Our Worst Fashion Memories

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Angie is co-founder of YLF and its resident fashion stylist.

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Outfits Ensembles Trends Advice

Our Worst Fashion Memories

— by Angie

on May 7, 2018

Today we’re going down memory lane, remembering our worst fashion moments. It’s all in good fun. And for me, these moments were an important part of learning about myself and evolving my personal style.

For context, I was born in 1970, which made me a ‘70s child, an ‘80s teen, and a ‘90s young adult.

I enjoyed the ‘70s and fondly remember my party dresses, corduroy culottes, and kilts when I wasn’t wearing a school uniform. I also remember wearing very scratchy wool tights with the items that were extremely uncomfortable. To this day I will not wear tights. I stick to delicate sheer hosiery and that’s that.

I loved the ‘80s, and have very fond fashion memories of the era. That said, I took the oversized look too far in my first year of University in 1988 when I combined Greg’s untucked gigantic red button-down shirt with a long red flowing skirt, white ankle socks, and tan flat oxfords. I buttoned the shirt to the top of the collar so that it wouldn’t fall off my narrow shoulders. I drowned in the look, although I tried to create structure with shoulder pads. Greg, ever tactful, said something like, “I’ve noticed you’re wearing a relaxed look lately …”

My worst fashion memories are from the ‘90s, which was my least favourite fashion era. First there was the bodysuit, which wasn’t too bad when the rises of pants were high, but became disastrous when rises lowered later in the decade. I spent the day pulling my bodysuit down and my pants and jeans up. Bending over and reaching up was a nightmare. Second was some of the footwear from that era. Ill-fitting mules and heavy platform sneakers that didn’t flex were equally bad on my feet. Third was some of the silhouettes. I wore long, shapeless midi dresses with wide necklines that were very unflattering, and stiff linen drawstring pants that were too short and looked worse than cardboard pyjamas. To top it off, I spent 1995 wearing black from head to toe, which my Mum said looked awful and didn’t suit my colouring. I refused to believe her, but she was dead right. I saw the light in 1996 and have seldom worn black from head to toe since then.

I don’t have any particularly unpleasant fashion memories since the nineties. Or perhaps I just need some more time to process the last two decades.

Your turn. What are your worst fashion memories?

Individual Style

75 comments · Add a comment

Forum conversations about this post

Sad hand-me-downs — by Jessikams

Lesley

Veteran

OH THIS IS SO GOOD. I can’t wait to read everyone’s.

First off, born in ’76, so my first fashion mistakes were my mom’s (sorry Mom). Starting with my Dorothy Hamill haircut—adorable on a super femme figure skater, but on a little girl who often wore gender-neutral outfits (as was the style in the early 80s) it was the reason for my 4-year-reign of “are you a boy or a girl?”

In high school I wore oversized tee shirts with what I thought were cool sayings on them (hey, Hard Rock Munich!), with insane-print leggings like Mickey Mouse heads and Bass boat shoes with the curly brown laces (what the hell were we doing???) and a spiral perm to match (left the bangs straight, of course!). And red lipstick.

I came into my own in college in the 90s, when I thought I was a fly girl and wore tiny tops with grossly oversized jeans—still with red lips. I straightened my now-wavy hair daily, resulting in my roommate declaring that she started every day with the smell of freshly toasted hair. I wore a ton of ice blue (see Angie’s post from a few weeks ago) and had red velvet Doc Marten boots that I insisted were super comfortable. (I can now admit that Doc Martens are neither comfy nor supportive, but I can appreciate them on cool younger people these days!)

In my first job post-college, I did what everyone else did who wanted to be taken seriously but had little money: I had versions of very practical and very boring black pants that I wore every day (when I got more creative later on, I added brown pants). I often paired them with black tops too (familiar, Angie?) because hey, black matches black, right? When I met my husband-to-be, he sometimes referred to me as Johnny Cash as a result.

It was in my early 20s that I started bringing pink into my life, after more than 20 years of thinking of pink as only fit for Barbie. It started out with accents, like a chunky stainless and pink watch and pink Pumas, but I later added some pink tops including a beloved red/pink ombre top that I would still wear today if it hadn’t worn out back then. I think I’m going to stop here because I’m realizing I’m entering the phase where dressing became really gratifying, and thus I’m veering off-topic!

May 7, 2018 at 4:16 am

jussie

Veteran

Fun article. Hmmm well I came of age in the 90’s so I remember being very very grunge oriented. I still love Doc Martens- no regrets there.
However all the flannel shirts were not a high point. I can’t wear them now because they still remind me too strongly of that era.
Another mistake was all the extremely low waisted pants. I mean… they were verging on indecent. Hmmm other than that I tend to remember my past garments fondly. Especially the docs….

May 7, 2018 at 4:16 am

April

Veteran

In the late 80s, I received a gift of a knee-length gray sweatshirt and gray thermal leggings — both hand-decorated with black puffy paint and beadazzled up the wazoo.

I thought this was fabulous and wore it a lot. (Granted, I was teaching preschool at the time and it was practical. Also made me look like one of my students.)

I hope there is no photographic evidence of these facts.

May 7, 2018 at 4:21 am

Helena

Veteran

Angie, thanks for sharing your fashion traumas! Always good to know even the pros make missteps My clothing style has always been pretty safe classic (even as a kid), so I don’t recall any real disasters clothing-wise; however, I can definitely say that piling on the brown makeup in the 90s did NOT work with my cool color-tones. And of course there was the Rachel-from-friends shag haircut (cried like a baby after that one), tweezing my eyebrows too thin, which I have to correct with eyebrow powder everyday, and of course the ultimate unfixable 90s fashion statement, my tattoo. I do love 90s fashion though; I think my biggest mistakes are from that era because they were my highschool and university – i.e. most experimental and rebellious – years.

May 7, 2018 at 4:21 am

Sterling

Miniskirts. I suspect I flashed the entire world while walking, sitting, bending, breathing. Yet, I thought I looked great. I still love a shorter skirt, but the length has to be a bit more reasonable.

