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Original poster

80's Hen night fashion nightmare

26 replies

Pennies · 15/09/2009 19:47

I'm going to an 80s hen night this weekend and I'm having a bit of a 'mare about what to wear.
I'm not sure if it is a kind of fancy dress theme or if we're supposed to be embracing the current trends to the max.

So, if you were a late 30 something mum, size 10, 5'3", with a little too much Boden in her wardrobe which outfit would you choose:

Option 1: Black puffball strapless dress, with a wide black and gold belt, calf-length leggings with lace trim (natch), gold stilettos and loads of gold and pearl necklaces in the style of early Madonna

or

Option 2: Bright pink mini skirt with ankle length leggings, black and gold wide belt, black fitted scoop neck T-shirt with loose frill sleeves, matching bright pink shoes and the same necklaces, creating a bright but also tartier, despite greater coverage, effect

OP posts:
Original poster
Pennies · 15/09/2009 19:49

Wrong link for the black dress.

OP posts:
FlorenceandtheWashingMachine · 15/09/2009 20:17

I think that I would plump for Madge as you more likely to be able to wear it for another night out.

It's the hair you have to get right to be truly '80s in my opinion. It must be backcombed within an inch of its life. Also, could you have REALLY bad highlights (with a hint of green) done between now and then?

Have fun!

Original poster
Pennies · 15/09/2009 20:24

I think that someone's bringing a crimper. Oh yes. Good tip about dodgy coloured streaks though.

OP posts:
FlorenceandtheWashingMachine · 15/09/2009 20:51

Bloody hell, I'd forgotten about crimpers. There's a very dodgy picture of me In a French Horn line up (don't ask!) with dreadful crimped hair. I swear that it was the only time I gave into crimping temptation, but it just had to be captured forever on film! I swear that I actually had a rather chic bob.

Original poster
Pennies · 15/09/2009 20:54

A really chic bob? Surely the only person in the 80s who had that was the lead singer from Swing Out Sister

OP posts:
Original poster
Pennies · 16/09/2009 11:15

Any more opinions?

OP posts:
Sunshinemummy · 16/09/2009 11:23

I'd go for the pink. And I'd definitely wear that skirt again. I love crimped hair too and you can get those hair streaking things with a big mascara type wand.

You also need the right make up - electric blue eyeliner and frosted pink lipstick.

FlorenceandtheWashingMachine · 16/09/2009 13:24

Pennies, I used to get told that I looked like the singer out of Swing Out Sister all the time.

FlorenceandtheWashingMachine · 16/09/2009 13:26

Agree with Sunshinemummy on makeup. I also used to sweep pink blusher from the side of my eyes round to the top of my cheekbones (when I had them). I was recently stunned to see this 'lovely' make-up technique featured in Marie Claire.

Coloured mascara was also very '80s.

Sunshinemummy · 16/09/2009 14:41

Oh yes the eye to cheek bone blusher sweep. I had a brick orange colour! Coloured mascara too - fab!

FlorenceandtheWashingMachine · 16/09/2009 17:21

And don't forget to wear foundation so thick that you appear to erase most of your features! I used to literally think of my face as a blank canvas...

Sunshinemummy · 17/09/2009 10:45

Oh Florence you and I are obviously true 80s girls! I had a fantastic make-up book which had, for example, one where you did like a rainbow on your eyes with 4 different colours.

FlorenceandtheWashingMachine · 17/09/2009 15:15

I used to wear up to eight colours on my eyes at once. I have since discovered the joys of Bobbi Brown and the natural look, but it's not half as much fun.

How I dream of the days when I could easily spend two hours getting ready to go out! If I get ten minutes now it's a luxury.

Sunshinemummy · 17/09/2009 15:20

Florence my best friend and I used to skive off school on Friday afternoons to get ready to go. We'd be lucky if we were out before 8pm! Mind you hair backcombing took about an hour.

FlorenceandtheWashingMachine · 17/09/2009 19:08

You were hardline. I would generally start getting ready on a Thursday for Indie night when TOTP was on and be out by 8.30/9pm. Mind you, that doesn't take into account the hours spent hunting for the 'perfect' outfit in Chelsea Girl.

SM, do you have to fight the urge to giggle hysterically every time you see someone in a plaid shirt or is it just me?

Sunshinemummy · 18/09/2009 09:42

I just love all this retro 80s stuff. Those Peter Pilotti dresses are ace. Just wish I had the figure to carry a lot of it off these days.

Why oh why did they ever move TOTP from Thursday?

FlorenceandtheWashingMachine · 18/09/2009 15:04

Murdering bastards!

I unearthed a skirt I wore in the 1980s recently and actually thought on first sight that it was for a doll. I cannot believe that I was ever that tiny.

I have recently discovered that batwing tops are just the thing for bingo wings - not something that I had to take into account last time round...

Sunshinemambo · 18/09/2009 20:21

Oh batwing tops - I heart them. Especially if they have glitter wool running through them.

I was a size 4 and could not get clothes to fit me. Now I'm a 14 and cannot get clothes to fit me

Sunshinemambo · 18/09/2009 20:22

Maybe we should start an 80s support thread...or do you think it's just us?

FlorenceandtheWashingMachine · 19/09/2009 15:16

I would join a support thread for "Women who stop dead in front of Dorothy Perkins because it appears that the actual outfit they wore to go to Astor's nite club on June 16th, 1986 is on display in the window."

I get nothing done for the rest of the day because I can't stop daydreaming about my teens! Today, I spotted brogue shoes with heels and that sent me off on a whole new set of fashion reveries...

Sunshinemambo · 21/09/2009 17:03

Ooh describe outfit please.

In sixth form most of the girls were into the student look with short skirts, stripey tights and DMs. Me and best friend were chanelling Dynasty. We'd go down the local pub dressed in fabulous dresses with huge hair and plastered in make up.

FlorenceandtheWashingMachine · 21/09/2009 18:52

Good on you, SM. I love a bit of glam and shoulder pads make the rest of you look really skinny. How I have missed them.

The outfit was a royal blue batwing top with three-quarter length sleeves and a slash neck

Tiny mini skirt (black)

Lace tights (black)

Very pointy court shoes (black)

Sadly, whe window designer forgot the black clutch bag (to dance around) and enormous hoop earrings.

My latest 'stopped in tracks' item was a navy wool biker jacket. I loved my old one!

FlorenceandtheWashingMachine · 21/09/2009 18:55

Ooh, by the way, you mentioed that you love the Peter Pilotti dresses and I noticed in Next today that they had 'silk' tops in there completely ripping off those textiles. They were very nice and you could get a slice of Peter Pilotti action in a less exposed way!

Sunshinemambo · 22/09/2009 10:29

I have a rip-off Peter Pilotti from Warehouse but will havea look in Next too.

As I said I heart batwing - that outfit sounds fab fab fab.

I used to love having the biggest clutch bag I could find. Me and my best friend used to hide quarter bottles of spirits in them so we could just buy mixers in the pub

FlorenceandtheWashingMachine · 22/09/2009 11:03

Oh yes, the joys of being really badly off for money.

My equivalent was when my BF and I discovered with joy on our French exchange trip that the French drink pernod with water and ice and not blackcurrant. On our return, we were able to cut down substantially on our bar bills (at age 15 ) and probably looked a lot more attractive minus the purple lips too...