Fashion Comebacks - Fashion May Repeat Itself But Not Every Trend Is Timeless

It's true that today in fashion anything goes. After over a century of modern clothing, we are reaching back through the decades to put together our trendiest looks. You can borrow from the 80's, go vintage, and revive the grunge movement in a single, stylish outfit. While there are some trends that become timeless, there are those that come and go on a 20-30 year cycle through the fashion continuum. We decided to examine a few of these trends and categorized them into Great Comebacks, Surprise Comebacks, and Please Don't Comeback.
Great Comebacks are those apparel items that you may have kept in the back of your closet waiting for the day that they can once again move to the front. In some cases, they may be in your mom's or even grandma's closet. Looking around, we are super excited to see the return of:

• The bell bottom jean - The 70's are clearly back. From men with moustaches to bell bottom pants... well, at least the bell bottoms are a fun shape to wear.
• The jumpsuit - The one-piece for grown women is sexy and stylish once again. It seems to have promise for some staying power having been revamped with shapes that range from tight full-body cat suits to loose-fitting rompers.
• Colorful denim - In the early 90's my sisters and I had a collection of jeans of many colors. My favorite pair was red. Denim in any color and cool prints of all kinds are back with a vengeance.

Surprise Comebacks are those trends that make you laugh when you think back upon them and make you cringe when you are shocked to see them revisited. You might have a few Polaroids hidden away from decades past that picture you in a most embarrassing ensemble... but you may have to reconsider:

• The Peplum skirt - Back in elementary school, I remember wearing my super fancy green dress with floral print ruffle Basque waistline. I loved it then, but am not so sure it's something to revisit.
• Shoulder pad extremes - To see the front rows of fashion week crowded with shoulder pads suitable for a linebacker was somewhat unexpected. Blouses and blazers ala Milli Vanilli... who woulda thought?
• The prairie dress - Another shocker. When did Laura Ingals Wilder become trendy again? A bit shapeless, a lot homely, and very Reality Bites.

Please Don't Comeback are dark spots in the otherwise bright and brilliant history of fashion. These trends are more than laughable and even sometimes appalling. Let's hope that we don't see the likes of these in the near future:

• Pleated jeans - Why did this ever happen?
• The thong display - The men may miss it, but aren't we ladies happy to see the shift in pantylines? Remember Halle Berry in that little number with the thong "peaking" above the skirt? Ooops!
• The skort - It's bound to come back. As we've learned, history has a way of repeating itself, but the skort is an abomination. Let's leave that one to infants and toddlers for a while longer.

Tonight, I'm going out with my sisters for a drink at the hottest happy hour spot in the city. We are toasting to fashion history, so I think I'm going to wear my new red jeans circa early 90's.