by A. Sc.

Created on: November 10, 2008   Last Updated: February 23, 2009

Think of any photograph you've ever seen where a man is dressed in one of those powder-blue, polyester, bell-bottom, 1970's tuxedos. This is what is known as a fashion victim. Fashion victims are people who dress only for the latest trend. They pay no attention to what looks good or bad on their particular frame and simply follow whatever is considered the hottest style.

While it's easy to criticize, almost everyone goes through a fashion victim phase at some point in their life. Regardless if it was wearing neon orange parachute pants, skull-studded headbands, or pre-ripped jeans, we're all guilty. As much as everyone loves to be the critic, let us all remember that there is probably at least one photograph somewhere in the world where we look like a complete dork.

What makes fashion victims truly stand out from just poorly dressed people is the obvious mismatch. When someone ignores basic styles that suit their body and frame, garments tend to look awkward and ill-fitted. Match that with an ugly trend and POOF, you have a fashion victim.

The biggest key to avoid becoming a fashion victim is to steer clear of extremes. Extreme styles, extreme trends, extreme hair and so on. Trends come and go, but good taste never goes out of style. So learn from the historic disasters in the fashion world and consider what you'll think of your current outfit ten years from now.

The worst style offenders may be transformed or reinvented in a new trend, but they will never come back fully as they were. For example, in the 1980's everyone in the world wore massive shoulder pads. Men, women, and children walked around looking like football players. While shoulder pads are still used in some styles, they've become much smaller and are absent in most garments.

Every decade has had its hits and misses in the fashion world. Most of the time things balance out to as much good design as bad. This is true for every decade except the 1970's, when drugs had driven everyone mad and style was thrown over a cliff.

*Fashion Victim Styles in History*

1930 - Men's Zoot suits are all the rage. The pants, literally, go up to the armpits and are extremely baggy. The coats are huge with massive shoulder pads. The coat is so long that special, extra, long watch chains are created to wear with the oversized style.

1940 - Women all suddenly go to work in factories and decide their hair looks good in the rigid, helmet style. Hair is fixed, tight, and always seems to be rolled at the sides.

1950 - Men's pants take a hike and high-water pant suits swim into the streets. All men look like they're wearing a child's suit that they grew out of overnight. Bikinis with high waists are somehow made to look even uglier than before and men's swimming trunks look like very short formal pants.

1960 - The hippies cover almost everything in tie-dye. Conservatives fight back by covering everything else in plaid.

1970 - Too terrible to make others reflect upon.

1980 - Huge top, massive shoulders, neon colors and tiny, stretch pants. A terrible combination from the start, but then those styles spread into everything. Clothes were pre-torn and very scary men wore very scary, crotchless pants.

1990 - Everyone goes through a laundry soap and belt shortage. Pants hang very, very, very low and clothing tends to stay dirty. Flannel shirts and hiking boots fly off the shelves.

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