The Most Popular and Famous Dog Breeds in the 1980s
The 80s was the decade of big hair, leg warmers, and the Rubiks cube. It also saw the rise in popularity of some beloved dog breeds. Man’s best friend, the loyal furry companion has been around for thousands of years. Throughout that time we’ve seen an evolution in the various breeds of dogs. Each decade seems to have its favorites. These days we’ve even got “designer dogs” like Labradoodles and...
Members Only Jackets – Are You a Member?
Members Only Advertising Tagline: “When you put it on, something happens.” Indeed. This tagline was so great that it got co-opted in the early 1990s and used by various condom makers. Nice. Check out the magazine ad below featuring this tagline. Something definitely looks like it’s going to happen for that trio, especially Shades in the middle. Anyway, back to the jackets. If you grew up in the 80s, you either had a...
One Size Fits All – UNITS.
The 80s offered many great and legendary mall-based stores where teenaged girls could shop after stopping off for an Orange Julius. For example, who can forget the awesomeness of Lerner? The new-wave chic that was Contempo Casuals? The sweater staples of The Limited? To set the scene, think of the opening montage of ‘Valley Girl‘ with the girls tearing up the Galleria and their parents’ credit cards. Ok, now that you...
Outback Red vs. Forenza – Battle of The Limited’s Brands
Ahhh, back to school shopping in the 80s. I can just picture myself breezing in and out of some of my favorite mall stores – Rave, Limited Express, and Contempo Casuals among them. But one of my favorites stores to hit on the most important shopping trip of the year was The Limited. Why? The Limited carried great clothes, scarves, jeans, jewelry, watches, hats, and two of my favorite brands ever: Forenza and Outback Red. 2 popular,...
The Jordache Look – Jordache Jeans
By Lori Ferraro Designer jeans were HUGE in the 80s – the very first ones I remember getting were a pair of Sassoon jeans. Sa-Sa-soon after that I added a pair of Gloria Vanderbilts followed by some Sergio Valentes. But the jeans I most remember—my favorite pair—the ones that looked best with my rainbow shirts, satin jackets and leg warmers were my Jordache jeans. Jordache jeans were the jeans to have back in the day – that little...
Essential Eighties – Esprit
I had to smile last week when I reached into my drawer to grab a pair of socks and put these on: Giant sweaters, blindingly bright colors, stripes and polka dots all come to mind when I think of the essentially 80s clothing brand Esprit. Oh, and everyone was walking around with these thin canvas bags getting lost in their oversize sweaters: I vividly remember a sleeveless, crisp white and navy Esprit sailor dress that I was in love...
Essential Summer Brands of the 80s
When I moved to Tampa, Florida in the mid-eighties my eyes were opened to a world of new things and new experiences like . . . beaches (yay!) the invasion of boys who came to visit for spring break (double YAY!) and Cuban Sandwiches (TRIPLE YAY!!!) My wardrobe was also introduced to less clothing and new brands. Brands that weren’t dark, designer jeans or Members Only jackets – these were tropical, bright, beachy fun wardrobe...
Underoos: The Underwear That’s FUN to Wear!
By Julie Anderson In the late seventies, Larry Weiss came up with a really great idea: print superhero costumes onto kids’ top-and-bottom underwear sets. In retrospect, it was marketing genius, but the idea was rejected by Hanes and then dropped by Scott Paper company. Fruit of the Loom, which had been lined up to supply the blank underwear for screen printing, stepped up and bought Underoos in 1978. It was a wise decision....
80s Blue Jeans: The B-list
Sadly, we couldn’t all afford Gloria Vanderbilt or Guess jeans in the 80s. Even if we did boast a pair or two or three, we still needed some other jeans to fill out our casual-wear wardrobes. Enter the second-tier designer jeans. Like B-list (and C-list) actors, these jeans were probably just as good as the A-list varieties, they just didn’t manage to luck into the big time and didn’t command the big bucks. Just because they aren’t...
Designer Jeans
By Julie Anderson In the eighties, we totally valued designer labels. We knew that having that stallion’s head or question mark-triangle on our blue jeans’ back pocket would ensure our lasting popularity. Designer jeans were pricey, sure, but in the 1980s we were happy to save our pennies (and beg our parents shamelessly) for that perfect pair of high-waisted denims. Here are the Big Four designers of blue jeans in the eighties:...
Original Jams
Those mid-length surfer shorts in outrageously bright colors and patterns are actually a brand, the way Band-Aid is used to refer to all wound-covers (probably because the alternative is “wound-cover”). Anyway, Jams is whole line of surfer-styled clothing, but it’s the shorts that really captured our fashion imagination in the mid-80s (their zenith was the summer of 1986). Their popularity in the 80s was a resurgence of their...
Chuck Taylors by Converse
If you were alive in the 80s, your shoe wardrobe wasn’t complete without a pair (or five) of Chucks (otherwise known as Converse All Star high tops). It didn’t matter if you were a guy or a gal – this particular 80s fashion trend crossed the gender barrier (and the age barrier too). History of the Converse All Star The 80s can’t claim the Chucks fashion trend as its own. The Converse All Star High Tops have been around for...
Reebok Hightops – So High, So Cool
Like Thiller, the Reebok High Top (aka Freestyle) is celebrating its 25th anniversary (in 2007). Wow – that is a really long time with a single style of shoe, especially one created in the 80s. More for Fashion, Less for Sports Most high-tops are basketball shoes, but not in the 80s! In the 80s, they became a fashion statement – so ubiquitous were the Reebok Hightop Aerobic shoes that they became a fashion staple – a must-have! This...
Wayfarer Sunglasses by Ray-Ban
Wayfarers are Back UPDATE April 12, 2011: It’s official, Wayfarers are back in a big way for the Spring/Summer of 2011. A recent trip to the beach confirmed it. We are loving the return of the contrast temple version of this classic style. Shown here with blue contrast temples. These are a must have accessory for the upcoming sun season. Grab a pair, and you’ll be walking on sunshine. What did Tom Cruise, The Blues Brothers and Don...
Swatch Watches
Swatch Watches to the Max Unless you were a complete loser, you had at least two or three Swatch watches when growing up in the 80s. If you were really cool, you had a dozen or more and you wore two or three at the same time. I mean, if one is totally rad, then two must be, like, tripendicular, right? Swatch launched its first watches in March of 1983; this Spring marks their 30th anniversary. The name, created by Nichole Lopez (so...