May 7, 2018 at 4:28 am

Lesley

Veteran

Oh and does anyone remember UNITS? It was a series of basic cuts in lots of different colors, and you were supposed to mix up how you wore them (ie, the “cowl” which was basically a tube could be worn as a top or TWO of them (JESUS!!!) could be scrunched across the belly of your flip skirt so that it would be tight and create a drop-waist effect on the skirt… I did that once in a two-tone all purple outfit and a kid at school told me I looked like a grape!

May 7, 2018 at 4:29 am

Vildy

Veteran

I came East to go to college, from Southern California. I was so starved for sunlight that one winter day I ran outside to the sidewalk outside my dorm in my bathrobe, thinking sun meant warmth. A kind old lady advised me to get right back in.

I couldn’t stand all the dreariness. I spent the weekend with a family friend who loved to shop. When I spotted a hot pink side buttoned mod coat on a mannequin, I bought it right off her. And then, one day downtown I spotted an off price shoe store that had vinyl over the knee boots. I bought a pair in orange and one in yellow. I wore them with the coat. Thankfully, it was the sixties, so I was probably just regarded as a kook and not a hooker.

May 7, 2018 at 4:31 am

Molly Mac

Veteran

Skin tight Chic jeans that you had to lie down to zip up (this was before the days of adding spandex to jeans), my father’s button downs (the precursor to the tunic perhaps?), and Capezio soft lace up dance shoes. My 80’s uniform when I wasn’t in my Catholic school uniform.

May 7, 2018 at 4:50 am

Sonce

Ooh, fun! I usually lurk here but just have to add my two cents on this one. I’m the same age as Lesley, so a child in the 80s, in high school and college in the 90s.
The worst thing I remember about the 80s was using safety pins, or even extra-large bobby pins, to pin the ankles of my jeans and pants! Classic “what were we thinking?” The worst thing I remember about the early 90s, for my complexion, was all the dark lipstick. I confess I really enjoyed the clunky shoes! In later 90s when I was in college we were wearing actual men’s clothing, oversized button-downs and sweaters, it was so awful!
In later years, there’s one specific outfit that I loathed. I had procrastinated buying something for a friend’s wedding, and ended up with an ill-fitting pale green brocade suit. Would have been lovely and elegant on a 70-year old woman, but I was 26!
Since I started accepting my actual body, learning about style, and putting real thought into my wardrobe, I don’t have any real regrets. Not to say I love everything I’ve worn for the last 15 years, but really nothing disastrous. The only thing I would say is that it took me a really long time to figure out which colors really suit me and which don’t. I was stuck in the cool vs warm dichotomy, when for me the real question is bright vs soft. Soft yes, bright no. Anyone want a bright coral trench coat?

May 7, 2018 at 4:51 am

Vildy

Veteran

Loved that Johnny Cash crack!
In the same vein, I visited a casual boyfriend at his school in the South for the weekend. When I got off the train, I was wearing a black wool box pleated skirt with a black sweater tucked in. He took one look and
remarked, “What are you…. an Art Major?”

May 7, 2018 at 4:58 am

Staysfit

Veteran

Feathered hair! We all wanted the Farrah Fawcett look, but with my thick tangle of waves and frizz it was a disaster! Also, why did we all have Goodie combs sticking up out of our back pockets as we walked around the halls of our middle and high school?? (I was born in 1965)

So I had a lot of bad fashion. First, my mother chose all my clothing prior to my leaving home. She insisted. She shopped for it and paid for it, so I had no say in the matter. I wore whatever she purchased. Often she dressed the entire family in matching outfits…..I’m not kidding. It wasn’t just for photos. If we went out anywhere, we matched. It drove me nuts. Then there were the shiny polyester frilly disco era dresses that I wore to Friday night school dances. I hated the frills. There were the awful Bass school shoes purchased yearly. Then there was the oversized clothing with shoulder pads! Ugh! I didn’t need shoulder pads, I was a swimmer with broad shoulders already.

However, the very worst of the worst were the years I spent as an intern and resident wearing scrubs and Birkenstocks! LOL! No style whatsoever! I wore hospital scrub green for five years, and in my off hours, which were very few, I wore jeans, and oversized tees or sweatshirts. I owned only two dresses, and they were used for presentations and graduation. A white lab coat covered everything. The worst! No wonder I love to have a large wardrobe now! Although I still love Birkenstocks. They’re very comfy, but not pretty.

May 7, 2018 at 4:58 am

anchie

Veteran

I was born in 1969, started University in 1988, so we are about the same age. My worst fashion memories are always about my hair. There were homemade haircuts in ’70s, perms in ’80s, unflattering pixies in ’90s and drastic hair color changes in ’00. I still cringe when I look at the pictures.

May 7, 2018 at 5:01 am

Colette

Veteran

Big Hair!

May 7, 2018 at 5:22 am

BrieN

Veteran

I remember this one-piece bathing suit I wore in the 90’s. It had a wild graphic pattern on it as was in style. The legs were cut up SO high on the sides — almost all the hip bone was exposed… It would have been a cute suit on someone with a long torso….but I am uber-short waisted. It gave the appearance of my legs ending at my rib cage lol. All boobs and legs with no torso…

May 7, 2018 at 5:25 am

Sisi

Veteran

This is so interesting! Thank you Angie for sharing your memories. I also remember scratchy wool tights! And scratchy wool turtlenecks! I have liked all my fashion eras: I was a child in the Sixties and loved my pretty dresses, pinafores and kilts. I was a teenager in the Seventies and despite the fashion back then was too masculine for my taste, I did like my bootcut pants, floral hippie blouses and impeccable velvet blazers. I was a young adult in the Eighties and I have loved absolutely everything of that decade. The worst period for me has been the late Nineties – early 2000s. Too much black and grey, cropped sweaters and low-waist pants and those shoes with extra-long, pointy toes that made me think of clown’s shoes!

