"Fashion followers know that trends tend to reappear on a 20-year cycle, and a new analysis of more than 150 years' worth of women's clothing shows that this cycle isn't just anecdotal: trends in the hemlines, necklines, and waistlines of dresses really do become cool again approximately 20 years after their last turn in the spotlight."
"The mathematical model that we're using is pretty simple, conceptually. It's based on this idea from psychology called optimal distinctiveness. Optimal distinctiveness essentially says that people want to belong to a group and [seek individual distinction within that group]."
"Using these resources, researchers were able to build a comprehensive fashion database, with more than 35,000 images of women's clothes. Zajdela and her team analyzed key features of women's dresses through time. Looking along the vertical axis from head to toe, the researchers charted how hems rose and fell in periodic curves over time."
Research analyzing over 150 years of women's clothing data confirms that fashion operates on a predictable 20-year cycle. Researchers at Princeton University examined more than 35,000 images from the Commercial Pattern Archive, which contains dress patterns dating to the 1840s and runway photos. By tracking changes in hemlines, necklines, and waistlines, scientists developed a mathematical model based on the psychological principle of optimal distinctiveness. This principle suggests people desire both group belonging and individual distinction. The analysis validates long-held industry beliefs about cyclical fashion trends, demonstrating that the resurgence of low-rise jeans, baby tees, and velour tracksuits follows predictable mathematical patterns rather than random occurrence.
Read at www.scientificamerican.com
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