Which decade is the worst in terms of style?

[MrNewportCustom]

There is no conformity more absolute than that of nonconformists.

"Ever notice how nonconformists always look alike?" - MAD Magazine, sometime back in the '70s.

 

[Dr Doran]

The '70s and '80s

I thought I'd take a vote of the worst decade(s) for style based on selected posts on this thread at the time of writing. I only counted unique posts nominating a specific decade, excluding multiple posts by the same person, commentaries, and posts defending certain eras and/or its aspects. And here's the results:

1910s: 1
1920s: 2
1930s: 0
1940s: 0
1950s: 0
1960s: 5
1970s: 9
1980s: 9
1990s: 8
2000s: 7

Count me as a tenth 1970s hater. (Note: somewhere buried in the Fedora Lounge archives is a long long thread I started called "Why do I hate the 70s so much?")

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Count me as a tenth 1970s hater. (Note: somewhere buried in the Fedora Lounge archives is a long long thread I started called "Why do I hate the 70s so much?")

I'll periodically update the count so your vote will be counted in the next update.

 

[The Good]

Count me as a tenth 1970s hater. (Note: somewhere buried in the Fedora Lounge archives is a long long thread I started called "Why do I hate the 70s so much?")

I actually read that whole thread some time ago, while using the search engine. There's loads of ridiculous attire in there... check it out folks, if you want proof of just how wild the 1970s was (at times, not everyone dressed as strangely).

 

[rkwilker]

Pants on the ground, pants on the ground. lookin like a fool wit your pants on the ground.......

 

[WideBrimm]

The 1970s were the absolute Worst!

In terms of style, I hated the 1970s with a purple passion I didn't like the fifties or sixties either, but the seventies were the absolute pits! High heel shoes and leisure suits for men were the worst. For a while it became almost impossible to find standard shoe styles at all! Bell bottoms ? Polyester was a pretty new fabric for general use in clothing and it showed. Ugh! I want to scream when I think of mens' clothing styles during the 1970s :rage:

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

I'll periodically update the count so your vote will be counted in the next update.

Update:

1910s: 1
1920s: 2
1930s: 0
1940s: 0
1950s: 0
1960s: 5
1970s: 12
1980s: 10
1990s: 9
2000s: 8

 

[Paisley]

There has been a lot of focus on celebrities, costumes and extremes. But one of the most important factors in ordinary people looking good is fit. Fit flopped in the 90s and 2000s.

The 90s brought us baggy jeans and boxy shirts. Men's shirt sleeves often started somewhere near the elbow.

The 2000s went to the other extreme, especially for women: those with any modesty couldn't bend over in the fashions of the day. (Neither could men who didn't want to be Seymour Butts.) To get a close fit, clothing tended to be stretchy instead of fitted and tailored. Pants, as we all know, were worn just above the crotch and dragging the ground. (RKWilker, if there isn't a song with the words you wrote, you should write one.)

 

[Jenniferose7]

Pants on the ground, pants on the ground. lookin like a fool wit your pants on the ground.......

Everyone owes it to themselves to watch this clip online. It's a wacky but accurate statement on the decline of style.

Just try to keep it our of your head...

 

[Marc Chevalier]

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Which decades were the worst? Let the DORCUS collection help you decide: http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=10157


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[V.C. Brunswick]

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Which decades were the worst? Let the DORCUS collection help you decide: http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=10157


.

Geesh, mini skirts for men.. or is it MEN-ee skirts???? Now there's an idea whose time -- thankfully -- never came.

 

[Carlisle Blues]

This just brought a tear to my eye..

However, this is part of the seventies that has been broiught to light with current celebrities.

Point is not all of it is bad. I would not keep my collar out though.

 

[Maguire]

What i notice today is that when you are wearing a shirt and tie or clothing, people automatically assume you are "going somewhere" or you came from "somewhere", ie a job interview or a fancy job. If you are buying groceries or shopping you just put on a pair of jeans and a t shirt or even less, walk around in shorts and flip flops or pajama pants because you aren't "going anywhere" or doing something that requires decent clothing. In the past, you did not dress in a shirt and tie just because you were going somewhere that required it, you dressed in a way that reflected your place. Of course, if work demanded rugged clothing and denims or overalls, that was one thing, but even some pictures of farmers i've seen back in the 1930s (a mugshot infact!) shows a farmer wearing overalls.. with a SHIRT AND TIE underneath! It seems in the past people dressed up for themselves as much as for whatever their occupation was. Aristocrats wore frock coats and the like regardless of whether they were just going for a stroll or whether they were going to an event which required them to dress formally. at least this is my perception. Even "casual clothing" say, a century or less ago was extremely formal by today's standards. Perhaps i'm wrong to assume this, but its the impression i get looking at old photos and reels.