May 7, 2018 at 5:28 am

Style Fan

Veteran

What a fun post! I was born in 1955. The fashion of the sixties and seventies were my friend. I still love those looks. I have no regrets from those days. In the mid-nineties, I wore all black and Doc Martens. I must have looked very somber but then so did everybody else. Then I got my already blonde hair highlighted. All pictures have been destroyed.
I still like Doc Martens.

May 7, 2018 at 5:40 am

Kathie

Veteran

This is so much fun to read everyone else’s. I think my worst looks had to be the over-sized t’s of the early 90’s. I cringe at those pictures. And the attempts at a pixie cut in the mid-70’s (my mom’s choice) and again in the late 80’s (mine.) I was a very classic in my choices in the late 90s and early 2000’s, so while there were no huge mistakes, my wardrobe of LL Bean, Lands’ End, and Talbots was a bit boring.

May 7, 2018 at 5:42 am

Toban

Veteran

I can’t recall quite recall the brand (Coconut Joe?), but when I was a teen everyone was wearing oversize long shirts and shorts from it. Completely unflattering on my body. But I had to have it.

Also remember a few purchases that flattered my body but were way too formal for my lifestyle and thus never worn.

Another memory was wearing utterly boring shoes because of the limited selection of wide widths. Made even more annoying by my mom’s size 7 feet that could wear anything. So happy selection has expanded and I’ve vowed to only have interesting footwear :).

May 7, 2018 at 5:45 am

Bijou

Veteran

Big multicoloured hair and too much make up would have to be my biggest fashion faux pas. Not sure why I thought having brown, red and blonde streaks would look good… however, I do look back very fondly on my university day experiments with fashion (wanting to look like an Arts student, even though I studied Commerce).

May 7, 2018 at 5:47 am

jlpp

I was born in ‘73 and in 6th grade was delighted to wear bright pink paint splattered leggings with an oversized chunky yellow sleeveless sweater & a big purple rhinestone brooch.
I also had the Dorthy H haircut years before that.
And I did the dreaded stiff poofy bangs around 8th and 9th grades.

As for Docs, still a proud wearer.

May 7, 2018 at 5:52 am

Vildy

Veteran

oohh, Bijou reminded me: WHITE lipstick in junior high!!!

May 7, 2018 at 5:58 am

Janet

(website)

Veteran

I was born the same year as Staysfit. Each era to me has it’s charms and it’s fails, but I have to say that my fashion disasters were most prominent in the 80s. Super oversized sweatshirt type tops and big shapeless jackets. Ugh. I’ve burned the worst photographic evidence.

May 7, 2018 at 6:01 am

Carla

Active Member

I was a baby/toddler in the 70’s and love looking at the photos of us kids in pretty smocked dresses with puff sleeves. The 80’s were scary though – oversized, shapeless clothes, neon colours and high pony-tails with crimped hair. 90’s at University – platform sneakers and Doc Martin lace up boots were my uniform, with far too much black. Things have only improved since then!

May 7, 2018 at 6:05 am

Diana

Veteran

The chunky mules/slides I used to wear constantly in the late 90s in hs/college! I could not keep them on my feet and was constantly walking out of them and clenching my toes trying to keep them on. The most memorable experience was when I flung one halfway across a crowded restaurant. My sister still reminds me of that incident nearly 20 years later.

Also, the shiny! blue! Capri leggings I wore as pants in the 80s, hair scrunchies in the 90s, the ultra low rise jeans of the 00’s.

May 7, 2018 at 6:07 am

Kathie

Veteran

Staysfit reminded me of shopping trips with my mom, who was a huge influence on my clothing as well. I did not get to shop at Esprit and The Limited in the 80s, so I missed out on having one of those huge chunky knit sweaters, with the very deep v-neck. I’m not sure if it was a good look, but if the style ever surfaced again, I’d at least try it on.

May 7, 2018 at 6:09 am

jlpp

Ugh. I forgot one trend that was really awful on me … JAMZ shorts!

May 7, 2018 at 6:16 am

jlpp

Or JAMS, however it was spelled. Huge, long, floral.

May 7, 2018 at 6:18 am

Andrea Munce

I was born in 1961 and was in college from 1979 until 1985. After finishing graduate school, I was completely immersed in the John T. Molloy “Dress for Success” uniform of a skirt suit with a boxy jacket, enormous shoulder pads, and a silk scarf tie!! Almost all my clothes made me look like a much older woman with no style or personality. The 1980s were a dreadful decade from a fashion perspective. The 1990s did not have much better fashion options. Apron dresses were the worst!! I’m much happier with clothing options and my own personal sense of style now.

May 7, 2018 at 6:37 am

Runcarla

Veteran

I was born in 1960 and in the early years wore hand-me-downs and clothes my mother sewed for me. Boarding school and a uniform followed. At 13 I had my own money (baby sitting and paper route) and started sewing or buying my own clothes. High school and university it was the Annie Hall look – full skirts (usually florals) over boots or trousers with paper bag waists, button down shirts, and tweed jackets. By the end of university it was ‘painter’s pants’ or Levis coveralls, plaid shirts, and workboots! Considering I got married in ’82 my wedding pics hold up – I did NOT get an over the top Lady Di wedding dress. Work outfits have always been conservative – skirts, sweaters, sometimes a dress, and always a navy blazer.

My years of sartorial regret are my ’90’s and early 2000’s off duty looks. With 2 young’uns and DH almost constantly on the road for his work I defaulted to slumpy mom jeans, demoted running shoes, and thick baggy faded sweatshirts. The kids looked like little princes, but I was a fright.

There have been a few odd outfits since I got interested in fashion again (discovering ‘What Not to Wear’ and later YLF) but it is all good and part of having fun with fashion!

