https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/musings-on-80s-style Style Advice for Fashion Lovers en-US Fri, 01 May 2026 04:06:40 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 q https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/search.php https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/musings-on-80s-style#post-1329408 Tue, 12 Aug 2014 20:00:32 +0000 Anonymous 1329408@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Happy Birthday Aziraphale! Forty-two is a GREAT age. What does the Just For Men commercial say? "You look like you're old enough to do anything, and young enough to still do it". Enjoy it. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/musings-on-80s-style#post-1329381 Tue, 12 Aug 2014 19:20:32 +0000 Anonymous 1329381@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Nicely written post. &nbsp;You've made a really important point about not immediately brushing off an era or a style you didn't care for, and instead trying to keep an open mind. &nbsp;Words to remember .</p> <p>I'm older than all of you here - so far anyways - and I will say I ROCKED my 80's hair and fashion, thank you very much </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/musings-on-80s-style#post-1329377 Tue, 12 Aug 2014 19:11:49 +0000 rachylou 1329377@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Hehe. I'm a good girl. Very innocent. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/musings-on-80s-style#post-1329364 Tue, 12 Aug 2014 18:53:51 +0000 Aziraphale 1329364@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Lol I didn't think you spent the entire decade high. But the way you said it made me wonder. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/musings-on-80s-style#post-1329301 Tue, 12 Aug 2014 17:49:18 +0000 rachylou 1329301@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p><i>Rachylou, why can't you remember the 90s? I semi-agree with you about<br /> the bad in the 80s. Ugly mullets were ugly even back then, true. And MC<br /> Hammer pants were questionable. But I remember the popular girl in my<br /> school had hair that I really, truly thought was fantastic, and when I<br /> look at pictures now...oh my god. It was so, so ridiculous. </i></p> <p>Hehe. I promise that wasn't secret code for I was wasted in all of the '90s. Hehe.</p> <p>I don't know. I just don't remember anything happening fashion-wise in the '90s that sticks in my mind as <i>'90s</i>... and I strongly suspect it's because nothing did. Grunge? Yeah. '80s. Those funny prairie prints on rayon baby-doll tops, over palazzo pants... um, I think that was just the aging of that look involving the home perm that stuck up in front.</p> <p>Or maybe the thing is, more happened in men's fashion. The mullet got shaved off for that lice-deterring new recruit look...</p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/musings-on-80s-style#post-1329187 Tue, 12 Aug 2014 15:48:44 +0000 Aziraphale 1329187@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>High five, Sara! I graduated in 1990. :-)</p> <p>Another limiting factor when it came to fashion was how much money I had to spend on it at the time. I was in grade school in the 80s, and my parents didn't believe in spending lots on clothes. By 1990 I was fending for myself, but&nbsp;I was a starving student all through&nbsp;the early 90s. I guess I was kind of lucky that it was the grunge era. It's not like I had much&nbsp;to spend on fashion! </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/musings-on-80s-style#post-1329184 Tue, 12 Aug 2014 15:43:38 +0000 Sara L. 1329184@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Maybe it's because we're almost the same age, but I have almost exactly the same thoughts about the eighties.&nbsp; I graduated from high school in 1991.&nbsp; I wasn't concerned with fashion until I got to college and even then I was pretty middle of the road - I wore plaid but not Doc Martins.&nbsp; I don't remember much about the&nbsp;eighties fashions except the hair.&nbsp; I find it very interesting to look at pictures from the 80's. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/musings-on-80s-style#post-1329177 Tue, 12 Aug 2014 15:33:01 +0000 Aziraphale 1329177@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Thanks, Angie! Sorry about the post-and-run yesterday. I spent quite a while trying to put my thoughts about the 80s into words, and by the time I had finished, I had no more time to stick around and reply! And yes, I did have a birthday. Can't believe I am 42. I heard that midlife officially starts at 42 (and if i remember correctly, the answer to life, the universe and everything is 42 as well). :-)</p> <p>Rachylou, why can't you remember the 90s? I semi-agree with you about the&nbsp;bad in the 80s. Ugly mullets were ugly even back then, true. And MC Hammer pants were questionable.