A popular 1990s film has sparked a discussion about how Hollywood portrayed people in their 40s in the late 20th century versus today.
Filmmaker Jessica Ellis started the conversation when she tweeted a poster for “Father of the Bride 2,” featuring stars Steve Martin and Diane Keaton in their classic mom and dad get-ups.
In the follow up to 1991’s “Father of the Bride,” the A-listers reprised their roles as mid-40 somethings, George and Nina Banks, whose married daughter Annie (played by Kimberly Williams-Paisley) is expecting her first child.
Keaton’s character is dressed demurely in a string of pearls, a modest white blouse and a skirt. Martin is wearing the 1990s casual businessman uniform: a sports jacket, blue shirt and loud tie.
“An unbelievable thing that has changed in 30 years is that in 1995, this was supposed to be what 45-year-olds looked like,” Ellis wrote, clarifying that she was referring to the movie characters — not the actors themselves.
Twitter users, many of then Gen Xers and Millennials old enough to remember the on-screen couple’s look as the status quo, responded with a flurry of thoughts about how people in their mid-40s now dress far more youthfully than Baby Boomers — boldfaced and otherwise — did at that age.
“What if I told you skinny jeans, Converse, and awesome t-shirt collections will be the new Old People wardrobe?” one tweeter quipped.
“My parents gave me an actual strand of pearls in high school because I guess they thought I would dress this way someday,” said another.
One person joked that a 40-something would be styled with a Peloton nowadays.
Others noted that Kim Kardashian — perennially clad in skimpy Lycra — is 42-years-old, a mere three years younger than the buttoned up Mr. and Mrs. Banks.
For comparison, “X-Men: Dark Phoenix” co-stars Jessica Chastain and Michael Fassbender are both 45.
Many acknowledged that times and styles have progressed, and that attitudes towards aging have changed significantly since the 1990s, when the local Hallmark store, or mall staple Spencer’s, had entire “Over The Hill” sections for 40th birthday cards and gag gifts.
One youngster — presumably in a neon crop top and booty shorts — tweeted: “If I wear that much beige at 45, just put me in the grave.”