Friday, January 06, 2006

The 1980s Rocked, My Friends!


Okay -- courtesy of Beth, here is a fabulous photo of Katherine and me, circa 1985. Possibly 1986. On the surface, I guess we don't look that bad. But if you really squint, you can see the cut of our shirts and pants, and it's not pretty -- really high waists, really large shoulders. And Katherine's outfit is, I'm sorry to admit, modeled on the outfits worn in the Duran Duran video for "Is There Something I Should Know?" What kind of weird teenage girls would model their clothing choices after their favorite male rock stars? I'll tell you: my friends and I. I used to do this thing that I hoped was a cross between Larry Mullen Jnr. from U2 and Simon LeBon from Duran Duran -- faded Levi's (tight-rolled, of COURSE! although Larry just turned his up once and left it at that -- he was far too cool for tight-rolling of any sort) and some kind of wacky sweater (Simon was always seen in magazine spreads in wacky sweaters). Katherine had the above look going on. Beth herself had a whole Nick Rhodes thing -- hats and jackets, baggy cuffed pants, etc. We looked like dorks, to be perfectly frank. At least the giant hair of our junior and senior years was a step away from trying to look like a bunch of dudes from the British Isles. Actually, in this photo, I'm surprised to see that I'm just wearing the one Swatch watch, because I used to wear three or four at a time and set them to different time zones.

I should mention that Katherine and I did once dress as a girl band for Halloween, probably right around the time this photo was taken -- but no girl band you've ever heard of. It was a Scottish duo called Strawberry Switchblade. They looked like messier versions of Boy George, and therefore slightly scary because they were actually women, whereas something about Boy George was harmless -- a man who dresses like a woman? Anyway, we dressed like these two for a Halloween dance at school. I'm surprised they didn't kick us out. But that -- I wish I had a photo of that. Posted by Picasa

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow. That's amazing, lmao. When I think of fashion, I certainly don't think of Simon LeBon or LMJ. Simon's still a hottie, though, just so you know.

I want a Swatch. :) I've wanted one for like a year now. Haven't decided on one yet. There was a really cool rubber duckie one that I wanted to get originally, but they might have retired that one or something.

Different time zones---that's a cool idea!

Anonymous said...

http://www.squiggly.com/swatch/p/product/i/10368

That's the one! Not on the Swatch website anywhere, though, so looks like I might have to get it from these guys.

Unknown said...

Wait -- so are you telling me they still make Swatches??

Stacey Peterson said...

Hehe... Nice pic. I totally forgot about swatches!!!

Remember when you had the hairdo that was shorter on one side than the other?

Unknown said...

Um, hello! It was asymmetrical. It was a whole look, my friend. Better than the bad hair day I'm having right this minute!

Anonymous said...

There's a Swatch store in the Pentagon City mall! I had no idea they made them anymore until then! I saw the Duck watch that time and I was like, "I need that." I never had a Swatch when they were cool, anyway.

Georgias Maximus, Feline Esq. said...

What?!? You mean that look in the photo has gone out of style? No way!