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'Father of the Bride' photo goes viral, sparks debate about how culture presented 40-year-olds in the 90s

Twitter discusses a photo of Steve Martin and Diane Keaton from the film 'Father of the Bride Part II' and how differently 40-year-olds used to dress.

A photo of Steve Martin and Diane Keaton from the film "Father of the Bride Part II" surprised some social media users and sparked a conversation about how 40-year-olds presented themselves in the 1990s.

The "Father of the Bride" films, starring Martin and Keaton as George and Nina Banks, is a romantic comedy about a couple coming to terms with their daughter Annie's marriage and, later, preparing to be grandparents. The series also starred Martin Short, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Kieran Culkin, and George Newbern.

Writer/director Jessica Ellis shared a screenshot of Martin and Keaton sitting on a couch in the movie sequel on Twitter with the caption, "An unbelievable thing that has changed in 30 years is that in 1995, this was supposed to be what 45 year-olds looked like."

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My how times - and outfits - have changed, Twitter users agreed. The style of 40-year-olds today, they argued, rarely includes cardigans and pearls. Some argued that culture intentionally portrayed 40-year-olds as much older on both film and television, while others said dressing older was simply the style in the 90s.

Warning: Some tweets include graphic language

"What if I told you our skinny jeans, Converse, and awesome t-shirt collections will be the new Old People wardrobe?" one user wrote.

"Kim Kardashian is 42," another pointed out. 

"Fashion in the 90s was all about looking old," one social media user mused. "I do not know why but I dressed a lot ‘old’er in my 20s than I do now in my 50s.

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"Yeah women could look their age then…" one user, Nicky Clark, tweeted.

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"There's definitely something super weird about how tv and movies portrayed anyone older than 25 in the 90s which has absolutely f---ed with my ability to gauge what certain ages typically look/feel/behave like," Sirena Bergman, digital culture editor at Insider, wrote.

"MILLENIALS HAVE RUINED AGING!!!!" Twitter user Joe Sniderman concluded.

While several noted that Martin has long had white hair, even before his "Father of the Bride" days, Ellis insisted she was commenting on the movie couple's style.

Some spotlighted other films and TV shows in which the characters' age and appearance didn't seem to jive with today's standards. The ladies who starred in "The Golden Girls," for instance, were supposed to be in their 50s, yet appeared to dress much older. 

Martin, Short and Culkin recently reunited to participate in a "Father of the Bride" skit for "Saturday Night Live."

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