History Main / OutdatedOutfit

* ''ComicStrip/{{Archie}}'': The main characters' fashions are based on the styles of the 1940s. Jughead's [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whoopee_cap whoopee cap]] is a fashion trend so forgotten that contemporary readers are likely to wonder why the character wears a "crown."

** ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII'': In [[BadFuture the alternate 1985]], where Biff is a CorruptCorporateExecutive, Biff and his gang (still together since 1955) [[http://www.screencapped.org/movie/backtothefuture/albums/movies/bttf1989/caps/scnet_bttf2_2094.jpg seem to fit in]] more with TheSeventies than TheEighties.

* It's come full circle with Connor Kent's ComicBook/{{Superboy}}. His leather-jacket, colorful outfit, piercings and surfer cut suggest a completely different personality than the one he was originally going for. He has updated his look a couple of times since then and is now a T-shirt and jeans kind of guy.

[[folder:The DCU]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Marvel Comics]]k

ComicBook/{{Blade}} wore some really gaudy outfits back in the 70s, which tended to be red, or yellow coats with green pants. His modern look tends to be much more appreciated.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Disney Comics]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Other Comic Books]]

* Swedish military-humour character 91:an Karlsson still wears a blue uniform (outdated already when he was created in the 20's) despite most his comrades having switched to more modern camo.
* While not as pronounced as others here, ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'s owner Jon has [[SeventiesHair hair]], a collar shirt and shoes that firmly put his creation in the seventies. Given his DiscoDan tendencies and general social ineptitude, not to mention VagueAge, this actually suits his character quite well.
* Very Conspicuous in {{ComicStrip/AndyCapp}} where every character's outfit ([[Main/RetroUniverse and the whole scenery surrounding them]]) is stuck in the late 50'- early 60'. This doesn't stop them from using smartphones in the more recent strips.

[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
* Wrestling/RicFlair became so associated with his long sequined robes that he continued using them in his entrances decades after they went out of fashion.
* Wrestling/{{ECW}}'s Tommy Dreamer drew an enormous amount of hate in his early days due to being a prettyboy face (good guy) and his comically outdated wrestling outfit, complete with bright green suspenders.
[[/folder]]

* A downplayed example, but Ralphie still wears his red baseball cap in ''Literature/TheMagicSchoolbusRidesAgain''. Kids still casually wear caps however it's largely seen as a nineties (or rural) fashion.

* In-universe this occurs in the film ''Film/TheTollOfTheSea''. Lotus Flower is a young woman living in China during the early 1920s. When she presumes her American husband will take her home with him, she tries to dress her most fashionable. Alas, she uses her ''grandmother's'' old fashion book for advice. She looks gorgeous, but still painfully out-of-date by several decades.

* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'''s Elliot, Tedd and especially Justin have very 1990s/early 2000s hairstyles. They've been toned down as part of the ArtEvolution but haven't gone away completely.

** The 18th-century wigs and gowns worn by British judges and barristers, versions of which are standard across the Commonwealth of Nations and other English-speaking countries.

* Captain Peacock of ''Series/AreYouBeingServed'' is always seen wearing [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stroller_(style) semi-formal morning dress]], which had long been abandoned by all but the staunchest businessmen, even in the 1980s. This goes hand in hand with the character, who is [[BritishStuffiness fastidious, pompous and stuffy]].

* In ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII'', when Marty returns to the 1880s, Doc Brown from 1955 dresses Marty in what he believes to be appropriate period themed garb. Marty protests the loudly colored faux cowboy clothing, saying "Clint Eastwood never dressed like this". When Marty gets to the past and goes into town, he is quickly mocked for his clothing and nearly gets killed by the bad guys. When 1855 Doc Brown saves him, he asks "What idiot dressed you in this? It could get you shot." Marty then says "Or hanged," then pats Doc on the back and says "You did."

[[folder:Marvel Comics]]

* While not as pronounced as others here, ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'s owner Jon has [[SeventiesHair hair]], a collar shirt and shoes that firmly put his creation in the seventies.

** In 1994 the UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague brought back old designs for all its teams to celebrate the league's 75th anniversary, and they've appeared on and off ever since. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AFCW-Uniform-SD.PNG Some]] were attractive enough that they were retained on a semi-permanent basis. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:NFCN-75th-Uniform-PHI.PNG Some]]...[[WTHCostumingDepartment not so much]].

