In my 3rd and final installment of I Love the 80’s, I want to discuss my most favorite part- fashion and music. You can find Part 1 here and Part 2 here.
Fashion
When I was around 12, I had finally found a pair of lace, cut out gloves in hot pink at a store called Little Boutique. I was in heaven! Couple that with the gauzy, gigantic headband I found at Claire’s Boutique the same week and I was down right ballin’.
On any given day, I could be found wearing a combination of the below:
- acid washed jean skirt
- jelly shoes
- 25-40 jelly bracelets
- 2 swatch watches (sometimes I would wear one in my hair)
- a gigantic belt, slung around my waist
- a lace vest
- a hat just like Blossom used to wear
On vacation, I would go “exotic” and clip a dangly feather thing on one side of my crimped hair. It would go great with my I heart Myrtle Beach, half shirt with a fringed bottom.
Then at some point during middle school, I changed fashion. I like to refer to this time as my Alex P. Keaton phase. I shit you not, I would wear a pencil skirt with a red long sleeve shirt. I would then take a gigantic scarf (almost like a pashmina) and sling it over my right shoulder, securing it with again, a gigantic belt. What was I thinking?
Music
My sister and I used to dance through the grocery store aisles, belting out Like a Virgin while our mother shopped. We could never figure out why she would immediately shut down the operation when we sang this song but was totally on board with our rendition of Girls Just Want To Have Fun.
Cassette tape packaging
Listen up youngins’, I want to tell you a story of how awful cassette tapes were. I’m not going to lie, you risked slicing a finger off just to get the cassette tape out. It was the most obnoxious packaging ever. I couldn’t find a picture of this packaging so I will have to describe it.
Cassette tapes came in these tan, plastic contraptions, 3 times larger than the actual cassette. Now I get that if they didn’t do this, a lot more tapes would have been stolen but couldn’t we of thought of a better method? About 30% of the time, you would end up cracking the cassette case just trying to saw it open. Does anyone remember this? The family scissors that’s used to cut out the dog poop couldn’t open these things so you moved on to knives. After scissors, knives, 2 broken nails and a cut, you finally gave up and asked your dad or mom to risk their limbs to open it.
Cassette maintenance
Occasionally, your boom box, Walkman or home music system would go crazy and unravel your new Janet Jackson tape. You then would have to grab a pencil and being the monotonous task of rewinding it. Tapes also were fragile in that it was very easy to scratch them. Like the pissing match of the VCR collection, many had a vast collection of tapes.
So folks I leave you with this adorable video of children attempting to figure out the Walkman. Enjoy!
First of all, the scarf tucked into your belt was chic as hell. You just also looked like you were trying for Highlander-meets-librarian, which could totally be a thing. It isn’t, but it could have been, so feel no shame for the sins of Past You. I had a spiral perm, okay? Hair down to my ass and I had them put it up in those giant boomerang curlers and perm it. We all did things that we maybe wouldn’t do again, but my real question is this: WHERE CAN I GET MORE JELLY BRACELETS??
Also, I actually flinched and hissed when you mentioned tape unraveling. Because it’s 2017 and I don’t know where to even find a pencil.
Ha!! I had my share of spiral perms. But just for you, I found a link on ebay to purchase jelly bracelets! http://m.ebay.com/itm/Multi-Color-set-pack-lot-of-30-jelly-rubber-gummy-bangle-bracelet-80s-style-/201466881917?hash=item2ee85ca77d%3Ag%3Aq6IAAOSwDk5UKwU2&_trkparms=pageci%253A5d23b0a5-3e82-11e7-8653-74dbd180e3f1%257Cparentrq%253A2d7913fb15c0a9e8700b52c6fffee678%257Ciid%253A7
Ahhh yes … the cassette tape … I remember pinching my mothers ‘simon and garfunkel’ tapes (which I abhorred) and putting selotape over the holes at the top so I could record over them … i’d usually find the radio station with all the best-est tunes and tape away till Mum pulled up the driveway 😉
And i was more of a ‘Karate Kid’ fashion remake … kung-fu shoes etc 😉 Oh, good times!!
Ok, perhaps having a blonde moment here but what do you mean pinching your mom’s tapes? And what happens if you put tape over the holes? I have so many questions….
Did you not do this? LOL …
My mother had her own cassette collection – Simon and Garfunkel ewwww – and the tapes (cassettes) that were bought, couldn’t be recorded over. Usually 🙂
To record over them one needed to place selotape or a piece of paper, over the holes at the top of the cassette. Theres 2 of them, one on each side of the cassette. Thusly doing, you could put the cassette into the deck and record over it 🙂
So, i’d ‘borrow’ (aka steal or ‘pinch’) Mums cassettes and record over Simon and Garfunkel with Madonna 🙂 (Sorry Mum lol)
Brilliant LOL.
In my bedroom at my mom’s house, I have a stereo that plays cassette tapes AND records AND 8-tracks. Man, I’m hella old. LOL
Cassettes and 8 tracks? Wow. I remember having a record player and on said record player, I would play Michael Jackson and the Grease soundtrack. Do they even do soundtracks anymore?
We totally rocked out to the Grease soundtrack!!!!