I don't see why spandex is fashion. I don't wear it because I look good in it (I think it looks dumb, and I'm old enough to start to have a belly), I wear it because it's hot in Texas and it is the least amount of clothes I can wear and still feel like I have enough clothes on.
disc brakes are not fashion, man. I hemmed and hawed about them a few years ago, and now I'm never going back. Rim brakes come nowhere near the control and stopping power, which I am indescribably grateful for as I'm rocketing down my local rockbed trails.
Now, bar ends and disc brakes, that's fashion. :D