Since 1992, as the technological miracles and wonders have propagated and the political economy has transformed, the world has become radically and profoundly new. ... Here is what’s odd: during these same 20 years, the appearance of the world (computers, TVs, telephones, and music players aside) has changed hardly at all, less than it did during any 20-year period for at least a century. The past is a foreign country, but the recent past—the 00s, the 90s, even a lot of the 80s—looks almost identical to the present.

He believes gay culture helped democratize style so that it is now affordable to most. Alan Jacobs spotlights a big oversight of the piece: