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.