* ''Franchise/ArchieComics'': Jughead's hat [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whoopee_cap was actually in style]] for HighSchool boys in the late Thirties/early 1940s. In TheNineties Jughead got a backwards baseball cap. Fortunately the PowersThatBe decided to change his hat back, given that he was named after it. The [[ComicBook/ArchieComics2015 more modern-looking reboot]] keeps the hat, however the show ''Series/{{Riverdale}}'' replaces it with a similar looking beanie.

* Most of the girls in ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' usually wear typically [[TheFifties 1950s]]-style dresses. (Lucy and Sally eventually started sporting slacks, but kept their coiffed '50s hairdos.)

* It's been mentioned more than once that Nephandus of the Literature/WhateleyUniverse dresses like it's the 80's. The 1880's.

* It's come full circle with ComicBook/{{Superboy}}. His leather-jacket, colorful outfit, piercings and surfer cut suggest a completely different personality than the one he was originally going for. He has updated his look a couple of times since then and is now a T-shirt and jeans kind of guy.

* Johnny Thunder of the ComicBook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica sported a green business suit and bowtie that would have been in fashion when the character was created in the 1940s, but he kept wearing it for decades afterwards. The narration in one story in the 1980s {{lampshade}}s this by mentioning that his fashion sense went into a permanent stall sometimes in the 1950s.

* ''Franchise/ArchieComics'': Jughead's hat [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whoopee_cap was actually in style]] for HighSchool boys in the late Thirties/early 1940s. In TheNineties Jughead got a backwards baseball cap. Fortunately PowersThatBe decided to change his hat back, given that he was named after it. The [[ComicBook/ArchieComics2015 more modern-looking reboot]] keeps the hat, however the show ''Series/{{Riverdale}}'' replaces it with a similar looking beanie.

** While Captain Haddock's jacket, turtleneck and naval cap are pretty much timeless and Tintin's plus fours were something people actually wore at the time of his first appearances (less so after World War II, though), Professor Calculus' stiff high collar was outdated from the start. Like the beards sported by many of Hergé's scientists and savants it hearkens back to the time before World War I.

* ComicBook/{{Spirou|AndFantasio}} is perhaps the ultimate incarnation of this trope: When he started the 1938 he was a bell-boy elevator operator in a chic hotel wearing the traditional red outfit. The outfit (especially the hat) has become tied with the character, even as bell boys. The thing is, bell-boys in general and elevator operators in particular no longer exist. Most readers ended up not knowing what the hell Spirou's uniform came from, but changing it became problematic because it was so intrinsically tied with the characters. Thus Spirou wore his outfit for many decades despite it being out of place. Newer authors compromised by making Spirou wear a variety of red clothes, and only keeping the uniform's hat to be used occasionally as a ContinuityNod. Many characters have even remarked on the odd hat's appearance or even outright questioned where it's from. Of course, it's lampshaded in ''ComicBook/LePetitSpirou'' where every single member of Spirou's family wears the outfit 24/7. Recent takes on the series justify the clothes in different ways: in Emile Bravo's version for example, Spirou is a bell-boy operator but the reason he wears the outfit all the time is that he's too poor to buy new clothes. Meanwhile, Fantasio's fondness for bow-ties remains unexplained throughout the series.
* In ''ComicBook/TheBeano'', the artists occasionally tried to 'update' the characters clothes. It usually didn't take (as with ''The Bash Street Kids'' and, to some extent, ''[[ComicStrip/DennisTheMenaceUK Dennis the Menace]]''), but subtler changes did (as with ''Roger The Dodger'' getting long trousers).

* In-universe this occurs in the film ''Film/TheTollOfTheSea''. Lotus Flower is a young woman living in China during the early 1920s. When she presumes her American husband will take her home with him, she tries to dress her most fashionable. Alas, she uses her ''grandmothers'' old fashion book for advice. She looks gorgeous however still painfully out-of-date by several decades.

* Main character from ''Literature/HardToBeAGod'' (written in 1963) wears nylon underwear. [[{{Zeerust}} In the 22nd century.]]

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': The Doctor. This is forgivable, though, since if his outfit isn't fashionable in one episode (or era), it may be in style in the next one.

* Just... when does ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'' take place anyways? Just look at Miles! The game takes place TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture and he's wearing a ruffled cravat as if it was the victorian era, although this seems to be something common to the Von Karma family he's from, and [[FirstPersonSnarker Phoenix has made snide comments to himself about his ruffles]].