&nbsp;But I remember the popular girl in my school had hair that I really, truly thought was fantastic, and when I look at pictures now...oh my god. It was so, so ridiculous.&nbsp;</p> <p>Thanks for the nice comment, shedev. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/musings-on-80s-style#post-1328448 Mon, 11 Aug 2014 20:13:41 +0000 shedev 1328448@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Very insightful post. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/musings-on-80s-style#post-1328390 Mon, 11 Aug 2014 19:03:22 +0000 rachylou 1328390@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>You know, reminiscing, I think the bad in the '80s... it was bad back then too. I mean, c'mon. It was never really cool to have a mullet or that weird home perm that stuck up in the front... that was wannabe. </p> <p>p.s. I can't remember the '90s. Did anything happen in fashion in the '90s?</p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/musings-on-80s-style#post-1328381 Mon, 11 Aug 2014 18:50:19 +0000 Angie 1328381@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Elisabeth, I can't write a long response because I'm on my phone but do want to thank you for your incredible open mind and perspective. It rocks. And I think you had a birthday. Happy birthday sweet lady. You know how fond I am of you. </p> <p>I feel a need to stick up for every fashion decade because there is always good with the bad. The '90s is my least favourite decade but there is still lots to love about it. </p> <p>Thanks again for being so fab. I'm sending you a virtual Duran Duran pout. Xo </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/musings-on-80s-style#post-1328327 Mon, 11 Aug 2014 17:45:41 +0000 Aziraphale 1328327@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p> <div>I look back on 80s fashion with a sort of complicated nostalgia. Born in 1972, I was unaware of fashion and style when the 80s hit. I was only eight. And then I went through the awkward part of my early adolescence throughout the mid-80s, so I did not interpret the big hair styles well (I have some excellent, cringe-worthy pictures), and I clearly remember how bad boxy tops and large shoulder pads looked on me. Also, keep in mind that grunge hit early out here in Vancouver -- so close to Seattle -- and we were at the perfect age to absorb the look and the sound of that. Alienation and cynicism can describe the mood at the time, and we felt much more at home with&nbsp;grunge style and music&nbsp;than the exuberant positivity of the 80s.&nbsp;By the time I graduated high school in 1990, I had long abandoned the 80s look -- I had been wearing long straight hair,&nbsp;plaid shirts and Doc Marten boots for at least a year. So when I think of 80s style, my knee-jerk reaction is <i>oh no, please no</i>.</div><div><br /></div><div>But that knee-jerk reaction is unfair. I think my attitude to 80s style had more to do with my age and personal development than anything. I was one of those girls who had a distinctly awkward phase, the end of which happened to coincide with the end of the 80s. Thus,&nbsp;I equated feeling unstylish and&nbsp;unattractive&nbsp;with the 80s, but it's not the fault of the decade that I was a dorky teenager at its peak!&nbsp;There was actually lots of cool stuff during that decade that is easier to see from my perspective now. For example,&nbsp;I agree with Angie that Duran Duran were awesome.&nbsp;I remember becoming obsessed with them&nbsp;when I was about eleven&nbsp;because my beloved older cousin had wallpapered her bedroom with their pouting faces. I was too young to notice the details of their style -- only the colourful excess -- and while&nbsp;I was certainly aware that they were handsome, their backcombed&nbsp;hair and gleefully over-the-top outfits were such standard fare with&nbsp;rock and pop bands at the time that it wasn't noteworthy. Yet I look at pictures <i>now</i> and can find lots to admire, style-wise. (And I still can't help but like makeup on a man, at least for stage performance. It probably started with them).&nbsp;And it's not just Duran Duran. I remember how cool Annie Lennox looked with her manly suits and cropped hair. The blending of genders is right up my alley, even now. Lots of elements of 80s style&nbsp;were and still are cool -- low-slung belts, high-top shoes, military detailing, oversized tops and coats. Bring it on. </p> <p>All this by way of reminding myself to keep an open mind. There is good to be found in ALL decades. Personal history might influence gut reactions, but broadening your choices is always preferable to narrowing them. Don't you think?</p> <p> </div></p>