May 7, 2018 at 6:59 am

marija

Active Member

I am also born in the late 1960’s. My parents were immigrants and my mom made all of my clothes. Some were OK. Most were not. I grew up, but not out and wore the same polyester orange pants with yellow diamond flowers and green stems for four years, I think. My mom would put in a longer than necessary elastic waistband that she would let out a little every year. The pants would begin with a huge hem and be taken down every year as well. She also made me a matching vest. sigh… She was a good seamstress and later sewed my beautiful wedding gown. I love my wedding dress, so all is forgiven! lol!

The other regretful trend I remember (not that I’ve ever been a fashionista anyway) is the low rise maternity pant in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. It was SO difficult to find comfortable stylish maternity wear for tall women. I blame Brittany Spears.

May 7, 2018 at 7:10 am

Bonnie

Veteran

In my senior year of high school, I bought a bright yellow sweater and wool skirt. The outfit was expensive but I could not bring myself to wear it. The color seemed wrong for my complexion and I felt like a banana. Another mistake was when I was working and I got a white top and skirt outfit and I got many comments that I looked like a nurse.

May 7, 2018 at 7:16 am

Laura

(website)

Veteran

Thanks to my mom and grandma, I had my own personal fashion stylists in the late 60s, 70s and 80s … my mom has excellent taste and my grandma was an expert seamstress, so even though I was petite and there were no petite sizes for young people then, my grandma could make many items fit.

Fast-forward to the 90s. I was on my own as a young person in New York, and oh, did I make every mistake in the book. All flat black-colored clothing and shoes, all the time — horrible for my coloring. Minimalist, which doesn’t suit my personality. Hard edges and heavy platforms, which aren’t me either. My crowd didn’t get into grunge, which was unfortunate, as some of those styles would have suited me far better.

Then the 2000s came, and YLF found me, and now I can live happily stylish forever.

May 7, 2018 at 7:33 am

merwoman

Veteran

So much fun reading everyone’s posts!
1.Shoulder pads – I’m sure doorways were larger then , how else could they have accommodated my IT shoulders sporting jackets with mega padding?
2. Perms – what a disaster. Right after the treatment I looked like a poodle (no offense meant to the breed) and there would be maybe 2-3 days where the curls had relaxed enough to look somewhat reasonable – then on to a weird melange of straight and curly. I final accepted my straight hair in my late twenties.

May 7, 2018 at 8:14 am

BlueJay

Veteran

I remember wearing this one piece “outfit” that I had purchased from the Sears catalogue circa 1991 (it looked great on the model). It was a vertical striped shirt in white and the most unflattering brown (baby-poop brown) ATTACHED (!) to baby poop brown wi-i-i-d-e knee-length shorts and a matching vest. I wore the outfit with tan brogues on probably one of the warmest days of the year. UGH. I felt so self-conscious all day. My friend, (who is still my best friend) didn’t say anything (bless her), but I knew the outfit was a total fail. I wore the outfit once. What was I thinking?!?

Also, lots and lots of perms and pouffy bangs. UGH.

May 7, 2018 at 8:29 am

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

You lot crack me up. Thoroughly enjoyed hearing your stories. VERY fun There are similarities and differences, which is interesting to hear.

Lesley, your animated comment had me laughing. Toasted hair! A perm with a straight fringe – YES. I remember the trend. HAH. And all that black in the ‘90s. Terrible.

Jussie, I know, right? Borderline obscene. From very high in the ‘80s to toooooo low in the ‘90s.

April, I hereby crown you Queen Beadazzler.

Torontogirl, traumas they were. Why don’t our brow hairs grow back?

Vildy, those awful East Coast Winters. Have made the same sunny mistake.

Molly Mac, I loved those skin tight jeans!

Sonce, YES. Awful dark ‘90s lippie. I wore that too, and looked like a vampire.

Staysfit, you are hilarious. Feathered hair! You ENJOY your killer stunning wardrobe extra for me. You’ve more than made-up for it.

Anchie, homemade cuts. HAH!

Colette, you didn’t like your big ‘80s hair? I did. It didn’t move. It was like a rock formation.

Sis and Style Fab, wooohooo. Go Team ‘80s. SUCH an incredible decade. The ’70s and ‘60s too. Fashion went downhill in the ‘90s, although I LOVED my Docs and 501s. High five.

Toban, enjoy your fun current shoes. Milk it.

Bijou, good thing we ALL wore too much make-up on the ‘80s, and fit right in.

Diana, NO! Really? I hereby crown you Queen Mule. Btw, I loved my scrunchies.

Jlpp, I think we called them jammies.

Runcarla and Laura, the ‘90s were the worst!

Carla, sounds like you fit right into each era.

Marija, YES. Those low rises were ridiculous.

Oh, bonnie. I hereby crown you Queen Banana Nurse.

Merwoman, we ALL wanted linebacker shoulders then.

May 7, 2018 at 8:40 am

Linder51

Big hair, big shoulders, platforms shoes and polyester. UGH.

May 7, 2018 at 9:11 am

Robin

Active Member

I was just thinking the other day about a fashion faux pas I made when I was a young teen. I had a choir performance to go to and my mother was down for the count with a migraine headache. I grabbed my choir outfit, dark skirt and white blouse, then selected my *white* pantyhose. My mother told me afterwards that I should have chosen the navy, which makes me wonder now why I even had white hose. Relatedly, drugstore pantyhose! They were part of my “dressy capsule” as soon as I was old enough to wear hose….horrid!!!!

May 7, 2018 at 9:22 am

Tina

Active Member

Early 80’s — junior and senior year of high school. Bib overalls with a T-shirt or tank top. I had a light blue pair and a denim pair, which were truly work clothes from the men’s department. My friends had bright yellow, bright red, and the same denim ones from the men’s department. I wore theirs some times, and we often all wore them at the same time. The bibs were covered with pins and slogan buttons.

Knickers and gauchos were also big while I was in high school. I had a purple corduroy pair that I wore with purple and aqua argyle socks and flats. I thought they were so cool.

Earlier in high school/junior high, we all had GunneSak dresses that tended to look like they’d been made using lace table clothes and bedskirts.

