Everything old is new again

I work with some of the youth in my church on Sunday nights as part of our arts ministry. It’s an interesting experience, to say the least.

But last night, when one of the guys walked in wearing jeans, white shoes with black laces, a black, vaguely retro T-shirt, and—wait for it!—a snowy white blazer, I had to stifle a laugh.

Thoughts of Don Johnson and shoes without socks and Miami Vice sprang to my mind.

It was harder not to snicker when the group leader, a guy who’s a few years older than me, asked the guy if he’d ever heard of Don Johnson.

Of course, he had no idea what we were talking about, seeing that his only experience with Miami Vice comes from that movie from a few years ago, but for us “adults,” the whole thing was funny.

See, when I was a teenager, I remember wanting to find that something new and different that no one else knew about. For me and my brother, that included searching through my parents’ record collection and “discovering” Don Mclean’s “American Pie.” We recorded it onto a cassette and wore it out with our Walkmen. (Yep, I said Walkmen.)

It cracks me up sometimes that the way we often try to different from today’s culture is by grabbing on to something from the past, whether we realize it or not.

Think about it:

Lady Gaga is really just a 2011 version of the early 80s Madonna.

Those of us born in the late 70s/early 80s have lived long enough to see legwarmers and leggings become fashionable. Again.

White/fabric belts? Yep, third grade. And today’s teens are wearing them again.

High waisted jeans had gone, I thought, completely away. Yet they’re back now. And they also come in short form!

This weekend, one of my elementary school age cheerleaders had a scrunchy in her hair.

So what trends do you see coming back that make you laugh out loud? Or which ones would you rather stay in the past?