Would you wear 80s clothes?

[ILoveAFullFridge]

When does out-of-date become retro, become vintage, become individualistic, become stylish, become fashionable again?

The 80's for me were about cotton flowered, full skirts and white lace trimmed blouses from Laura Ashley, coloured tights, with matching coloured cardigans. And for work navy or grey slim line or pleated skirts, white or cream blouses with pie crust collars or fine stripes - with a pretty silk scarf over my shoulders. Sometimes, if would wear coloured shoes or tights to co-ordinate with a stripe, scarf or cardigan. And of course, a black velvet Alice band or my hair swept back into a black organza bow on a hairslide.

For trendy evenings I had a khaki cotton pleat front high waisted, narrow legged pair trouses with a complicated wrap around waistband and a full white semi tuxedo type blouse with black and diamond buttons. I wore it with red high heels and thought I was the bees knees.

I've got a late 80s/early 90s yellow Cacharel jacket and it's the most beautifully cut piece of clothing I have ever worn. It cost £12 from a charity shop and is my best bargain ever.

It actually looks quite fresh and modern, I think because the cut is so good and it's completely free of embellishment. It does have shoulder pads but not ridiculous ones, and it tapers to a neat waist and ends just above the hips.

I wear it with the sleeves pushed up with black skinny jeans and a plain black top and it looks great.

Windmill love the sound of those trousers!! I've got a similar pair in pink that I lived over the summer.

The first time 80s stuff made a revival was the early noughties. I thought it was more nineties stuff that was in now. I've gone back to my Sliding Doors haircut anyway :)

I think that if you wore it first time round

you will look like an old knobber wearing it again

for instance - those bowler type hats with a rim prevelant in the 80's - dexy's type thing

well they are in every shop at the mo, I love them

but I would look like an old knobber

whereas my 20 yr old daughter would look fab

I'm wearing leg warmers right now

Katnipevergreen your right it's a mixture if 80s 90s that are back in for young ones anyway, my DS is 15 a right little fashion guru and when he got his xmas money and went up town and came home I was shocked at stuff he'd bought! I said to DH remember that from xyz year,
He bought a puffa look jacket from Zara I remember having a naff naff one in the 90s
A wooly cable knit jumper reminds me of 80s casuals
A bomber type jacket with the orange lining I remember these in the 80s
Nike air max from the 90s

Strange seeing stuff like that being sold in shops again!

I'm not sure if I ever stopped looking a bit 90s/ early noughties TBH. I think people do get stuck in the fashions of their halcyon days, somewhat.

Your probably right I actually bought myself a pair of Nike air max in the summer and I love them, but god I should dress my age!

Exactly the sort of thing I'm a wee bit worried about, Custardo!

Maybe I should cultivate the attitude that I'm such an old gimmer that I could give a monkey's about looking like an old gimmer! Not sure I'm brave enough

As a rule of thumb:

If you were old enough to wear it first time round, you shouldn't wearing it second time around.

My parents are terrible hoarders of clothes. My dad will say something like but 'what if this top from the late 80s/ early 90s comes back into fashion?' I have to patiently explain that:

1. It wasn't particularly fashionable when you bought it.

2. The cut will be different

3. The buttons will probably burst due to middle aged spread.

4. If by miracle of miracles said garment is declared to be on trend people won't say 'wow look that guy must be on the cutting edge of fashion' they'll just think 'that tight fisted old bugger hasn't bought any new clothes in nearly 30 years.'

5. If you twin said items with your Jeremy Clarkson-esque jeans from Asda, everything looks shite.

Actually I am a complete hypocrite. I recently bought a pair of cherry red DMs which I wore to death in the early to mid 90s.

But I would put DMs in the 'timeless classics' category.

My 80s goth stuff still comes out for fancy dress - delighted last Halloween when I was still able to get into a Morticia Addams style dress I'd made in 1989!

But, ComposHat, what about boot-cut, low-rise trousers? I was wearing them in the first year of 2ry, when we called them 'hipster flares'. I just could not bring myself to wear them when they first came back a few years ago! I had to get over myself, otherwise I would have been going around bare-bummed. There were no other jeans available, except for elastic waisted old lady jeans.

My dd, OTOH, was wearing my dsis's toddler clothes from the same era, and looking abso-bloody-lutely fabulous.

Fair point.

In the late 90s early 2000s I considered the bootcut to be unacceptably narrow and favoured the flared cords and jeans.

They looked bloody daft as I have very little legs.

I lerve 90s stuff, to the point where I'm so trendy I'm not sure if I've stopped wearing it yet.

Rock on, those spaghetti-strap slip dresses, DMs and tea dresses with thick black tights. And all that beautifully cut minimalist American stuff, slinky trousers and soft jackets.

And mentioning Dexys has made me listen to their first album on repeat!

Weren't the 90s all about retro anyway? I seem to remember nearly everything was 30s, 50s, or 70s style. So revisiting the 90s means re-revisiting all of those decades

Thinking back, I seem to have spent the whole time in stretchy black trousers, stretch tops or slip dresses. I'd look like an overstuffed pillow in any of those now ...

Rose, I certainly am wearing leg warmers, they are great for keeping the chill from my feet/legs.
Not sure anyone else is doing it but I am making it my style
Yes even in an office job with a pencil dress, black opaques and killer heels

I wish I had the body I had in the 80s, I would look good in anything then! Bring on the electric blue and bright pink, ecru tights, annual perm,
batwings, cowl necks, big beaded jewellery etc.

Oh yar! But the thing is in the 70s/80s the US had far better clothes overall than we did so it's better to buy more American influenced 80s style stuff.

Last time I went to a few vintage shops/stalls in London they had loads of 80s stuff, but it was very very rank. Nasty styles, drab colours or tatty fabrics, smelly, looked like it had come out of a dustbin - so I tend to look on ebay for things that are actually nice or buy 80s influenced stuff new.

I think the last thing I got was this mental 80s C&A jumpsuit with a sort of jungle print and giant shoulder pads, but I've also got 80s style stuff from Asos, Boohoo and Modcloth.

It's pretty easy to do tasteful 80s with the right accessories and makeup alone.

And sod vintage 90s. I was a teen in the 90s and everyone dressed the same. My friends and I wore vintage 60s and 70s in the 90s. Anything else is doing it wrong. What have you got to draw from? Nirvana and My So Called Life. You'll just look like an Alexa Chung wannabe or something.

Personally, I rather go for MC Hammer, but he was really mostly rejiggering the 80s. Or 90s Courtney Love would be better than that Chung woman.

Oops, got a bit carried away there.

Almost everything is retro, not much that hasn't been done before in fashion.