’80s Fashions We Should Bring Back*

*Women’s fashion, of course, because who cares about men’s fashion, amirite?

**Mid 1980s to early 1990s (because I was too young to appreciate early ’80s fashion it doesn’t count)

***A lot of these are actually back in style. Right on!

Bright Dangly Earrings!

I mean, how cute are these?

80s star earrings80s earring diamond80s earrings lightning

Baggy Sweaters!

Most of the designs on ’80s sweaters are horrific so I didn’t include any pics of them here lest you barf, but in general I love baggy sweaters because they hide a multitude of flaws (no unsightly muffin tops or lumps!)

baggy sweater moosebaggy sweater dressbaggy sweater stripped blue

Fair Isle Sweaters!

(Bonus points if they include hearts or unicorns)

hearts and unicorns sweatersfair isle heart bluefair isle hearts creame

Slouch Socks!

(Cute layered or with boots and SO comfy!)

slouch socks whitelayered slouch socksslouch socks with boots

Big Hair!

(Yes I’m serious)

I want big hair to come back in fashion because I have lots of thick wavy frizzy hair that is seemingly untamable. And I’m lazy. It would take me 45 minutes to an hour to tame my hair and who has enough time or vanity for that? If big hair came back I could put some moose in my wet hair and voila! Actually, come to think of it that’s pretty much what I do except with gel. I end up with wavy and slightly less unruly hair with this method.

If  big hair came back if I was bad hair day I could just brush out my hair and let it foof up naturally (giving it that classic big hair look), if I’m having a good hair day my hair can look like these gorgeous ladies from the ’80s:

adventures hairmolly ringwald hairmystic pizza big hair

PLEASE DO NOT BRING BACK THE FOLLOWING FASHIONS

THEY WERE CREATED BY LUCIFER HIMSELF!

Stirrup Pants

They dig into the bottom of your feet and they are so gawd-awful ugly, are they not?

stirrup pants

Shoulder Pads

Most people can’t pull this off especially really short women like me.

We look ridiculous in shoulder pads.

So does this woman:

shoulder pads

What do you think? Are there any ’80s fashions that you like or any that you hope to never see again? I’m curious, please let me know!

86 thoughts on “’80s Fashions We Should Bring Back*”

  1. I have never, ever been fashion minded. I have no sense of personal style. But I agree with you about the stirrup pants and shoulder pads. Just give me a pair of jeans and a t-shirt…geez.

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    1. Me too Ruth! I’m mostly just a jeans and t-shirt kind of girl.

      When I was looking around at ’80s and ’90s fashions images for this post I saw them labelled as “vintage” which apparently makes them cool to the younger folk. It makes me feel so incredibly old. Ha!

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      1. lol! I was a teenager in the late 80’s. I know what you mean. I feel so very old! What we really need are some parachute pants. Oh, and sweatshirts with the sleeves and neck cut out and frayed with some tights and leg warmers!

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  2. Puppykins might grant your prayers, but he likes the shoulder pads too. Would it be worth bringing the other stuff back if it involved also bringing in the shoulder pads?

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  3. I’m actually happy that big hair isn’t a thing right now, because I have “small hair”. To get wavy bushiness like in those pictures, I’d have to sleep in curlers, use tons of hairspray, and even then the first hint of humidity would flatten the whole thing anyway. When Farrah hair was in, I had Marcia Brady hair.

    I’m remembering late 70’s-early 80’s styles from my high school days. Prairie blouses, and disco, and guys wearing gold chain necklaces with open collars. They can all just stay gone. Wide lapels and leisure suits for men can stay gone as well. I wish platform shoes had never come back.

    I liked leg warmers though, I wouldn’t mind those being OK again.

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    1. I’m all for people going for their natural look is actually more my point. For me, that’s “big” hair. Marcia Brady’s hair is very pretty so if your hair looks/ed like hers then it’s great!

      Guys wearing gold chains and open collars and leisure suits? Eww! Barf. I’m so sorry you had to witness that first hand! Lol.

      Prairie shirts and wide lapels? Those don’t seem too bad, I mean, within reason.

      Platform shoes, clogs, and wedges came back in style when I was in high school. I actually don’t mind those because I’m too damn short and they help make me…not so damn short. LOL

      Yes, leg warmers need to come back. Those are just fun.

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  4. Well, I was in my twenties in the 80’s, so this was really my generation. However, I’ve never been a trendy person when it comes to fashion. I kinda have my own style, which is to say that I tend to wear styles that will often be in style in about 5 to 10 years. lol For example, I love straight leg jeans, and I was wearing them well before they came in style. I love asymmetrical tops and dresses, and I was wearing them well before they came in style. I’m not into big, flashing jewelry. Simple elegance is more my style.

    I love 80’s music. Oh, and speaking of padded shoulders — he’s hot in that outfit. Love the hair, too.

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    1. I tend to wear styles 5-10 years before they become popular as well! When I was a kid I used draw models wearing fashions of my own creation. I actually saw a lot of those fashions became popular 5 – 15 years later. Too bad, I could have made a killing!

