90s Fashion Victim inside!! LOL
 

We're in the process of boxing up all of our attic crap, and lo and behold, my Seneca Falls NY 1888-1992 yearbooks came stumbling out! My husband laughed,
our freinds helping us laughed and even my 3 year old laughed, at what Mom deemed fashionably "cool" back then! Can you say "Aqua Net" anyone? Man, did I
have big hair, not just big hair but HUGE teased out, hard as a rock metal chick poofy bangs hair! It just built and built through out the 4 years. My senior portrait (which my parents still have blown up and displayed in their home)
should be a giant "fashion DON'T" in a magazine article. Blue eyeliner and shadow. TONS of mascara. Streaks of blush over a very fake looking foundation, and
big bright hot pink neon lipstick! Oh how cool I thought I was. Y'see back then the bigger your hair, the cooler your were. All the cool kids had big hair (guys
too!)It'd take me almost an hour every morning to do my hair and makeup before school, and a can of the 'Net would last 2 or 3 days. UGh.Holy Ozone!!
Laughs aside, I'm proud to report I havent' used hairspray in almost 8 years and my makeup routine is under 10 minutes start to finish. I've come a long way,
baby. Will anyone else confess to having, shall we say... "fashion excesses" in the late 80s and early 90s? I'm pretty sure there are some of you out there? What
were some of your Faux Pas? How high were your bangs? I even saw Zora on Joe Millionaire using the Aqua net on the final episode, so the Jersey girls are still
representing! Who else will 'fess up?

-miss
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Hi, my name is Adrienne, and I am a Recovering 80s Head-Banging Girl Who Really Is From New Jersey.

(Muffled group response from dark, smoke-filled room: "Hi Adrienne...)

I had spikes about 4-6" high on top, permed on the bottom. And it was eggplant purple.

Usual wardrobe was leather, lace, and spandex. Don't forget the spikey granny-boots and scarves hanging everywhere.

And that was to go to chapel on Sundays.

I confess--I still have the pictures to prove it.

Adrienne (PNAM-2003)
:D

I totally remember the big hair. We used to joke that there were certain sororities that we couldn't let more than 20 of their girls in our house for a mixer. Their hair would have locked like velcro and we never would have been able to get them out. Also (big sorority hair + lots of aqua net + open flame = disaster).

One thing I remember all of us guys used to do in our chapter was peg our pants legs, the tighter the better. Jeans, khakis, whatever...they had to be pegged. It drove my father nuts!:)

I want, no correction, I need to see those pictures! :p :D

My boyfriend saw a picture of me when I was in elementary school (circa the late 80s), and he STILL talks about how "chronic" my hairdo was. I just can't make him understand that over here, you were soooo cool if you had big bangs! Everyone had them. My mom used to curl them with this little bitty curling iron every morning, tease them, and spray them so that a strong wind wouldn't have blown them down. Gawd...how could we have EVER thought that looked good? You should've seen my older sister, though...heh heh. She had one of those perms that you teased til it stood way out--you know what I'm talking about.

Also, when I was really young, I looked like a little Cyndi Lauper--side ponytail, wild-looking clothes, mini skirts. But at least that's not as bad as The Bangs. :D

Did you girls ever hold the sides of your hair out with a brush, spray hairspray on it for about 10 seconds, and then nuke it with a blow dryer to create.... WINGS! *laughing* Those were hilarious, especially because some people (looking down sheepishly) did not do much to make the rest of their head big.

AchtungBaby: My era also came in middle school. In my case, puberty + tons of Aqua Net/Rave on the bangs = pimply little forehead.

Might I just add...this is the funniest thread ever. :D

I remember having contests in school to see who could get their hair/ bangs the highest! We would all be gathered around the mirrors all armed with our brushes, picks and cans of aerosol spray! My hair was SOOOO stiff, you couldn't mess it up if you tried. if you tried to move one hair, the whole thing would come along with it! One time in math class the teacher used my friend's hair for an problem example and used a ruler to measure her bangs...7 and 1/2 inches! WOW! We thought we were so cool! We called 'em "mall bangs" What were they called in your area?

Miss

Welll.... My mom is/was a hairdresser (owned a salon then/now just does family.) I think I was the only second grader on earth to have a full on Farrah Fawcett. She actually used to help me curl up the sides all the way around my head every morning. After I grew out my last perm in 8th grade I went into rebellion and adopted a much more laid back (read no styling) approach partly because I knew it drove her crazy. That was roughly 1989 so I'm proud to say I never had big hair.

