The fashion of the late '80s is stealthily slinking back, and what's appearing so far isn't exactly pretty in pink.
The first time I saw a fashion-conscious co-worker wearing black leggings, leg warmers and chunky gold earrings I almost did a spit-take. That's one of those movie scenes in which some startled chap spits milk or soda (whichever is funnier) all over a friend when he sees something unbelievable.
If someone younger than 25 was willingly wearing leggings, then apparently she was taking cues from my mother's closet circa 1987. When another friend showed up at a company dinner wearing a matching hot pink skirt and jacket with a Minnie Mouse T-shirt underneath, I knew something strange was happening.
Among the youth culture and the fashion set, the '80s revival trend is well under way.
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The cheerful hipster nostalgia for a Reagan-era childhood that surfaced in the early part of this decade has morphed into a bona fide fashion shift toward all things loudly colored and puffy. Gone are the Muppet T-shirts and trucker hats, and they've been replaced with horizontal black and white stripes and Op surf shirts.
For women Day-Glo is back with a vengeance. The fluorescent vogue thankfully seems limited to accent pieces, otherwise I might find myself needing sunglasses at night. Achieving the authentic '80s feminine look means that one needs to create what I am compelled to describe as an ice-cream-cone-silhouette: tapered jeans or tight leggings topped with puffy shirts, oversized vests and 4-inch wide belts. Anything involving Lycra is a must.
For men, the thin black tie and tightly tailored skinny jeans have once again become emblematic of rock aesthetic. The ideal falls somewhere between David Bowie and The Clash, and the use of a bandana-as-accessory is strongly encouraged.
As a child of the '80s I can say that this kind of fashion turns me slightly queasy. I may have only been in grade school at the time, but I can tell you that we're mining the wrong era for style notes. Yes, the music was great. The shoulder pads and pegged, pleated pants weren't so hot. One only has to watch "Back to the Future" to realize that. These were bad choices then, and they're bad choices now.
Fortunately, most of what I see strutting on the streets today isn't all that bad, especially because it's worn tongue-in-cheek. Leg warmers are chic precisely because they are so derided. White-rimmed sunglasses are fun, and I'll admit to a certain lust for slip-on Vans, but what I fear is the next mutation of the trend.
Right now, the '80s look is underground, but we could be looking at a full fledged fashion pandemic when crimped hair comes back in style and men start dressing like pastel pimps from "Miami Vice."
The style of the 1980s is basically an excessive anti-style: For 10 years we decided that anything we could think of doing we might as well do. That kind of attitude led to a fashion boom in making everything bigger, brighter and bolder. Eventually, Bill Cosby's sweaters were capable of being seen from space.
How could the nation spend the 1990s mocking '80s fashion and then hop back in bed with styles that seem dredged from a Wham! music video? That's not nostalgia, it's self-destructive amnesia.
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