Has fashion stopped evolving?

[KittyKat179]

When you look back at fashion over the past 100 years, it seems like each decade has a very distinct style however skip to today and it feels like fashion hasn’t really changed that much since the late 2000s? Or at least not as distinctly as say between the 1940s and 1960s.

so has fashion stopped evolving and if so, why?

I think that the difference between the 40s-60s and now is that the cultural, social and political landscape changed so much over that time. Think world war, women's rights etc.

I guess that life just hasn't changed that drastically between 2000 and now.

I don’t think so, it’s always easier to look back with the benefit of hindsight. There’s always an overlap at the beginning/end of a decade. I buy a lot of vintage and a lot of my 70s stuff feels more stereotypically 60s (ditto 80s/70s). It’s not like the clock hit midnight NYE 1959 and everyone put on a mini skirt, our perception of 40s fashion is based on a selection of images that have endured.

If you google say ‘England WAGS Baden Baden’ it all looks very mid-2000s - the cut of the jeans, where the waist hits colour combinations/prints etc. Or the Siena Miller/Boho style. It’s of its time and if/when people have 00s parties in 30 years time then Victoria Beckham/Kate Moss at Glastonbury will be ten a penny.

That said I think it’s fair to say that there is a wider variety of trends/aesthetics at present which makes it harder to define the current look (although I’d hazard the 2010s/2020s being defined ultimately as a mix of hyper-feminine looks (prairie dresses, pastel suits etc) mixed with a more practical/masculine element (trainers, athlesuire, chunky boots). That and social media means that trends cycle quicker and we’re exposed to a lot more (how many times would your average woman in the 40s/50s/60s etc have their picture taken and how widely would that picture be seen). At present the 90s/00s are creeping back in already (again, social media has accelerated trends and the 90s aesthetic is significantly easier for a fast fashion brand to produce than say 40s/50s new look).

Basically I think fashion is still (and will always evolve) and there will ultimately be a handful of looks/items that suggest an era. How it evolves though will be different in a world with social media and fast fashion.

I know what you mean, but also agree that looking back with hindsight probably makes things seems a lot more black and white than it actually was.

I think my gran who lived in the 30s - 2010s wore more or less the same things all her life ! No mini skirts or flares etc. Always button down dresses with tights, low heeled shoes and maybe a cardigan.

I reckon some people are the same. Minimalists who wear black jeans and tshirts every day wouldn't look out of place today or in the 60s, 80s, whatever.

People who wear athleisure all the time would probably look acceptable in the 90s un until today.

So maybe what we think of as typical 60s or whatever style is just the extreme trends which not everybody actually bought into. We still have extreme trends now, but a lot of people choose not to buy into them

I was thinking this. I found a photo of some kids in my family who are now 18-22, when they were toddlers-ish. It could have been taken today.

Whereas if you'd looked at a pic of me age 3 in the 70s vs me as a late teen in the 90s, you'd have dated the earlier pic instantly (the orange and brown-clad toddler providing an instant clue 😂)

sorry folks, clearly wrong thread, I've reported!

Something I'm surprised that no one has mentioned is that since the 50's and 60's fashion trends have just been repeated. I think this is why I think it feels like there isn't a distinct fashion.

The 80s saw a lot of 50s and 60s styles repeating, the 90s were basically a rehash of the 70s and then there was a big mish mash in the early 2000s before it all cycled again. Circa 2005 saw the 80s come back so all of the 50s and 60s styles. 2010s saw the 90s back with all of the 70s styles. And the early 2000s are coming back again.

But I also agree. For every slave to what is fashionable there are 100s of people wearing the same clothes they've always owned for the last 20 years.

I think it’s hard to see trends when you’re in it and you need the benefit of hindsight. Social media makes things move more quickly but it also acts to solidify a style more universally as looks are widely shared. Before you would have to be part of a particular scene, eg punk or new romantic, to get the nuance of the style. Now you just browse on your phone.

I agree you need a bit of distance before you can see the trends properly. Major events help cement them in your memory too, so I imagine gym wear will forever be associated with the pandemic even though it was a thing before then.

And yes, aside from a few square miles in London, a lot of 60s fashion was something you devoured from TV and magazines but didn't really get to experience till the 70s. (Although my auntie did buy me a crimplene dress with a zip at the front around 1967.)

I also agree with Whyamievenhereagain about the revolving nature of modern fashion. Even the 60s and 70s borrowed from the 20s and 30s. I still remember the disappointment when it first dawned on me I would probably never see anything original again.

Agreed. We can’t cast aside our whalebone corsets, liberty bodices or 18 hour girdles etc any more, can we? Nor is anyone going to need smelling salts after seeing our ankles. So we’re not going to see any radical shifts in the cut and construction of women’s clothes any more. Since the 1960s fashion has been (mostly) based on comfortable cuts. The only thing that changes is the level of glamour and formality, the popular colours or the details (width of trouser legs, how high the waist hits, style of jacket).