* ''Film/TheWire'': After spending the last 14 years in prison, Cutty shows up to an interview in a double-breasted sports coat, obviously having not updated his wardrobe since he got out.

* Lampooned in the rap song "Parents Just Don't Understand" by [=DJ=] Jazzy Jeff and [[Creator/WillSmith The Fresh Prince]] ... the main protagonist claims his new clothes (which his mother bought for him) are hopelessly outdated and uncool, referring to 1963 and ''Series/TheBradyBunch'' as examples of what influenced the styles he'll be made to wear ... this in contrast to the (unstated) hip-hop and grunge styles he wants to wear to school. The idea, of course, is that the school has a dress code and that he is going to school to get an education, and despite this he wants to wear clothing that is inappropriate for any educational setting.

* Think you'll be immune to this if you wear a nice, conservative suit? Nice try. The cut of the jacket, the width of the lapels, and the height of the gorge (the point where the collar and lapels come together) all change drastically over the decades, and it's immediately obvious in a crowd when your suit is not the same as the ones currently in fashion. That said, you could probably get away with a [[AwesomeAnachronisticApparel double-breasted '30s suit with a pleated back]] in a way that you couldn't with a hilariously exaggerated '70s number with a wide tie, or an '80s Power Suit. Just hope that you're at the age where you buy most of your business apparel when things are at a happy equilibrium (actually, from a historical perspective, now's a pretty good time to buy lasting suits--everything from the preferred cut of lapels to the width of ties is best described as "middling", and the only really distinctive thing, a preference for simpler two-button suits, is of a piece with a general historic trend towards less complication in menswear). If not, you will look dated for the rest of your adult life.
* Likewise, neckties. Historically, they have varied in width from 1 inch up to 6 inches, according to the whims of fashion. The pendulum has just swung to the point where all those narrow ties from TheSixties and TheEighties are back in fashion, but it's impossible to get away with an ultra-wide tie from TheSeventies in any age. A fairly classic middle-ground lies between 3 and 3-and-a-half inches, but keep in mind that ties have also increased in ''length'' over the past 50 years: they started out at no more than 48 inches or so, but with the near-death of the vest and the ever-lowering trouser waistband, modern ties have lengthened to between 56 and 58 inches, which is much too long for pants worn at the natural waist. Meanwhile, vintage ties are far too ''short'' to be worn with modern, low-waisted trousers. (Creator/SeanConnery's Film/JamesBond probably wore his ties around 52 inches long, which was a typical length towards the end of TheSixties.)
* High-waistedness is coming back for men and women, at least in America, and vests have just become extremely popular, possibly because of ''Series/MadMen.''

* Nurse wearing white uniform with cap. In the United States, this started to be phased out in the 1980's, with specialty units (OR, ICU, Maternal-Child) having color-coded scrubs to make them easily recognizable. Other units started following suit. Now, all nurses wear scrubs, in the hospital and other care settings. However, most nursing schools still have "capping ceremonies" before graduation, because every school has its own unique style of cap.
* Sometimes, clothes that were merely the norm on the street in one age become some profession's uniform. One example would be the habits worn by many orders of nuns -- basically the clothes of a respectable Renaissance-era widow. Another is the 18th-century wigs and gowns worn by British judges and barristers, versions of which are standard across the Commonwealth of Nations, albeit stripped down to varying degrees; also, the non-Commonwealth English-speaking countries of Ireland and the U.S. also use variants (the U.S. version is stripped to just the robe, tossed over standard business attire,[[note]]Usually. American judges caught off-guard (typically, when they had no matters scheduled and expected to get work done in chambers, then had to be called in on an emergency basis) have been known to preside with jeans and a T-shirt or sweatshirt under the robe. Contrariwise, the Maryland Court of Appeals (the highest court in that state) wears red robes with clerical bands--one of the few states to retain more than the basic black robes.[[/note]] while Ireland retains the full 18th-century kit).

* ''Franchise/ArchieComics'': Jughead's hat [[http://learning2share.blogspot.com/2009/04/search-term-jugheads-hat.html was actually in style]] for HighSchool boys in the late Thirties/early 1940s. In TheNineties Jughead got a backwards baseball cap. Fortunately PowersThatBe decided to change his hat back, given that [[http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2008/12/18/comic-book-legends-revealed-186/ he was named after it]]. The [[ComicBook/ArchieComics2015 more modern-looking reboot]] keeps the hat, however the show ''Series/{{Riverdale}}'' replaces it with a similar looking beanie.

