03/20/26

Why does fashion repeat in 20 year cycles? Math has the answer

Image showing different fashions trends for women through the decades.
Credit: Emma Zajdela/Daniel Abrams

Bucket hats. Low-rise jeans. Track suits. As you might’ve noticed, Y2K fashion is in right now. People say that fashion moves in 20-year cycles, and it turns out…it does! At least according to math.

Host Flora Lichtman sits down with mathematician Emma Zajdela to figure out how she analyzed over 35,000 images of women’s clothing dating all the way back to the 1860s to confirm this theory.


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Segment Guests

Emma Zajdela

Emma Zajdela is a Franco-American mathematician and science diplomacy activist.

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About Flora Lichtman

Flora Lichtman is a host of Science Friday. In a previous life, she lived on a research ship where apertivi were served on the top deck, hoisted there via pulley by the ship’s chef.

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Dee Peterschmidt is Science Friday’s audio production manager, hosted the podcast Universe of Art, and composes music for Science Friday’s podcasts. Their D&D character is a clumsy bard named Chip Chap Chopman.

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