In 6th grade, my favorite pants were bright pink brushed denim. They were a big change from my printed bell bottoms. (It was 1976-77.)

May 7, 2018 at 9:39 am

Robin

Active Member

And…though he probably doesn’t remember, let me share my brother’s worst fashion memory of me. I was born in 1981, so, a teenager in the mid-90s, when long, brightly coloured tee shirts were worn with leggings. I loved this look. It felt better on my apple body than anything else. I felt sleek and put together; yes, I knew it was a casual look. One summer day my parents were entertaining so my brother and I were going out for dinner together. I came down the stairs in leggings and a colourful tee (probably coral or turquoise), and my brother told me I looked like I was ready for the gym and he didn’t want to go to a restaurant with me dressed like that. I wish I could remember what I did, but all I remember is that we did go out.

May 7, 2018 at 9:39 am

Suz

(website)

Veteran

White hose in the 80s. Remember that? I had an outfit that I actually adored, but looking back, I have to scratch my head. I got it for a special event. It consisted of black patent pumps with buckles, white hose, black velvet knee breeches — the pouffy kind, not the slim fitting type — a black velvet high collared jacket with frog closures, and permed hair.

The jacket was much admired and I loaned it to a friend. She returned it to me one evening in a plastic bag. I left my coat and the bag in the coatcheck of a restaurant and when I went to retrieve my things, the bag was gone. Someone (probably on the restaurant staff) had stolen the jacket. So then I had a pair of black pantaloons with no partner.

May 7, 2018 at 9:48 am

Cardiff girl

Veteran

Mmmm,I think that I ve been saved from all sorts of horrors like perming by virtue of not being able to afford them at the time they were fashionable.l had long hair and didn’t go to a hairdresser s until started work but I do remember a product called “sun -in”that was supposed to make your hair go lighter in the sun and ended up making a lot of peoples hair go a bit orange,I also tried lemon juice but that just attracted the wasps.

May 7, 2018 at 9:49 am

Greyscale

Veteran

I was just visiting my parents last week and I finally took the time to sort through a few boxes of stuff in my old closet. I found all my old school photos. I really was a fashion disaster as a kid (if nothing else I hadn’t figured out how to deal with long curly hair) so I was surprised to see that my 5th grade outfit (1989) was pretty trendy! Teal buttoned shirt with big shoulders and matching skirt with a sort of Western flair. It looks awful by today’s tastes but I actually think it was probably a winner back then.

Some of our bad fashion memories are trends that haven’t aged well or didn’t flatter but, when you’re a teen, following trends is what you do. So I don’t hold those against myself. I don’t even really regret my college days of wearing nothing but men’s jeans and oversized black tshirts because at least it was intentional. The ones I do regret are the times when I was oblivious, like my first attempts at ‘professional casual’ right after college and at the beginning of grad school. At some point my grad school roommate literally staged an intervention to get me my first women’s jeans in years, early-2000s bootcuts in a classy dark wash.

May 7, 2018 at 9:56 am

kkards

Veteran

so much fun reading thru everyones~
my 1st was in 7th grade–and what I was wearing was probably ok, but….we had had a cold spring, and I dressed for it, but that day it “turned” and we had a day in the high 70s, and my Jr High had no AC…I just remember being made fun of because I was dressed for winter and it was suddenly summer
2nd was my college tour/interview outfit…my Mom and I picked out a very stylish suit…only to get to the 1st campus and realize was not what was expected in 1980’s New England….I felt completely out of place and it completely colored my impression of that school….but we regrouped and found something more appropriate for the next group of schools.
3rd during my early working days, I fell into the trap of dressing for the job I had instead of the one I wanted….too casual not enough attention to detail. fortunately I had a mentor who took me aside and give it to me straight and reminded me that you had to think about yourself as the entire package, and what you present to others is important.

May 7, 2018 at 9:57 am

rachylou

Veteran

Ok, well I have to share not my own, but my mother’s greatest fashion trauma. My mum was born at the end of the 30s, and grandma curled (permed?) her hair and put GIGANTIC bows on her head. It was the 40s, so the curling was done with like a hot iron rod. Lol. But then, for all this attention to fashion by grandma on the head, grandma insisted on always buying clothes she would ‘grow into.’ Mum still goes on about this, and thus it has traumatised me in turn. She tells me how she only ever bought me nice clothes and how they always fit! Lololol.

May 7, 2018 at 10:43 am

Thistle

Veteran

My hair in the 80s. Peacock poof. I learned all about aquanet hairspray and even glue to hold it up.

*shudders*

May 7, 2018 at 10:52 am

Eliza

Veteran

This is a great read… How fun to review history and our own fashion evolutions simultaneously.

The worst of my fashion moments (at least it is what stands out today) was being in college in the early 70s. Hardly know how to describe this likely fringe trend, but it involved lots of recycling of fabrics into new pieces of clothing; a bit of a boho plus context. The fabrics were often originally designed for upholstery or other non-clothing purposes. Go to a little New England shop full of these delights. Select a midi wrap skirt made of several stiff, heavy panels of mismatched and likely not well-coordinated dingy heavy curtain like fabric. Florals. Not pretty florals. Narrow waistband that ties. Too much overlap in the wrap, but better that than too little. Now what to pair it with?? Hmm. I believe the answer was a burgundy Danskin long sleeved body suit. No textural relationship to the weighty skirt. Then throw over some version of knitwear that memory is kind enough to spare me from knowing today. Fringe trend is not my middle name. I believe I have no evidence of this phase.

May 7, 2018 at 10:52 am

Vildy

Veteran

The first time I saw tights. I was in grade school and one girl’s mom had bought her these newfangled things I’d read about in the fashion section of the newspaper. They were beige/camel colored. I made my mother find me a pair and she rightly thought they were hideous but I wore them and couldn’t figure out why they weren’t marvelous as promised. All the little boys made fun of them. They looked like the worst of the kind of support/compression stockings you could see for sale in the Sears catalog, probably on the same page with trusses.

