From leggings to bell-bottoms and drainpipes to high waists, everybody buys into a bit of nostalgic clothing from season to season. Wether it be Cavalli's ongoing revival of the classic 1970s staples or the reincarnation of Celia Birtwells prints at Topshop, fashion goes round in circles, constantly taking past trends and styles and reworking them to suit the present day.
Over the years the fashion world has witnessed the invention of platforms, epitomised by the disco revolution of the 1970s, brought full circle with girl power and the Spice Girls of the 1990s. We've had shift dresses commonly associated with the swinging 60s, only to be reincarnated for the noughties Twiggys amonsgt us and female androgyny from the same era. From vintage to charity shops, the list goes on and fashion designers today are continually taking inspiration from and reviving the biggest trends of past decades (leather jackets, mini skirts, rayban wayfarers, monochrome, hippie chic...), typically working in 20-year cycles. The question is however, what happened to the biggest trends of past decades that have failed to make a comeback on the catwalks and why do they seem to have been resigned to a dark cupboard, never to return?
Going way back women wore bloomers for practicality riding bikes at the turn of the century when they became liberated and 'allowed' to. With trousers these days taking the forefront in ladies fashion comfort, bloomers have been made redundant and left to the wardrobes of yesteryear. Corsets also seemed a good idea at the time, in mens minds anyway, but seeing as they brought on severe fainting spells and exhaustion, as soon as women discovered they could speak they were ditched along with bustles, crinolines and petticoats.
Lets also take more recent fad hair styles as well, for example. The 1980s brought us the iconic permed hair seen across the board from celebrities to your local supermarket assistant and women...to men. It was a decade of big hair, spiral perms and high-mainentence so why, we wonder, hasn't it returned as big as it ever was?
The same goes with Long hair and men. We come across the occasional long maned male from time to time but he would generally be re-living his most treasured decade and not at the fore-front of the 21st Century fashion pack.
The 1990s has, in my mind, a lot to answer for regarding clothing items that today would only be seen within the comfort of our own home. Come to think about it, not even then. There were tracksuit bottoms, bandanas, crop tops and puffa jackets (generally all in one outfit!), not to mention 'skirt over trousers' fluorescent trainers and socks with sandals. The puffa jacket was forever practical, warm in winter and available in a variety of colours and brands, unless of course you needed to board a busy lift and physically couldn't fit in with the rest of the puffa clad Backstreet Boy wannabes. Socks worn with sandals became a quick and easy method of obtaining comfort and warmth but why, I ask, would we ever want to disregard fashion to make way for comfort? Surely it's rule number one in the Bible of style.
Just as cuisine has evolved (anyone for angel delight, moulded jelly or battenbourg cake?) and we no longer chow down on sherry trifle at dinner parties, a la 1973, fashion also fails to bring back previously loved fads and trends. These 'trends', dare I call them, seem to have a reason for staying in the back of our minds and never entering our wardrobes since.
We wore corsets to please the men, whereas in this day and age wouldn't dream of listening to them. We wore shoulder pads and big hair to prove just that. The 90s may have been all about comfort looking back in hindsight but, by now, we have certainly realized never to sacrifice style for sweats.
Maybe it's down to the practicality and the theory of learning from our mistakes, or the downright ugly of it all, but I think it's safe to say these trends are left to the past for a reason and look set to stay there.