I did however rock the blue eyeshadow, super pink lipstick and neon filled wardrobe looks. I was once very proud of my colored denim jean skirts, layered t-shirts and socks so you could roll them up and show different colors, pegged pants, super baggy sweatshirts.... the list goes on and on.

my most memorable first day of school outfit (from late 80s)
-Bleached/Stonewashed Denim Mini-Dress (the kind that is snug to your waist underneath (like a tube dress) but has 3 layers of short denim skirts on the outside starting at your hips)...but the thing is- on THIS dress the snug part was neon-colored elastic... with poufy bleached cap sleeves
-white opaque tights
-3 layers of socks (colors to match the neon-elastic parts of the dress)
-white canvas shoes
-pony-tail to the side of my head w/ 3 SCRUNCHIES (that of course-match the neon colored bands...) with poufed-up bangs to the sky...
-a bunch of bangle bracelets on each wrist...

damn i was so trendy...hahaha

Since I was 9 in 1989, I don't have grand stories of bad fashion.
My boyfriend however was 17 in 1989, and it was only this year that he gave up tapered jeans... *sigh* I'm trying to convince him to turn some of his plad shirts into rags!
-M

In high school, late 80's/early 90's, we had portable curling irons. They used a little propone thing--we could touch up our bangs between classes-they heated up in 1-2 minutes--just enough time to touch up falling bangs and respray with all that hairspray.

Sadly enough, we have some girls--we usually see them at the town fairs in the summer, that still have those big bangs--even girls in their teens have those. We call that "fair hair" --bigger is not better in bangs!! yikes!!!

-wendi

If my memory serves me correctly, I think SueXO had some terrific 80s pictures from way back when. I think ErikaXO did too. :)

In 1990, when I was 10 1/2, my mom got me a neon green t-shirt and skirt with bicycle pants sewn inside them. I thought that I was "soooooooo cooooooool" when I wore them!

I also remember trying the "90210" look when I was in middle school in the early 90s.

As I posted a few months ago, I was in a redneck bar in Tennessee and saw not only mullets but pegged jeans. In 2003!

LOL at this thread; a subject close to my heart :)

When I was in college in the mid to late 80's, each sorority at Pitt had its own, distinctive "look". I think that between the lot of them, most of the fashion faux pas of the era were covered...

Delta Zeta: Big, blonde hair and lots of it! Spiral perms were a particular favorite. Mall bangs...high mall bangs...sometimes with a derby hat perched just so on the back of the head. (a la the lead singer of Bananarama) I was the token brunette, by the way. Guess denim miniskirts worn with Reebok hightops and scrunch socks. Denim jackets covered with buttons. Black Ray-Ban Wayfarers.

Tri Delta: Brunette, chin length bobs and brightly colored plastic eyeglass frames in bright colors. Benneton...lots of it, especially those white polo-type shirts with "Bennetton" written accross the front. Turtleneck with a buttondown shirt over that and a pullover sweater over that. Two polo shirts worn at a time in contrasting colors. Pleated khani-colored burmuda shorts and brown blucher moccasins from LL Bean. Swatchwatches. I remember them being all about the Swatchwatches (complete with those little rubber guards). Oh, and Laura Ashley. Lots of Laura Ashley.

AEPhi: Huge, I'm talking Mens L-Large size sweatshirts and leggings or stirrup pants. (and these were mostly tiny little girls I'm talking about). There were two distinct groups of AEPhis: the group with dark hair and the group with blonde streaks. But they all seemed to have curly hair that they wore in side ponytails or in very low ponytails. Very large, elaborate scrunchies, and always big hoop earrings. Usually wore silver or gold metallic loafers.

Chi-O: Three words: Ralph. Lauren. Polo. Anytime you'd see a Chi-O walking around campus, chances are she was wearing something with one of those copyrighted polo ponies somewhere on it. Blazers with big shoulderpads and the sleeves rolled and collars turned up. Often paired with Cavariccis (sp?) and high heeled pumps. Very pale, shimmery pink lipstick. "Lions mane" hair.

KKG: These ladies were walking, talking advertisements for Express. Paisley shirts, untucked over stonewashed jeans and a cotton knit sweater or sweater vest (huge) over it all. Low-heeled ankle boots with cuffed tops completed the ensemble. Lots of accessories: Gummy bracelets by the armful, stretchy headbands, fingerless lace gloves, thick v-shaped leather belts with a huge buckle, worn low on the hips. Hair was usually very short in the back with the ears cut out and curly and longer on top (Think Pat Benetar) and big shoulder-grazing earrings.

Yep, we were all lookin' good! lol

As for the boys, don't even make me remember the Don Johnsonesque t-shirt with blazer and razor stubble look. You don't want me to go there! :D