Young Sheldon does overall a really great job at working as a prequel to show what Sheldon was like before we met him as an adult on The Big Bang Theory. The show had a great foundation to work with and manages to create a new version of Sheldon that’s instantly familiar but iconic in his own right – an important distinction to get right considering the character is clearly the breakout star of the original sitcom and the most quoted. But one thing that’s mega noticeable between Sheldon in Young Sheldon and Sheldon in The Big Bang Theory is the character’s style seems to be swapped around – when he was a kid, he dressed like an adult and the adult Sheldon we know dresses more child like. Fans of Young Sheldon on Reddit have been debating theories on why Sheldon’s style is so different between the two shows and life stages.
It was kind of addressed in series five
In season five of Young Sheldon, there’s an episode where the normally quite formally and smart dressed Sheldon starts dabbling in wearing more casual clothes with comic book references on – more in the ilk of what we’re used to him wearing as an adult. But it clearly didn’t stick, because his style was still kind of back and forth with the Young Sheldon classic smart in the next series and the final series seven.
‘As a kid, your mother buys your clothes’
Some theories on why the style changed come down to the fact that Sheldon Cooper is a child in the prequel, and Mary was just probably dressing him in the clothes that she bought – obviously, in TBBT he’s an adult who can buy his own and dress how he wants. This would add up with the college era of Young Sheldon where he dresses more casual.
Another theory is that he literally spent his childhood trying to convince everyone around him that he was mature, and his style reflects that.
This theory is actually so sad
One of the Young Sheldon fans on Reddit shared the saddest of all the theories on why his style changes so childlike, and honestly I can’t hack it. The fan writes “What if he is stuck mentally at the age he started wearing the comic book tees? He made the switch, normal for a pre-teen/teenager, shortly before going to college and his dad passing away. Two very pivotal and polarizing moments in his life, one exciting and adventurous and the other devastating and traumatizing. So maybe his subconscious was so overloaded that he literally froze at that age and his clothes are a reflection of the inner child that hasn’t grown?”