May 7, 2018 at 11:45 am

Lynn

I made a pale pink polyester gabardine 3 piece suit that I wore for Grad night at Disneyland in 1975. I wore a blue printed shirt and blue platform shoes. You couldn’t tell me I didn’t look good – in all my 70s glory. Now – I think most 70s fashion was cringe worthy including my pale pink polyester gabardine, bell-bottom, big collared, suit!

May 7, 2018 at 12:35 pm

cindysmith

Veteran

I was born in 1970, was a teen in the 80s, and married into the fringes of biker culture in the 90s.

The 80s were a trip. I remember all the neon and oversized sweaters and skinny jeans and pegged jeans legs and spandex and big hair (big hair is the thing I’m most embarrassed by in pictures from that era). I also remember idolizing Sonny Crockett’s wardrobe: all those Versace jackets worn over pretty pastel tee shirts and his RayBan Wayfarers.

The 90s, when everybody else was into grunge and low-rise jeans, I was doing a lot of spandex (we went to a lot of biker rallies). When I wasn’t doing biker activities I was wearing Jones New York silk pantsuits or Armani. My then-husband and I had a lot of disposable income and plenty of closet space for me to have two separate and distinct wardrobes. I had several full sets of matching leather biker jackets and leather chaps, and boots to coordinate with each set. I’m ashamed of how much spandex I wore and called it clothes in the 90s.

Early 00s was a weird time for me. I was kind of unsettled, as I had just gotten out of the “gated community” and was stuck in Shreveport Louisiana. I still had all those silk suits and Armani, and I often wore that stuff to shoot pool with my league team. However, I also did a lot of clubbing, and one night just for giggles I did full on Catholic Schoolgirl. I’m definitely still ashamed of that one.

In 2005 when I got clean (sober), I quit clubbing and went with that silk suit and Armani kind of look again (I still had them and they still fit!) My early sobriety included a massive shoe collection and there was nothing below a 4″ heel to be found there. I stayed fairly true to that classic sort of style until DH & I moved to Caddo Lake in east Texas, which is where I started rolling around to my dystopian minimalism and I feel comfortable and fabulous with that.

I hate looking through old photos and seeing all my 80s big hair. I’m glad that I’ve managed to misplace any photos I had from the 90s and 00s, because that’s a time that’s painful for me to think about to this day (thank you all for being a safe place to reminisce about it without falling into the rabbit hole).

Its been fun reading everyone else’s stories

May 7, 2018 at 12:40 pm

aptlyvenus

Oh, Cardiffgirl, I remember Sun-in. I was born in 1959 and really wanted to be blonde in 1970. Then I adopted the Dorothy Hamill cut – a slight improvement!

Surprised that no one has mentioned legwarmers! When I got to college in 1977 I wore ripstop nylon dance pants, legwarmers, and a leotard almost every day. I was a THEATER MAJOR. My favorite concert outfit was black shorts, a black tee, royal blue tights and hot pink legwarmers. And big plastic earrings. Things got a little better in the 80s because I embraced new wave and wore a lot of men’s sport coats, Stiff Records t-shirts, and white sneakers. I couldn’t afford Docs or leather pants, sadly. And oh, so MUCH Biba eye makeup. I loved all those little pots of color.

I got my first non-uniformed job in 1984 after I moved to Chicago, and I was completely mystified as to what to wear. I just wore oversized button down shirts and black pants for about a decade.

Funny how legwarmers never came back.

May 7, 2018 at 1:28 pm

nuancedream

Veteran

I was born in 1961. After I finished graduate school in 1985, I became completely immersed in the John T. Molloy Dress for Success mindset of skirt suits with boxy jackets, button down shirts, and silk scarf ties! I received so many of those awful scarf ties for Christmas gifts that year. Dressing professionally in the 1980s meant sacrificing style for conformity. The 1980s was really a dreadful decade for fashion. Thankfully, I’m more secure in my own sense of style and there are more options from which to choose.

May 7, 2018 at 1:28 pm

The Cat

Veteran

Fun subject! My worst personal fashion memory is the paper undies in the 1970s. We thought they might me practical for camping trips. Absolutely not. They were uncomfortable, easily felt cold and wet and, worst of all, very easily got ruined. Oh the horror!

Other bad fashion memories are from periods when very few styles were available so that most people were kind of forced to wear highly unflattering items, like ultra-short mini skirts in the late 1960s and awful bathing suits and gym clothes in the ’80s and ’90s.

Among my funniest fashion memories, however: Men’s fashion in the 1970s, as reviewed earlier: https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/mens-fashion-in-the-1970s

May 7, 2018 at 2:15 pm

Dianna

Veteran

I was born in 1974, and my mom, like Staysfit’s mom, used to choose and buy all my clothing until I left home for college in 1992. The first thing I remember I bought by myself was a couple of really short skirts, with those over-the-knee socks that were popular back then. Fortunately I don’t have any pictures of me from that time.

May 7, 2018 at 2:21 pm

Karie

(website)

Veteran

I was always tall for my age and my pants were always too short. I was thin too so things just hung on me.
In the early 1990’s stirrup pants were in style and I wore them ALL THE TIME. That and I had big hair. UGH.

May 7, 2018 at 2:50 pm

Lynn

Veteran

I am with Staysfit- has to be scrubs but it was the late 70’s for me. There were only men’s scrubs, so they were pretty oversized, worn with a lovely third layer- either a yellow gown tied over the scrubs or a white coat. Plus sneakers. Oh and really BIG hair (permed). Just lovely.

May 7, 2018 at 2:58 pm

texstyle

(website)

Veteran

Big hair with hairspray in the early 80’s. Everyone seemed to use hairspray. And smoke inside. At work – with all that paper on the desks. My makeup seems so harsh now looking back. I still own one of the huge denim jackets that was a size “6” but wears today like 2 sizes too large on me . I have no idea what I must have looked like wearing it back then. I keep it for sentimental reasons. Some of the things I didn’t like back then are back in style now so I won’t dis them, but I am very glad to be beyond those days.