      Straight leg jeans? Oh my gawd, I would love to pull those off. But I am really short and curvy and it just looks…wrong on me. Even worse than shoulder pads. LOL. I need to stick to A-line skirts and bootcut jeans just so people don’t runaway in horror. Ha ha ha ha.

      Ooh…good song! I’m sheepishly admitting my ignorance in not knowing that song, but I have heard some of their other songs.

      Most men can pull off shoulder pads. Which is great because like I said to SB if someone is annoying me if they are wearing shoulder pads I can punch them in the shoulder and no one gets hurt! Men annoy me a lot more than women, so that works.

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      1. “I tend to wear styles 5-10 years before they become popular as well! When I was a kid I used draw models wearing fashions of my own creation. I actually saw a lot of those fashions became popular 5 – 15 years later. Too bad, I could have made a killing!”

        Haha, that is awesome, and yes, you probably could have made a killing. You’re very creative. I’m just weird, I guess. I don’t like looking like everyone else. 😀 Seriously, though, I just have my own kind of style, that represents my personality—what feels and looks good on me, is a little edgy and original.

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        1. I hate looking like everyone else too. I remember when I was younger I used to like expressing myself through clothing. I forgot how much I liked to do that. Now I just throw things on and I’m like “whatever.” This is going to have to change because that was so much fun!

          I like that you are edgy and original. 😀

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          5. Here was the main color, with accents of purple (which you can’t see in this particular image). That’s my daughter doing a mock brainwave training session picture for an article they were doing on my business. The purple accents don’t show up in this particular picture.

            Continue in the next comment.

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          7. Here’s a little promo video I did for my website. This was after I closed the business, due to the 2009 recession, which hit the city I was living in rather hard. So, I turned my business website into a research website, but offered free brainwave training sessions to help people manage stress, mind chatter, increase focus, and manage chronic pain.

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        2. Victoria, you were a neuro tech? I got an AA degree in neurophysiology technology when I was 20, but the pay was so bad around here I ended up going on to be an RN instead. I could do EEGs, EPs (Evoked Potentials), sleep studies, EMGs, and something else that isn’t coming to mind. They need to pay those people a LOT more for their expertise, because it was hard shit.

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          1. “Victoria, you were a neuro tech?”

            Yes. I was also a clinically trained relaxation therapist. The money was good because I had my own business, and no one was doing what I was doing at the time. But I also offered my services for free to those who didn’t have the financial means to pay for the sessions.

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          2. Did you just do EEGs, or did you do other brainwave stuff too, like EPs or sleep studies? I went to neurotech school in 1991-1993 and had a class of only SIX people, so it was just coming on the scene at the time.

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          3. Yes, I did EEGs — neurofeedback and brainwave entrainment (audio/visual entrainment – AVE). I also had MDs as clients who had problems with insomnia because they couldn’t turn off the mind chatter at night. My primary focus was to assist people in self-regulating brain wave activity.

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        2. It’s okay carmen. I wore them too. When I was a pre-teen that’s pretty much the only pants I wore, usually they had polka dots on them or a similar pattern.They were awful. Awful. That and snap-crotch bodysuits. Talk about uncomforable!

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      2. God, I lived in stirrup pants (cringe). I was so into 80’s fashion back then I can’t stomach it at all now. Don’t forget 80’s make-up…I was a make-up artist at the time to help pay for school, and I’d put the stuff on everyone with a putty knife. It was NOT a “natural look.”

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          1. At the time I was too young to know any better, so I thought the heavy make-up look was pretty cool (and I made more money as a make-up artist because I sold more products). Now I look back and gag at the trend.

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        2. A make-up artist in the ’80s? Ha ha. That must have been interesting! Is the video you linked historically accurate? Is this how you did women’s makeup??? I think she looks pretty but definitely not natural! And I wouldn’t want to hug her – I’d be afraid of smearing her makeup onto my clothes.

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          1. The video is indeed historically accurate, and yep, I painted faces like that many, many times. It managed to look sorta-ok on young women, but most of my clients (who could afford a makeup artist) were 40+, and I tell you it was NOT a forgiving look. shudder

            Today’s techniques are a million times better, as are the products.

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          3. And yes, makeup got smeared everywhere and on everything. You’d hug your man and get makeup all over his shirt, it’d get on the collar of your winter coat collar, and would totally cover your phone. Truly gross.

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  6. Wow is this a walk down memory lane. Those were my high school, college, and early marriage days.

    I can remember folding laundry and having to deal with those #$@! shoulder pads on my wife’s shirts. Gahhh!

    For the guys: Who can forget those preppie Izod shirts… little alligator on the breast, collar turned up of course… in all the colors of the rainbow (even pink and other pastels). Add Docker’s with the cuffs folded up, some penny loafers, and voila! GQ

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    1. #$@! shoulder pads is right! Aren’t you glad they are gone?

      Oh, I remember my little brother wearing those shirts with the alligator on them! Those weren’t too bad.

