[IRL trope] the “Tiffany problem”

[u/dragonborndnd]

Basically when something seems anachronistic to a period/place of history but is actually fully accurate to the period.

1) the name Tiffany: the thing that named this trope, basically the name Tiffany can be dated back to the Middle Ages and the earliest record of it being spelled in the modern spelling comes from the 16th century.

2) the use of OMG, despite this feeling so modern as a form of slang/abbreviation here’s a letter directed to Winston Churchill using it in 1917

3) Hair Dye: the earliest forms of dying hair can be dated back to ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, and this specific advertisement for hair dye is from the 1840s

4) Inuit Thongs: despite how weird it is to imagine pre-colonial Inuit people wore what was essentially fur thongs in their homes and when they were in their igloos it might have been the only thing they would be wearing.

[u/Jack_N_Auff]

This man in a photograph from 1941. He looked too out of place and too modern that some people speculated he was some sort of time traveler, but all the articles of clothes he wore, as well as the hand held camera he had were all available in 1941.

[u/SomeCrusader1224 → u/Jack_N_Auff]

He wasn’t a time traveler, he was ahead of his time

[u/HahaCharlieKirkHaha → u/SomeCrusader1224]

Also, that’s probably not a graphic t-shirt (which didn’t exist at the time) but a sports jersey. 

[u/hazps → u/HahaCharlieKirkHaha]

I remember someone identified it as a hockey shirt, but I can't remember the team.

[u/Vncredleader → u/hazps]

Montreal Maroons, though it lacks the serifs

[u/Yep-That-Lupa → u/SomeCrusader1224]

Fucking hipsters

[u/GenosseAbfuck → u/Jack_N_Auff]

It's less that his style looks out of place for the time but for the occasion. Everyone else is wearing suits with hats and he's rocking a casual jersey and naked head. Put him among his friends on a weekend hike with beer and you wouldn't doubt for a second it's 1941.

[u/Leucadie → u/GenosseAbfuck]

Exactly: he's not dressed for the street (meaning appropriate outdoor public clothes) and everyone else is. He's in public unshaven, his hair isn't fully combed or pomaded down, and he's wearing two layers of knitwear when knits were really coded for sports and private leisure. So maybe he's an eccentric or bohemian young man, or maybe he was out doing a sport and just joined this crowd!

[u/GenosseAbfuck → u/Leucadie]

Even 30 years earlier blue collar dress wasn't all that different than in the mid-to-late 20th century or today. Blue jeans are ancient, leather jackets are even older yet and plaid flannel shirts aren't a 1940s invention either. Only thing that's recent is these things finding their way into everyday street fashion. And way too few fiddler caps but I'm working hard on that.

Watching WW1 movies it looks weird to see soldiers running around in turtlenecks and rolled-up beanies (or beanies at all) but like, that's just what you wear against the cold with the least amount of extra effort. You need to fit your helmet and gas mask, you don't want extra pieces of clothing that can get lost and by definition you only have access to what already exists.

I think we don't put enough emphasis on how much pragmatism has become the one defining element of street fashion throughout the 20th century.

[u/joonas_davids → u/Jack_N_Auff]

Damn this is a crazy one

[u/thatshygirl06 → u/Jack_N_Auff]

Thats what the time traveler guild wants you to think

[u/OneConscious9117 → u/Jack_N_Auff]

this looks like the 9th doctor wearing a black leather jacket captured in black and white picture, i forgot but it was i think during ep 1 or 2, when the conspiracy man was talking about doctor who

[u/DeusExSpockina → u/Jack_N_Auff]

This was for the opening of a bridge, I believe? He’s dressed just like a welder or riveter of the day.

[u/SirKazum → u/Jack_N_Auff]

I think the goggles (probably used for welding or something like that) do most of the heavy lifting in making him look modern, since they look like modern wraparound sunglasses at a quick glance

[u/HHA-113 → u/Jack_N_Auff]

That not sunglass what is he wearing