Stuff you wore in the 80s.

[Hummer]

Well this friday coming up is "I love the 80s" theme dress down day at my school. Best 80s dressed person wins a prize of 25 bucks and I was wondering what you guys wore in the 80s that you may have thought looked hip then. I want to really stick out and look like I'm really from the past.

P.S. No I will not get a Jheri curl.

 

[clayj]

I still have my black Members Only jacket from 1984-1986.

Best part is, it still fits. I wore it to New Year's Eve last year (just to be retro) and a FEW people tried to buy it from me.

 

[Hoef]

popped collas using yellow or pink Lacoste shirts .... maybe a white jacket to top it off. Use lots of hair gel and maybe an ear ring too

Get some Duran Duran inspiration:

 

[thedude110]

In the early 80's, I was dressed in red overalls (Osh Kosh BGosh, of course) like this poor child.

I did not have the matching hat nor the matching red shoes. I styled in my blue Zips, instead. Which apparently exist to such a minute extent that they can't even be found on this, our beloved Internet.

If you can be suitably Miami Vice, you'll totally win.

 

[Xander562]

I still have my black Members Only jacket from 1984-1986.

Best part is, it still fits. I wore it to New Year's Eve last year (just to be retro) and a FEW people tried to buy it from me.

My friend (we're in high school) wears a Members Only jacket occasionally. But he is a bit.....different.

 

[beatsme]

Well this friday coming up is "I love the 80s" theme dress down day at my school. Best 80s dressed person wins a prize of 25 bucks and I was wondering what you guys wore in the 80s that you may have thought looked hip then. I want to really stick out and look like I'm really from the past.

P.S. No I will not get a Jheri curl.

if you want to be really cool, cut the sleeves off of that Izod and pop the collar. And get some parachute pants. And white high-top sneakers...made by Pony if you can find them.

if you can't do parachute pants, definitely do the Izod sans sleeves, and wear regular Levi's. If you can't find the Pony high-tops, a pair of penny-loafers will do. Make sure to put a penny in the slot (bright shiny new copper only), unless they're black penny loafers, in which case you put a dime in the slot.

you could, as an option, tie a bandana around your thigh, but make sure it matches your Izod.

EDIT: you will score mad bonus points if you manage to find a pair of acid-washed Levi's...

 

[Silentwave]

nuff said.

 

[frankblundt]

you really need a pink leather tie and winkle pickers. Artfully razored jeans are an alternative. bleached highlights and an improbable quantity of hair spray and back combing will help too

 

[katie ta achoo]

*diapers*

nuff said.

I was about to post that, too.

What about black paired with NEON colours?

 

[MACDRIVE]

Very popular during the 80's among the punk rock crowd; along with blue jeans, black leather jackets and spiked collars. And yes.... I wore them.

 

[yojitani]

you really need a pink leather tie and winkle pickers. Artfully razored jeans are an alternative. bleached highlights and an improbable quantity of hair spray and back combing will help too

teehee... Bros...

Watch the Breakfast Club and dress like Corey Haim.. or Molly Ringwald.
Alternatively, you could mess up your hair, spray it, and fit into some stone bleached ripped in the knees jeans and a t-shirt for the Bon Jovi Mid-80's look.

 

[Abstract]

I was about to post that, too.

Don't forget the bib and BMX sweatpants.

Add in some Reebok Pumps (they still sell them), LA Gear shoes with the lights, or Nike Air (whoa....air inside a pair of shoes!!?! ), and you're set.

 

[xsedrinam]

Levis and a leather vest were a vital part of the wardrobe, back then.

 

[RacerX]

Well, here is the thing... I pretty much wear the same thing today that I was wearing back then.

My standard attire for the last 25 years...

• shoes: Sperry Top-Siders. I usually have three pair... leather, canvas in good condition, canvas in poor condition (usually more closely qualifying as sandals by the time I finish with them).
• pants/shorts: Levis, cargo pants, cargo shorts, and convertible cargo pants.
• shirts: most often white or off-white collarless long sleeve shirts (sleeves always rolled up), hand full of long sleeve shirts from Abercrombie & Fitch (yes, they have been around for a very long time), a few polo shirts, and a bunch of rugby shirts.
• cologne: Most of the time I wear Polo, but sometimes (for a few months in the spring) I wear Eu Savage (by Christian Dior)

A lot of my fashions were picked for me by where I was living when I grew up (Coronado, La Jolla) and what I was doing at the time (my Dad was into sailing).

Its great, I wear the same thing all the time and every so often I'm back in style... the rest of the time I'm retro (to when ever the last time my clothes were in style).

The best part is that most of my Abercrombie & Fitch stuff is between 12 to 18 years old... which makes it look just like the new (super expensive) stuff they sell today.

Talk about being accidently cool!




Note: My wife came in and asked what I was righting about this time... I told her the name of the thread and she exclaimed "You wear the same thing now that you did back then!"

