The 1890s were referred to as "the gay 90s" (gay as in lighthearted and fun) for quite some time after they were over, and there's an anthology of short stories by L.M Montgomery (of Anne of Green Gables fame) which contains one story written or set in the 1910s or 1920s where one character tells a story about a ghost "that always appears dressed in the costume of the seventies" and another character says "Fancy a ghost in a crinoline." Obviously this refers to the 1870s, so it seems that it wasn't unknown for decades to be referred to like this at least 100 years or so ago.