Okay, we all know that every 20 years or so the fashion of the day, and music, will be revived. Ideally it comes with a new and creative interpretation, like the 2003 song Through the Wire by Kayne West (which samples Chaka Kahn’s 1984 song “Through the Fire”). Or in fashion, with fresh combinations, like in this photo of my friend Anja snapped in spring 2006. I was a child in the seventies, and I can imagine my mother must have been amused/horrified at how we had “fifties dress days” and wore rolled up jeans and poodle skirts, inspired by the TV show “Happy Days”. Sometime in the eighties, the mod, mini-skirt smiley face trends of the sixties came back around. But new stuff got introduced in the 80’s, some of which we are currently in rotation. I know I speak for a lot of folks when I say that I wish some of those trends had stayed gone and buried. For fun, here’s what I like and dislike about 80’s fads, in no particular order.

Okay by me:

• Polka dots (itself a retread from the 40’s, 60’s, well you get the picture)
• Leggings or footless tights
• Metallic fabrics
• Safety pins
• Short punk dyed hair
• Ripped or cut t-shirts
• Off the shoulder shirts
• Legwarmers

Really would rather not see revived:

• Over-sized tops–here’s where I disagree with Diana’s earlier post, which inspired me to write on this topic. On many people they end up just looking like big tents. The exception for me would be if the tunic stays relatively true to the Indian inspiration, like a salwar combination. These do look good with scarves like Diana said.

• Shoulder pads
• Side pony tails
• High top Reeboks
• Add-a-bead necklaces
• Big permed hair
  
• Headbands (the kind that go around your forehead, seen here)

And I think it’s also probably established that the 20 year recycle pattern is decreasing to more like a 10-15 year pattern as designers and trend-setters desperately jump the gun in an effort to be ahead of the pack. In fact the eighties revival must nearly be reaching its peak, so I guess before long we’ll be reaching back for grunge and flannel shirts that were popular in the early 90’s—but hey, let’s not rush it.

Prologue: I stumbled across this 1999 article, The Return of Frosted Denim, after I wrote this post. Ms. Wilson was dead-on in her predictions about the current decade.

I know there will be lots of opinions on this topic, so comment away! -Jill Woodward