Jams! In bright neon colors! Complete with day-glo tank tops. Jim Carrey sported the look in Earth Girls Are Easy.
That was me all summer.
LOVED my acid-washed jeans. I still actually kind of miss them. :o
I also wore the neon stuff, and had a lot of feather clips for my hair. Swatches, coca-cola shirts. Wore shoulder pads once I started working, and wore my sneakers to work and changed into heels.
The 80s were fun.
I had a mullet between 8th and 10th grade (1992-94). I wanted “long hair” because I was a fan of Guns ‘n’ Roses, Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and other rock bands of the early '90s, but in retrospect, I can’t deny it was more of a mullet. Combine that with my two pairs of baggy plaid Skidz pants and plenty of comic book superhero T-shirts, and it’s no wonder I never got invited to any make-out parties.
Clogs and bell-bottom jeans. They really went together well though because when your clog flew off your foot as you were walking, the bell-bottom would catch it and keep it from flying too far. If you were quick you could even get it back on your foot before anyone noticed.
I had the zipper AND the bow! Oh, I was stylin’. 
Big rhinestone broachs that girls (and guys!) wore at the top button of a big blousey rayon shirt to the disco. I might have tried that look once.
A current trend that I don’t understand is the superbaggy pants or shorts that have to be held up at the waist with one hand. Or not… and you show your entire ass. I’ve seen kids at the bus stop with their pants down to their knees (literally). I saw this guy mowing his lawn the other day…one hand holding up his shorts and the other pushing the mower. Whats the appeal of this? A fad I totally can’t fathom.
No one has mentioned the over-sized tartan shirt, with the very wide belt with a huge silver buckle, the black stirrup cords and pixie boots.
I can’t be the only one -
surely not…
One good thing about being pregnant in 1990 was that I never had to buy a single item of maternity clothing. Leggings and tunic sweaters may not have been a great look, but everyone was wearing it, and it was certainly better than the peter-pan collared oversized children’s clothing with the occasional ducky on it that passed for maternity wear back in the dark ages!
Ginormous shoulder pads and suit jackets that had peplums (Thanks, Linda Evans and Joan Collins!)
VCNJ~
Acid-washed and stone-washed jeans are one of history’s cleverest and most evil sales schemes. Plain denim will last ding nigh forever, so that limits repeat business. However, if you beat the jeans up with acid or pumice, they’re two-thirds worn out when the customer buys them. The crotch seam is blown out in a year, so you can sell 'em another pair!
The women’s jeans with a bleachy stripe down the front of the thigh was nice, though. It gave the illusion of a longer, leaner thigh. To my eye, that was hot.
for an entire year I thought I was carrie bradshaw and wore ENORMOUS flower brooches on everything.
footless leggings under skirts and dresses. This is one I’m currently guilty of. I did it yesterday and I’ll do it again I know its ridiculous and trendy and not that cute but I swear to god its so much more comfortable than wearing opaque tights and its nice having something over your legs (especially to work when you cant show skin)
In 1984, just before going off to summer arts camp, a 15-year-old, overweight, not-terribly-handsome KneadToKnow decided the thing he really needed to succeed with the ladies was a body wave.
God help me.
One of my earliest memories was walking home from first grade in the new bell bottom jeans my mom made me wear (this was 1978 or so). I remember being miserable in those hot, cardboard-stiff, navy blue monstrosities. I’m not completely sure, but I think I was in tears by the time I got home, seriously. I HATED those flares, so when the peg-legged jeans fad came along in the 80’s I was fully on board.
In eighth grade, I had to negotiate with my folks over the max length I could grow my “rat tail” out of my proto-mullet. We settled on 3 inches. I finally realized how stupid it looked and cut it off a few months later. With my hair “style”, pegged jeans and one-yellow-the-other-blue Chuck Taylor All Star Converse high tops, I was totally rad.
I feel the same about bell bottoms as Quint from Jaws feels about life jackets.
Two of my favorite fashion disasters! I recall, recently, watching home movies of me at about 13, bouncing around in my Skidz pants. I looked at my mom (who was always keeping me in the latest trends, and was pretty pissed off that I never wore the Skidz overalls she spent good money on) and said “you didn’t really like me then, did you?”
Another crazy middle school trend: Cavarrici’s (sp?), whose logo appeared over the zipper. Nobody seems to remember these, but they were required dress for any self-respecting kid living in North Miami Beach around 1992.
1976- white belt with ultra tight jeans and feathered hair. I was the styling ladies man.
I was up to post # 21, before I realized what banana clips were.
I wore these men’s platform shoes.
The sad part about was I wasn’t a very trendy dresser in 8th or 9th grade, but every now and then I’d borrow a fashionable item from one of my brothers or cousins.
I borrowed a pair from my cousin and they actually fit me.
Unfortunately, I didn’t know enough to be ashamed to wear shoes that he had painted with lime green paint – house paint.
I kid you not.
Went for the combination Herb Tarlek-Andy Travis look, eh?
I never paid much attention to fashion trends, but I do recall getting a narrow leather tie in about 1983 or 4. Must have been something I really wanted, because I hated ties.
House paint? Wow, how couture 
I don’t feel so bad about my rat tail anymore. But I now have to confess to being ecstatic when my parents bought me a…wait for it…
gray Member’s Only jacket. They went well with my gray parachute pants. I had an Adam Ant concert pin my brother gave me for a bit of flair. Oh and wrist bands, can’t forget the wrist bands. :smack:
Man, it is amazing that females actually agreed to have sex with me. Looking back at some of my high school pictures still make me shudder.