* Lampshaded in ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'': The titular brothers (and even their father) dress in a mostly 60s pulp fashion. Same goes for Dr Orpheus (who dresses like Franchise/{{Dracula}}, for lack of a better term). All of them have had their outdated duds remarked upon by people who avoid the trope. Dean and Hank have both remarked that their fathers ''forces'' them to wear those painfully out of date clothes. They'd much rather wear something more.... normal.
* In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', the Northern Water Tribe breaks out old Fire Nation uniforms for the purposes of troops sneaking up on the enemy commander ([[BloodKnight Zhao]]) and assassinating him. It's left to Sokka to point out that those uniforms are so old and out of date that they will never fool the enemy.

* ''Franchise/ArchieComics'': Jughead's hat [[http://learning2share.blogspot.com/2009/04/search-term-jugheads-hat.html was actually in style]] for HighSchool boys in the late Thirties/early 1940s. In TheNineties Jughead got a backwards baseball cap. Fortunately PowersThatBe decided to change his hat back, given that [[http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2008/12/18/comic-book-legends-revealed-186/ he was named after it]].

* In-universe this occurs in the film ''Film/TheTollOfTheSea''. Lotus Flower is a young woman living in China during the late 1910s. When she presumes her American husband will take her home with him, she tries to dress her most fashionable. Alas she uses her ''grandmothers'' old fashion book for advice. She looks gorgeous however still painfully out-of-date by several decades.

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' [[DownplayedTrope downplays this]] with Caboose. While everyone else has upgraded to Halo 3 armor and weaponry, Caboose still has the defaults from Halo 1. Anyone not familiar with Halo would just think he has a custom helmet.
** Caboose's antiquated and more primitive choice of gear actually becomes a ''plot point'' later on in the storyline.

** Pretty much everyone's outfit really! Daphne and Velma look incredibly dated when not wearing more modern duds. The only one that could be said to have avoided it is Shaggy, and he's only avoided it out of luck -- pants and a t-shirt just refuse to go out of style.
** Although Shaggy's pants were originally (that is, in the 1969 series) drawn bell-bottomed, so not even he is entirely safe. In the 1980s stories with [[TheScrappy Scrappy]], the bell-bottomed ends were gone, inexplicably gaining a red shirt in the process.

* [[DiscoDan Disco Stu]] and his leisure suit on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''.

* Parodied in Music/FlightOfTheConchords. Jemaine and Bret have updated their look, with gelled hair and 80's synthpop-like clothing, which leads to this exchange;

-->'''Jermaine''': They're not from the 70's, they're from New Zealand.

* Sometimes, clothes that were merely the norm on the street in one age become some profession's uniform. One example would be the habits worn by many orders of nuns -- basically the clothes of a respectable Renaissance-era widow. Another is the 18th-century wigs and gowns worn by British judges and barristers, versions of which are standard across the Commonwealth of Nations, albeit stripped down to varying degrees; also, the non-Commonwealth English-speaking countries of Ireland and the U.S. also use variants (the U.S. version is stripped to just the robe, tossed over standard business attire,[[note]]Usually. American judges caught off-guard have been known to preside with jeans and a T-shirt or sweatshirt under the robe. Contrariwise, the Maryland Court of Appeals (the highest court in that state) wears red robes with clerical collars--one of the few states to retain more than the basic black robes.[[/note]] while Ireland retains the full 18th-century kit).

* Sometimes, clothes that were merely the norm on the street in one age become some profession's uniform. One example would be the habits worn by many orders of nuns -- basically the clothes of a respectable Renaissance-era widow. Another is the 18th century wigs and gowns worn by British judges.

See also GrandfatherClause. Compare AwesomeAnachronisticApparel, where a character's clothes are so cool that, while they may be out of fashion, they are certainly never out of style. If a character has one oddly anachronistic detail on an otherwise unremarkable outfit, that's BowtiesAreCool.

* Dum Dum Dugan's trademark derby hat was already old-fashioned for his social class and nationality during WorldWarII.
* Thanks to ComicBookTime, ComicBook/{{Gambit}}'s costume, with the wrap-around headpiece and leather jacket over actual body armor look, is now becoming a very dated 90s look. It doesn't help that almost all of the other Comicbook/{{X-Men}} have gotten a costume upgrade over the years except for him.