Fashion and JavaScript: The Never-Ending Cycle of Trends
A playful look at the surprising similarities between fashion and JavaScript trends.
Fashion is funny. One day, you’re rocking bell-bottoms like a '70s rockstar, and the next, they’re considered cringe—only to reappear on fashion runways decades later. Jeans, in particular, have seen it all: flared, skinny, distressed, wide-leg. If you wait long enough, everything old becomes new again.
And guess what? The same thing happens in JavaScript development. JS frameworks, libraries, and methodologies follow a strikingly similar pattern of rise, fall, and reinvention.
The Ever-Spinning Wheel of Trends
Take a moment to appreciate how jeans have evolved:
1970s: Bell-bottoms. The peak of disco fashion.
1990s: Wide-leg and baggy. Hip-hop’s golden age made sure of that.
2000s: Skinny jeans. The go-to for rock bands and indie kids.
2020s: Flared and straight-leg are back. Because of course they are.
Now, compare that to the JavaScript world:
Early 2000s: Vanilla JS and jQuery ruled. Simplicity was key.
2010s: The golden age of frameworks—Angular, React, Vue—ushering in component-based UIs.
Late 2010s: Micro-frameworks like Svelte and Alpine.js made us rethink complexity.
2020s: Server-side rendering (SSR) and static site generation (SSG) return in a big way with Next.js and Astro.
Why Do Trends Keep Coming Back?
So why do we keep recycling old ideas? Here’s why:
Nostalgia meets Innovation – Old-school styles return with fresh updates. Whether it’s vintage Levi’s or SSR with modern tooling, reinvention is the name of the game.
Functionality vs. Aesthetics – Some jeans are comfy, some are stylish. Some JS solutions are lightweight, others are feature-packed. We’re always balancing the two.
Hype Cycles Rule Everything – Celebrities dictate fashion. Tech influencers and open-source communities steer JavaScript trends. It’s all about who’s hyping what.
Technology (or Fabric) Matters – Better materials lead to stretchier denim. Improved browsers and computing power make old dev techniques viable again.
The Takeaway
The big lesson? Trends always cycle back—whether you’re picking your next pair of jeans or deciding on a JavaScript stack. Instead of chasing the hype, ask yourself: does this actually add value, or is it just another remix of an old idea?
One thing’s for sure: if you hold onto those old jeans (or that jQuery knowledge), you just might be ahead of the curve.