that'' decade and beyond. The only series that breaks this trend is ''Anime/TurnAGundam'', which being more Fantasy oriented than previous series, had a general [[FantasyCounterpartCulture Victorian era setting]]; as a result, characters tended to wear styles based anywhere from the IndustrialRevolution to WorldWarI.

[[quoteright:217:[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/YRand.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:217:Yeoman Rand models: [[SarcasmMode the look of the]] [[TheSixties twenty-third century]].]]

Sometimes it is justified in some specific things, like how many modern hairstyles have been around for centuries (often pointed out in movies), and how men's suits have changed [[http://www.victoriana.com/Mens-Clothing/mens-clothing-1868.html remarkably little in over 140 years]] (albeit going from casual sporting wear, to business dress, to the most formal thing many men will ever put on). On top of that, jeans have been the youth's casual trousers of choice in North America for some seventy years now (almost a trope of its own). But this isn't the case once enough time has passed. Just compare how different medieval and Roman styles looks from each other; logically fashion two hundred or so years from now on will be just as different. Or just compare [[http://www.costumes.org/history/100pages/1900PICS.HTM women's fashions of 1900]] to now.

* The page picture comes from ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', wherein women all across our futuristic Federation wear gogo boots, mini-skirts, and beehives that could trap small children ''as their work clothes.'' As we get further and further away from TheEighties, there's no doubt that ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'''s outfits will eventually look just as awful.
** They look awful now. Those shoulder pads - ''yeck!''
** ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' tries to avert this, for the most part. Apparently, Starfleet officers still wear modern Navy-style uniforms in the 22nd Century.
** ''Franchise/StarTrek'' has always been hit and miss with civilian clothing. The TOS movies, excluding [[Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture The Motion Picture]], had some distinctive uniforms which didn't look 70's or 80's and the civilian clothes weren't too set in the era. Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration, Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine and Series/StarTrekVoyager's uniforms were fine, but the civilian clothes... oh god the some of the outfits were just awful. At least for the humans. The choice to make clothing culture specific for [=DS9=] worked well for the distinctive styles of the Bajorans, Cardassians, Ferengi, etc, and so they don't look like 90's clothing.
* The ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' episode "Riding With Death" (a "movie" cobbled together from episodes of ''GeminiMan'') supposedly takes place ten years after it was made in the mid-70s, but all the characters look like they are getting ready to go to the Bicentennial.
** You've also got "Time Chasers," where, as Tom snarked, "So, fifty years from now, it'll be three years from now."
* Sorta-applied in ''Series/BattlestarGalacticaReimagined''; despite being set ALongTimeAgoInAGalaxyFarFarAway, with no apparent historical connection to Earth, Colonial fashion is almost identical to that of 2000s Earth. The motif was chosen partly to make the characters easier to relate to, and partly since buying from thrift stores is cheaper than designing original costumes.

* Going quite the other way, the 1993 miniseries ''WildPalms'', set a decade into the future, depicted the prevailing fashions as Edwardian.
* Though the old ''Series/DoctorWho'' favoured SpaceClothes, the new series seems to have some rather mundane clothes for the future. Case in point: the 2005 series finale, set in the year 200,100, features office drones identical to today's.

* ''Series/BabylonFive'' steered between this trope and SpaceClothes: human civilian clothes were obviously derived from modern-day fashions, but were ''just different enough'', with men wearing suit coats with no lapels over band-collared shirts with no tie. The suit coats were often purchased at a second-hand store, with the costume department removing the lapels, and the band-collared shirts actually were in style during a brief period when ''B5'' was on the air, but the effect still manages to look "futuristic" without looking too goofy. (There's still some {{Zeerust}}, as the costume designers extrapolated from some 90s fashions that were kind of odd, like printed formal shirts for men; women's fashions, on the other hand, looked a lot more timeless.)
* Similarly with the civilian clothes of human characters in ''Franchise/StarTrek''s [[Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan II]], [[Film/StarTrekIIITheSearchForSpock III]], [[Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome IV]] and [[Film/StarTrekVTheFinalFrontier V]]. The burgundy jacket looks like a formal uniform and has realistic "field" variants, and the civilian clothes that the main crew wore were interesting but wouldn't seem too out of place today, even Uhura's traditional African clothes in ''Film/{{Star Trek III|The Search for Spock}}''.
*** Unfortunately, civilian clothes in the first ''Film/{{Star Trek|The Motion Picture}}'' movie (as well as the original series), as seen in San Francisco circa 2271, were egregious examples of SpaceClothes.
*** During preproduction for IV, there was concern about how much they'd have to make the characters worry about their wardrobes. They concluded that they could walk around San Francisco in full dress uniform and [[WeirdnessCensor not attract second looks]]. How? [[RefugeInAudacity By having the actors do so for a week.]]
**** Well, yeah -- San Francisco's used to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Norton this sort of thing]].
* ''{{Firefly}}'' went the other direction with this trope, using [[FashionsNeverChange old west fashions]] for most of the characters, with only occasional futuristic or contemporary twists. On the other hand, upper-class Persephone used a distinctively [[RegencyEngland Regency]]-esque set of fashions, down to tight pants for the men at formal occasions (which annoyed Mal to no end).
* ''TheTwilightZone'' featured a lot of speculative stories set in the near and distant future. Although they sometimes got creative with the clothing (space jumpsuits, shiny leotards, etc.) the hairstyles were usually mired in the buzzcutted, beehived, wave-permed styles of the 50's and 60's.

* ''Space: 1999'': The Andersons made a big selling point of the fact that Rudi Gernreich designed the Moonbase Alpha uniforms. The unisex versions used in the first season, however, look distinctly mid-'70s today, especially when you can see the glam-rock high-heeled boots everyone's wearing with them.