There are absolutes in fashion. For instance, flare-legged trousers are absolutely more flattering to the vast majority of people than straight-legged trousers, since they make the feet look smaller and the hips slimmer.

And the voguish look for gals in the mid50s was absolutely awful, since it requiredthat they wear their skirts too long and their hair not only too short, but also unbecomingly permed. Men got theirs in the early 60s, when fashion dictated hideous wingtipped shoes, ugly glasses, and hair so short as to suggest that we were ashamed to have any.