      Glad I could bring back some memories for ya. Hopefully they were good ones!

      We can now all laugh at each other.

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    2. . .and you know, Brent, only a REAL man can pull off wearing a pink shirt.

      Speaking of such things, last summer we had a family wedding. My son and his family showed up, all spiffed up, and I said, to him, “I love that pink shirt!” He said, “It’s salmon, Mother, SALMON”. . 🙂

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    3. I managed to live through the 80s once already, so I suppose I’ll manage if it comes back. If I have to. This is like looking at my HS yearbook.

      All through college (from 88 on) I just wore a t-shirt and jeans, even in winter. I just wore a winter coat over it. It took me just a few minutes to unpack into my dorm room. And I hate shopping. The few times I’ve tried to buy something fashionable, it fails miserably. Thankfully, jeans and t-shirts have never really gone out. Whew!

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        1. I was actually in the 80s-early 90s today. I was cleaning the gutters out, so I wanted something I didn’t care about and got out an old sweatshirt.It felt very out of style. But it was an OSU sweatshirt, so that’s OK!

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  7. Wow, all these comments. I don’t reckon I’ll be able to add anything new but YEAH! to the 1980s. And also insert klaxon runs away. EVERTHING was brightly coloured and HUGE – jewellery, clothes, hair, makeup. Oh the perms and hair crimping. I confess though, why I really don’t like stirrup pants, I do fancy a pair of stirrup pyjamas. I have restless legs and what ever I wear rides up as I sleep. 🙂

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    1. Ha ha! I know. Crazy, huh?

      I suppose we can forgive your fashion fau paux of wearing the stirrup pjs since you have a good reason. Although, you could wear snuggies or footy-jammies. 😉

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  8. ‘Who cares about men’s fashion’

    Very true. I was in need of some new trousers recently and ventured into a shop and was interested to observe that the men’s clothing section was about one quarter the size of the women’s clothing section. Having studied commerce some years ago I know that shops will determine the size of their store allocated to stock based on profitability.

    I recall a moment of revelation a few years back when I realised that women tended to dress up not so much for the benefit of men but rather to impress other women. I mentioned this to a lady in our office who had a keen fashion sense and she responded, ‘you have only just worked that out!’

    I suspect the 70’s are an even more fruitful time to search for fashion atrocities than the 80’s.

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        1. Agree. That kind of music influence Dance/House music, which I love, if you haven’t noticed already. :mrgreen: There’s a reason why it’s sometimes called Trance music, it entrains (synchronizes) your brain waves to the beat, and can get you in a damn good mood. 😉

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          1. I had noticed. I love the music that you use on your videos. It really does feel like ocean waves of peace are flowing over my mind when I watch/listen. Where do you get the music?

            Yep, it definitely put me in a good mood.

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      3. In 1980 when working for a major commercial bank my boss wore a safari suit to work. The only thing worse than that is shorts and long white socks for a business meeting.

        In 1985 I moved into the field of commercial banking and at one business meeting wore what I thought was a nice green jacket I had purchased a few years earlier along with cream trousers. When I turned up at the business meeting the client said, ‘so this is the new face of commercial banking’. I decided after that to consign those clothes to the back of the closet.

        Around the same time I wore a blue shirt that was quite bright. The office Manager arrived at my desk with the Circular Instruction book and read to me the passage on clothing which said, shirts should be ‘plain pastel colours’, he felt this shirt was a bit too bright. Another piece of clothing for the back of the closet.

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          1. I was not deliberately standing out. Rather it reflected that I had purchased those items in 1979 [I started work as callow youth of 17 in January 1979] and had not been sufficiently observant of the change in fashion in the short time from 1979 to 1985. By 1985 business fashion was way more conservative than it had been in 1979.

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          2. Peter, I was just joking with you. The thought never occurred to me that you were trying to stand out, but now that you have explained it further, I can see why you did stand out. In the U.S., business fashion has always been fairly conservative — classic, neutral tones.

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          3. When I started work in 1979 I was working at a suburban bank branch in the boondocks, but by 1985 I was working in the big smoke of Sydney, so that was probably a factor. In 1979 most customers I associated with were social security recipients but by 1985 it was big business.

            I also consigned to the back of the wardrobe my camel coloured jacket, that i thought went well with chocolate brown trousers – but it was a different time.

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    2. I agree, women do dress up mostly to impress other woman.

      Ha – the 70s style! Yeah, I’ll find some fashion gems in there. I may have to do a 70s fashion post sometime. Bet lots of people would get a kick out of it.

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About Quixie

Hi! I go by "Quixie." Quixie is a shortened version of "quixotic," which means: "exceedingly idealistic; unrealistic and impractical." It's how I described my evangelical Christian faith when I started blogging 10 years ago. Now I'm an agnostic atheist who is trying to find a balance between idealism and reality. I write about my mental health journey with bipolar disorder, my loss of faith (deconversion), parenting teens, reading, exercise/health, work-life, and my marriage separation/divorce.