5 Miserable Times in History That Actually Helped Style

History repeats itself, and next season, as we’re sure you’re aware, could require you to dress for disaster.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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History is a cruel mistress: It can be good, it can be bad, and when it is bad, it wants to look very good. That is to say, even some of the world’s most troubling times have had their sartorial appeal, from the transformative lace of Mary Stuart’s sectarianism to the potent calico and pussy-bows of Thatcherism. As one of the most tortuous and depressing election cycles in modern history mercifully comes to a close, a silver lining potentially presents itself in the advent of a new, ground-breaking era in fashion. Take notes: History repeats itself, and next season, as we’re sure you’re aware, could require you to dress for disaster.

Thatcher-era England

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Prohibition

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England with Mary, Queen of Scots, on the Throne

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France During Marie Antoinette's Reign

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Late 19th Century New York City

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