 

[scem0]

I'm with silentwave - diapers.

e

 

[iRepublican]

Izod shirts with the collar turned up.
Panama Jack shirts
sleeveless shirts with Japanese flag,letters, or words?
Jammers shorts
Parachute Pants
Members only jackets
Miami Vise "style" pants,jacket,shirts.

 

[DeepIn2U]

teehee... Bros...

Watch the Breakfast Club and dress like Corey Haim.. or Molly Ringwald.
Alternatively, you could mess up your hair, spray it, and fit into some stone bleached ripped in the knees jeans and a t-shirt for the Bon Jovi Mid-80's look.

Oh damn Although I love the Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles and the like movie, I loved Miami Vice, I'm SOOO glad I didnt dress like my classmates did. Too expensive for one. (Beaver Canoe - had just 1 sweater at a going out of business sale, incredible sweater btw that some highschool slut stole off of me as a collectors item. Kinda like saying "I did him too". YUCK.) Roots sweaters I had yet never liked (yes their Canadian).

On thing I did was make crazy money in Grade 6-7 when Safety-Pinning was going out and I was the best seamster/sewer in school (Family Study's we ordered puppets we had to sew, I did 4 other ppls' as well). So I would measure their legs; Guys & Girls and they'd pay me $10-20 a pair of jeans for me to sew and "taper" them for wearing the next day.

I can still remember my fingertips bleeding from sewing-needle punctures.

 

[Sesshi]

I did do the whole rolling up sleeves jacket thing, huge glasses, etc. At where I worked we spent a lot of time travelling and we were paid far too well as well as getting a living allowance - so a lot went on clothes. It just seemed like the thing to do. Miami Vice would be the overriding theme at any 80's thing I'll bet. Pink shirt, white suit would be the signature thing for casual and the Duran Duran look was obviously very popular. Flock of Seagulls hairstyle is still mentioned today with varying degrees of 'pfft'ness.

The thing that strikes me about 80's dress is how ludicrously high maintenance it all was for both men and women. Which is why I was already in the vanguard of the mid-90's even in the late 80s

 

[iGav]

luminous socks... which were usually worn in odd combinations, one yellow, one green. Pink and blue. *shudders*

 

[Lyle]

I was a teenager in the 80's, and a lot of the fashion trends that I remember have already been mentioned:

• Izod shirts
• Members Only jackets
• Parachute pants
• Swatches (a kind of watch)
• Converse Chuck Connors high-top sneakers
• Hair gel

It would be good to hear from some of the women who were teenagers (and not in diapers, Katie) in the 80's. I remember big hair, shoulder pads and leg warmers as being essential parts of the female look back then.

 

[Queso]

I did do the whole rolling up sleeves jacket thing, huge glasses, etc. At where I worked we spent a lot of time travelling and we were paid far too well as well as getting a living allowance - so a lot went on clothes. It just seemed like the thing to do. Miami Vice would be the overriding theme at any 80's thing I'll bet. Pink shirt, white suit would be the signature thing for casual and the Duran Duran look was obviously very popular. Flock of Seagulls hairstyle is still mentioned today with varying degrees of 'pfft'ness.

Pretty much same here, except of course I was at school during the 80s, so everything was done on a much tighter budget

Rolled up jacket sleeves, just like Peter Cox from Go West. And my mullet was on a par that only Glenn Hoddle could match

 

[iSaint]

EDIT: you will score mad bonus points if you manage to find a pair of acid-washed Levi's...

Or make your own! I became a master at partially bleaching out new Levi's for my custome acid wash.

Jeans with holes are in fashion again, so not sure how original that would be.

I had a white shirt with black polka dots that I buttoned to the top. Also had a pair of soft leather boots to go with the black balloon pants I had.

 

[dcv]

Oh the 80s... thank god I don't have many (any?) photos from that era.

From what I remember...


Early-mid 80s

I had a ra-ra skirt.

I also had rainbow legwarmers like the kids from Fame. (hey, I was young!)

I probably had big shoulder pads in some of my clothes

Skinny drainpipe trousers, batwing jumpers and lots of colour co-ordinating plastic beaded jewellery.


Mid-late 80s

I wore a lot of black and white.

I think braces ('suspenders' in the U.S.?) were "in" around the mid-late 80s.

I think it was also around that time that us girlies wore those horrible super-wide elasticated belts.

Late 80s I was mostly wearing Levi 501s (probably with rips around the knee) and Dr Marten's boots; this continued to early 90s.

Some of my friends at school were into Bros and wore those stupid Grolsche bottletops on their shoes

I'm sure paisley shirts were "in" for a while (?)

Oh yeah... and big earrings.

 

[bartelby]

From the mid to late 80s I've have worn black jeans and either a Dead Kennedys, Minor Threat, Metallica, Slayer or home made Einstürzende Neubauten t-Shirt.

 

[beatzfreak]

I did the Madonna thing.

black lace with neon under it
hoop skirts with leggings
shirts with long tails and shoulder pads
loads of black rubber bracelets
pumps with lace ankle socks