Dedicated Follower of (Fencing) Fashion

I was giving a lesson on reconnaissance the other night and it dawned on me how some fencing moves come into (and go out of) fashion. For instance, a classic reconnoitre is to engage in sixte and execute a disengagement on the opponent's pressure. A perfectly reasonable response but the final hit could just as easily be made by coupe or cut-over. However, how many times do you see a cut-over these days? Or an engagement of quarte followed by a froissement? It seems these and other techniques are now out of fashion but it's initially difficult to say why. I can understand why some things came into fashion, like the flick hit for instance, which became popular due to the mechanics of the pistol grip. This technique was then endangered officially when the foil timings were changed (a rare occurrence of a technique being outlawed through technology) and has now dwindled away again thankfully. However, it's harder to understand why some things fade away.
I suppose a circular movement is now stronger if made with a pistol grip, as the wrist comes into play more and things like the beat are obviously stronger if made with a pistol grip. Techniques that rely more on the fingers have become rarer, however this is not a reason to stop doing them; in fact it makes more sense to actually do them more! If your opponent has no familiarity with a technique such as a cut-over, froissement, envelopment or passata soto etc then they will not know how to deal with them, giving you a greater chance of success. So perhaps it's time to dust off some of these old techniques and see what happens......