May 7, 2018 at 3:13 pm

Mainelady

Veteran

Oh, these comments are so fun to read! Traumas. I’ve had a few: high school- the worst was low rise jeans. They were so in! They were so cool! I had to have them. They looked horrible on my then stick straight skinny body. They were not a good style for me, but “everybody” had them including me. The saving grace was a great Varsity letter sweater (first my boyfriend’s, then my own) to cover them up.
College. I was into the preppy look and it seemed to like me, too. But suddenly my wardrobe was halved. My twin and I decided to go to separate colleges (that only lasted for a year). We had to divide up our clothes. What? All of a sudden it was really hard to create outfits. I wore a lot of repeats….and I mean a lot! Twinny and I switched wardrobes at the semester break, so even though it was still limited, the choices seemed fresher. Oh and eye makeup! I was into experimenting with colors. For a while I really liked a mix of blue and purple shadows. My boyfriend (who stuck with me through the traumatic trends and later became my husband) told me I looked like I had mackerel eyes. !!
The early professional years and young motherhood. What did I wear? I hardly remember anything except stirrup pants and long jackets with massive shoulder pads. I have broad shoulders and had no business wearing anything with shoulder pads! I am sure I looked like a football player as I dashed around keeping up with school kids and my own.
Thanks for the memories. I can laugh at myself now. What a train wreck!

May 7, 2018 at 3:26 pm

efbgen

50s and 60s were school uniforms, summer bathing suits and winter sweaters and ice skates- not much room for mistakes. Farrah hair of 70s – yup. Shoulders of a linebacker in 80s- yup. In the words of a Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman- BIG MISTAKE! HUGE! Lol

May 7, 2018 at 3:46 pm

Colette

Veteran

Angie, LOL! My hair was long, layered, teased and sprayed and sprayed and sprayed! I went through Aqua Net like crazy! My bangs stuck up high. My SO affectionately refers to it as my ‘rooster’ hair. He loved my big hair.

May 7, 2018 at 5:20 pm

kj2008

Late ’70s, ’80s. Big feathered hairstyles I could NEVER replicate outside the salon. Big squarish blazers, dowdy below-the-knee skirts, oxford cloth shirts, topped off with a limp polyester bow at the neck.

May 7, 2018 at 5:48 pm

Leslie

Active Member

Born in 1975. My least favorite pictures of me are 1986 to 1990–crimped hair, big stiff bangs, and home dye jobs that were sometimes blonde and sometimes lavenderish or pinkish. Oh, and big eyeglasses!

What I still like: color, both brights and pastels, and I wear both with black. I love layering. I don’t mind coloblocking. I am definitely preppy. I pay good money for professional highlights and serum to avoid the fried look.

I also wore sack dresses in the 1990s, long and short. They were comfortable if not flattering, because I am barely 4’11”. Not much flannel, although I still have one I bought c. 1991 that I wear around the house.

May 7, 2018 at 6:16 pm

Jaime

(website)

Veteran

Shudder! Back before YLF, while I was still coloring my hair by myself I would end up with different colors all over my head – and not in a good way. I honestly don’t remember what I wore before YLF.

May 7, 2018 at 7:36 pm

bridgie

Veteran

Big hair, (set once a week at salon) teased and sprayed. Big shoulder pads, and stirrup pants. I am a short IT, big shoulders, and narrow bottom. I HOPE there are no pictures anywhere!

May 7, 2018 at 7:41 pm

Lesley

Veteran

These are such great stories. I can’t stop thinking about StaysFit—a family that actually wore coordinating outfits, not just for one of those classic Bad Family Photos, but just because they were going out and about!

Also striking that so many of us remember the 90s as a nadir. There was a time when we probably would have all said the 80s were the worst. I wonder if the 90s seems worse now because at the time we all thought we were in some classy mode as a reaction from the 80s excess? All the neutral colors? All the moody black?

May 8, 2018 at 12:39 am

Joy

Veteran

I have so many fashion disaster stories that I need to think which are the best to share. When people insist that you wear their clothes if you want to be seen with them, you know it is bad.

May 8, 2018 at 7:16 am

Jo B.

Active Member

Thanks for the fun read everyone! I have always thought I looked great until I look back at the photos! Stacked, permed hair, late eighties probably my worst.

May 8, 2018 at 7:22 am

kerlyn

Veteran

Diana, my 13 year old daughter informed me recently that scrunchies are back! We had to go to Target and buy a pack of them, and I argued the whole way!

May 8, 2018 at 2:28 pm

Vicki

(website)

Veteran

I loved my ’60s teen years, but was lost in a sea of fabric, broad shoulder pads and maxi lengths in the ’80s and ’90s. Thankfully, I found you and my senses and am completely happy in the present with my sartorial choices.

May 8, 2018 at 2:42 pm

Gigi

Veteran

I was born in 1973, and I remember a specific outfit that my mom would dress me in for school that I hated: dark brown bell bottoms with a long, button-down mint green top that had garish flowers embroidered on it. It was unbelievably ugly! But we didn’t have any money for new clothes; everything was hand-me-downs until fourth grade.

I remember going through a new batch of hand-me-downs one day and coming across a pair of dark blue flared jeans–huge bell bottoms–with a city line (skyscrapers and the like) embroidered in multicolored thread along the bottom of the flares. Ugh. I refused to wear those!

In the eighties, I had my hair permed, and it was so frizzy! My mom took me to this woman who permed my hair like “little old lady” hair, and it looked awful. When I got to be in high school, she took me to another hairdresser in our small town, and I actually had nice permed hair after that. I tried to get the big bangs, but they never turned out too big, since my hair is very fine and couldn’t handle a lot of hairspray.