 

[grundie]

I'm struggling to decide between the 80s and 90s as the worst decades for style.

The 80s gave us skinny suits, big hair, dayglo, leather jackets with far too much trimming, the male perm, the overuse of peroxide, shoulder pads, the puffer skirt, power (i.e. loud) dressing and people who dressed like pirates thinking they were being trendy.

The 90s gave us shell suits, sportswear as daily wear, the designer sports team jersey, floppy hair, grunge and jeans with deliberately made tears.

On the face of it, the 80s seem worse. However, most 80s fashion fads died off fairly quickly. In the 90s people starting wearing sportswear as everyday clothing and that is a fad that has become permanent and if anything is getting worse. So for that reason I give my vote to the 1990s.

 

[Ethan Bentley]

#1 1980s
#2 1990s

 

[Edward]

What i notice today is that when you are wearing a shirt and tie or clothing, people automatically assume you are "going somewhere" or you came from "somewhere", ie a job interview or a fancy job. If you are buying groceries or shopping you just put on a pair of jeans and a t shirt or even less, walk around in shorts and flip flops or pajama pants because you aren't "going anywhere" or doing something that requires decent clothing. In the past, you did not dress in a shirt and tie just because you were going somewhere that required it, you dressed in a way that reflected your place. Of course, if work demanded rugged clothing and denims or overalls, that was one thing, but even some pictures of farmers i've seen back in the 1930s (a mugshot infact!) shows a farmer wearing overalls.. with a SHIRT AND TIE underneath! It seems in the past people dressed up for themselves as much as for whatever their occupation was. Aristocrats wore frock coats and the like regardless of whether they were just going for a stroll or whether they were going to an event which required them to dress formally. at least this is my perception. Even "casual clothing" say, a century or less ago was extremely formal by today's standards. Perhaps i'm wrong to assume this, but its the impression i get looking at old photos and reels.

Yes, while the eighties are so much viler to my eyes than anything since, I do certainly agree that the rampant casualisation of particularly men's clothing kicked into gear much harder in the nineties. That said, though, it was the eighties that gave us the concept of the 'designer jean', so the seeds of it were already there. I do seem to remember a late eighties fad for collar and tie, blazer or waistcoat, and jeans.... lasted a couple of years; towards the end of it, the tie was disappearing, to be replaced by open neck, and the shirt tended more often to be worn untucked.

 

[Edward]

The 90s gave us shell suits, sportswear as daily wear, the designer sports team jersey, floppy hair, grunge and jeans with deliberately made tears.

I guess things varied from region to region; "grunge" aside, those were all mainstream eighties fashion trends over here (albeit that you would still see them into the nineties). "Grunge".... well, that was around on both sides of the Atlantic as a musical form from the garage bands of the late sixties, proto-punk, if you will, and the clothing was mostly aping the style of vintage workwear, some of it being distressed, yes, though not all. Old school army surplus togs were also popular among our grunge set. I actually remember being both amused and appalled when the fashion press started telling me in 1992 that I was "grunge" and "in fashion" due to the clothes I'd adopted years earlier, along with my counter-culture oriented chums. We were outright furious when combat trousers (aka cargo pants) were turned into a mainstream fashion trend, and it was a point of principle we took some pride in that we exclusively wore only the "real" military surplus variety. I do remember being quite chuffed at the idea of my denim jeans being out of fashion though. Even to this day, as a middle aged man, while I will no longer go so far as to stop wearing something because it's "in", I actively loathe the notion of being "in fashion". lol

 

[ukali1066]

Ohh the awful 80's for me.....I actually like the 70's

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Some more awful '70s fashions:

 

[Bustercat]

This is sort of how I see it:

10: Uncoordinated
20: Languid
30: Slick
40: Bold
50: Straight
60: Slim
70: Broad
80: Bland
90: Lazy
00: ??
10: Comfy