How to dress for the Eighties revival, god help us. Advice from Sam Fox
Everything was big - the jewellery, the shoulder pads, the hair. Everybody had a perm, and then you put rollers in to make it even bigger. There was a hairspray called Hard Rock - your hair didn't move for three days.
The makeup was quite ghastly - blue eye shadow and dark lip-liner with a paler lipstick, really Jodie Marsh - so I tried to tone it down and went big on hair and accessories. Butler & Wilson was where we all used to go for jewellery. For a dress for a night out, it was all sequins, very Dynasty. Jumpsuits were a great look, especially for women who wanted to hide a bit of a bulge.
We wore a lot of ripped denim. You ripped your own. On the cover of Touch Me, my first single, I didn't want to show my boobs because I had just finished being a page 3 girl. My mum and I came up with the idea of ripping a hole in the bum of my jeans. It was just a bit cheeky, you know? I also used to like wearing a denim jacket with lots of bling on it, which me and my mum also made - my auntie had just died and we took her old crystal jewels and sewed them on. You would wear ripped denim with Converse trainers. They're huge again now, aren't they? It's almost as if I could go into the attic and dig everything out again, though it might be a bit mouldy.
5 comments:
Did jumpsuits really hide anything? Don't forget the Flashdance sweatshirts with the neck cut out. t-shirts with a knot at the waist, fingerless lace gloves and headbands worn across the forehead.
I was just going to say, ripped sweatshirts! I remember being terribly proud of one that came down long enough to wear with tights. It was hot pink, if I recall. There was lots of that color, and turquoise. I also remember black and white check patterns, armloads of cheap plastic bracelets, and pointy flats with tights or no hose, especially in winter. Toward the end of the decade, my senior prom dress was black, with bits of multicolored ribbon sewn all over the net overskirt. I probably looked like the victim of a serious craft store accident.
Girls of the 80s!
I recommend a really sweet (and very funny) movie called "Romy & Michelle's High School Reunion". Mira Sorvino, Lisa Kudrow, Alan Cummings, Geneane Garafalo (sp?). A pure guilty, girly pleasure.
Thank heavens I missed most of the 80s monstrosities living abroad both geographically and mentally, but I do remember in 1986 seeing a video of Sam Fox in Australia and being absolutely outraged at the ripped jeans, which I guess was the intention.
I'm quite enjoying the 80s revival now as I still have a few pieces from that time and have brought them out for an airing. They are not extreme in shape, but the colour is beautifully intense and such a breath of fresh air after two decades of black and greige!
My main 80's fashion memories are always different from this...
Long black hobble skirts, Rosie the riveter head gear morphing into a bit of a Carmen Miranda look. Original 40's tea dresses worn with black leggings and DM's. Psychobilly clobber and American golfing cardies from Flip - anyone remember that place?
I read the article and the one thing that stands out is that we did used to make a lot of our own stuff. No-one apart from the much older and monied sets wore "labels" as such. Jumble sales and a sewing machine were your best friends!
Post a Comment