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.