I hated the shoulder pads in the eighties; I thought I looked ridiculous because I have a very slight frame. I didn’t participate in a lot of the fashion trends in the eighties because I didn’t have any money to spend on clothes, and I didn’t like neon colors.

I remember having a really hard time finding good shoes in the nineties. I refused to wear chunky shoes, because they look ridiculous on me. I think during the nineties I mostly wore whatever jeans I could find plus a t-shirt.

In general, I wasn’t much concerned with fashion until several years ago, so my wardrobe choices aren’t very interesting before that.

May 8, 2018 at 3:23 pm

Gail

Veteran

Cardiff Girl I’m from Britain and I also used Sun In which made my hair go orange too! I remember wearing big shoulder pads which looked terrible as I have a small head and am actually or was then quite petite . I also wore really clunky shoes which were ridiculous on me in those days as my legs were like twigs. In fact when I worked in London in the 80’s a guy I worked with used call me Wednesday legs meaning wednes -day going to break lol.

May 8, 2018 at 4:31 pm

cjh

(website)

Veteran

As many, I had questionable outfits, oddball hairdos and outrageous choices over the years; like the rest, mine were usually going along with the style of the times. But two memories of big boo boos come to mind.

In eighth grade (1967), one classmate caused an uproar among the girls by wearing stockings to school! No one else had ventured beyond ankle socks. Suddenly everyone started wearing them and I was desperate to join the club. Unfortunately Mom didn’t agree that stockings were necessary for school and said no.

This was before pantyhose, at least in my town, and the girls wore garter belts or stretchy lace or flowered panty girdles with garters. All I had was pettipants, but I sneaked a pair of stockings from my mom’s dresser, and wore them. I can’t think how they stayed up as well as they did, but I was pulling them all day and retucking them into the edge of my pettipants. Needless to say, I was in big trouble. By graduation day, I was allowed to wear stockings, and in high school everyone acquired pantyhose.

The other big boo boo happened (1971) when I was invited along with my shaggy haired, marginally clean, post hippie era boyfriend to one of his classmate’s, a party in the poshest country club/mansion/scenic river overlook neighborhood, in possibly the fanciest house therein. My favorite outfit of the time was a pair of raggedy gray corduroy cutoff shorts and a thin cotton gray striped peasant blouse, with probably shabby Keds. Farthest thing from yacht club prep you could imagine at the time. My mother knew where I was going and offered ideas all day, offered to iron garments or (nicer) outfits for me, generally indicating I picked the wrong thing, and she was not usually picky about what I wore. I found out she was right as soon as I walked into that house. I may have felt I was in fashion, but I suddenly learned that does not always mean you feel like you fit in appropriately. Her mantra of “always dress up a little more than you think is needed” became mine as well.

May 8, 2018 at 5:43 pm

Emmy

I’m also a child of the ’80s. Madonna influenced my fashion more than anyone else, which resulted in unfortunate things like stacked bangle bracelets, rosaries, and excessive use of lace. I was really pleased with my neon-spattered knit miniskirt worn over leggings, topped with a slashed, off-the-shoulder t-shirt. I am *so* glad all this happened before the age of the selfie and smartphone camera!

May 9, 2018 at 1:32 am

Cynthia

(website)

My fashion nightmares were the 1970s — my grandmother made me little plaid polyester leisure suits, and I had to wear them to school. And then later, my mom made me plaid bell bottoms and bell bottoms with appliqued flowers and I had to wear them to school. And then there was the fad for bright. rainbow. colors. (around 1980) and everyone had to have that exact same shirt with the big rainbow printed across the front that extended to the sleeves…I had those, and bright colored pants, and fuzzy pastel sweaters with puffy shoulders, and colored jackets with skinny lapels like I was in a Duran Duran video (not all in the same outfit, thankfully). That’s what you wore when you lived in a small town and your fashion choices were basically the big department store, Maurice’s, or The Limited.

I loved the 90s, when I finally got to choose all my own clothes. I was heavily influenced by the hippie shop I worked in during college, and had a lot of vintage satin pajamas worn as streetwear, israeli army gear, broomstick skirts/dresses, Doc Martens, etc. I still love a simple long plaid or floral dress that’s fitted around the shoulders and chest and flowy from there on down…that and tall lace up boots are the foundation of my current wardrobe. Viva 1990s!

May 10, 2018 at 8:13 am

citygirldc

(website)

Veteran

Hi Angie. I too was born in 1970 and a teenager in the 80s, but didn’t really find my fashion style until late 80s and early 90s when I started college, with mostly wearing all black, mod 60s look. I don’t know if this would be considered something as bad fashion, but do you remember when legwarmers were in? I don’t think I could do that now.

In 9th grade, I always had short hair but the one thing I’d never go back to would be having a braided rattail (think Til Tuesday minus the spiked hair). Yikes! What was I thinking?

During the 90s, I pretty much embraced my black minimal wardrobe, Doc Martens ,and white T-shirts so nothing too memorable. On occasion, I’d go slightly grunge wearing the mini dress with leggings, chunky shoes/oxfords, and ribbon necklaces. That was the only trend that I remembered liking. Oh and the cowboy booties. There on trend now, aren’t they.

May 11, 2018 at 8:02 am

K.M.

Veteran

Super late to this thread, but couldn’t resist… I also spent the better part of the late 90s in all black! To the point that my friends gave me grief for it. (And I wasn’t a goth.) I almost never all black now, but when I do it’s very thought-out and I try to make it special with accessories or with the silhouette.
In the early 90s I loved some lightweight printed cotton pants that were very baggy and tapered, with a surfer-hippie vibe. I still miss them (so unique and comfy), but the clownish silhouette is admittedly not the most fashionable.
I don’t think I have big fashion regrets or embarrassments, because everything I wore at a certain time belonged in that period and culture (even if today I would never don the same items in the same way… shoulder pads, for example). I may smile at my old pics but I’m OK with how I was! Now if only I had learned to groom my eyebrows earlier…

June 9, 2018 at 6:24 am

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