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Usually, your characters need to wear clothes. If your show is set in modern times (and sometimes if it isn't), you'll dress the characters in appropriate clothes for the time. After all, it would look weird if a modern character wore last decade's styles, right?
Unfortunately, fashion is highly context-sensitive. There are only a few fashions that have stood the test of time (like tuxedos, T-shirts and jeans, and The Little Black Dress), and odds are, yours didn't. If a character from a show that supposedly takes place in the 21st century has '80s Hair, he's going to look weird... almost as if he's from the eighties.* in the first decade of the 21st century, though probably not in the way eighties sci-fi predicted.]]
In other words, fashions that don't just tell you what year the show was made, they scream it loudly enough to deafen your eyes.
Since most costumers aren't psychic, this happens a lot when old shows are rerun. It can also cause Fridge Logic if the show is set in the future. "Wait... why do people in the year 2800 wear clothes from the '70s?" Fashion Dissonance isn't completely restricted to shows set in the future, though - in fact, it can also be obvious if they're set in the time they were made, or even if they're set in the past (see Gorgeous Period Dress for one example of this, but a more specific example is the question of why no one in Higurashi no Naku Koro ni has '80s Hair).
Frequently appears in an Unintentional Period Piece.
Compare Outdated Outfit, X Called; They Want Their Y Back, I Was Quite A Fashion Victim, No New Fashions In The Future, Hollywood Costuming. For those who are immune to fashion dissonance, see Awesome Anachronistic Apparel.
There are many eras with regrettable fashion trends. Here are a few: open/close all folders
The 1960s
The Sixties are justly famous for mini-skirts, tie-die and pyschedelic colors. Hair was big and eye-make-up laid on with a trowel. Shows associated with Sixties fashion:
The 1970s
The Seventies were polyester heavy. Hair was worn thick and often frizzy; men wore bushy mustaches and beards. Trousers were flared, and there was too much corduroy. Sixties features like beads were still hanging on. And eyeshadow was bright blue, regardless of the wearer's skin tone. Here are some of the examples of shows associated with Seventies fashion:
Anime and Manga
The 1980s
The Eighties were almost as silly as the Seventies, but are looked back at with marginally more fondness (mainly because many of the looks from the era fetishized the Cool aesthetic). Note, in particular, '80s Hair.
Here are some series strongly associated with Eighties Fashion:Anime and Manga
The 1990s Nineties Fashion:Live Action TV
And finally, peculiar examples...
Live-Action TV
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