Saturday, March 21, 2009

Fashion Backward?




When did it happen? I've never been somebody who follows fashion religiously, though Project Runway did reform me to some extent. I like what I wear, but I don't pore over magazines to double-check my trendiness, hip factor, or label compliance. So I was a little taken back when, on a sunny morning at the supermarket, a parade of teens wandered through the cross-walk and took me back 25 years.

Woah. Were those... um... peg leg jeans? Uh... was that a pair of um... Chuck
Taylors?

Holy craptastick flashbacks, Batman... it was!



I'm not really clear about when it happened but the fashions of the 80s have made a huge come-back. Now, let me be clear... not all fashions of the 80s should be going anywhere. They belong in the vault with Don Johnson's career. Seriously.

But there were some fun things, too. Like the peg leg jeans with moccasin boots, and Chuck Taylor sneakers with anything from blazers to grungy band t-shirts. And there was less of a focus on labels and more on the look, which was a great equalizer in my home town. Preppy existed but not that many people wore it. Flash was around, but not that many people were doing the crazt hair colors and cuts yet.

Present company excluded, I'm afraid. I had a super short cut with a tail in shocking maroon glow. Honest. Had hair to my butt one day and shaved it out the next, tinting it with beet juice. I smelled like a salad and looked like an idiot.


Hey, it could have been worse. It could have been...

LEG WARMERS!

Yeah, we did those, too. Flashdance and all that. What a feeling. We tore our sweatshirts, wore leggings with flat slippers, put glitter on virtually everything, and felt daring.

Hey, we were young. We belonged to the night. We belonged to the darkness.

Wait... wrong pop reference. Never mind.

7 comments:

  1. oh dude. do you have any idea how much i love legwarmers? ROFL I looooove them. :D

    it is totally hilarious to see 80's fashion come back in--but with its own 2000's twist. i'm digging it.

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  2. I like that it's hard to nail which income bracket is which, you know?

    Just when I finally got rid of my last pair of peg leg jeans, they came back.

    CURSES!!

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  3. I will never get over the 80s. Never ever. Nor will I stop laughing at "smelled like a salad and looked like an idiot" for a very long time.

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  4. One nice thing in the 80s was that a girl could shop at a thrift store and come out looking totally fashionable. I love thrift stores!

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  5. Part of me wishes leg warmers would come back. I still (not so) secretly love them.

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  6. Leg warmers now that takes me back.

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  7. Anonymous1:15 PM

    I love legwarmers. I not-so-secretly wear them to ballet class, and secretly wear them in the winter with whatever I'm wearing that day.

    How do I secretly wear them? Under my pants. I'm not kidding. I did that nearly almost every day this winter and it was nice and toasty warm.

    I also rather publicly wore them on days when I was wearing a skirt while I was walking to work. I figure you get a pass for the stretch from the house to the office. If you're allowed to wear sneakers with a suit or skirt while walking to work, then why not legwarmers over a pair of tights? It's not like I continued to wear them once I got into the office.

    Well, not that anyone would see, at least. If I'm in my office with the door shut and nobody sees, then it's OK. I remove them as soon as I have to face people.

    Same with slippers. With my office door shut, I figure anything goes.

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