Sedated in the 80s

Mama Tulip, EE, and some other bloggers are doing a “Blast from the Past” this week, so I thought I’d dig out a few of my ancient and amusing pictures. This should help you understand why 80s fashion should not ever return!

1982, with one “Patches” at a friend’s house. Badly permed hair and short shorts. Ewww!

1986, at a holiday party. I am so drunk in this picture. I was a cashier in a liquor store – boy, do liquor store employees know how to party or what… Anyway, note the big hair, dangly single earring, and gorgeous sweater dress.

1987. Would you buy a used car from this woman?!

1989. If you weren’t a bride in the 80s, count your blessings. If you were, you can commiserate. Big asymmetrical permmed hair. Whoa. There’s a reason I don’t wear makeup anymore – I got it all out of my system in the 80s…

48 thoughts on “Sedated in the 80s”

  1. but can’t we still keep the music? (At least the good parts of it?) Yesterday in the airport, I saw a teenager in full 80s regalia – mini skirt, off the shoulder shirt, earrings and hair and all. It scared the !@%^&$ out of me. Please tell me she just had bad fashion sense & that this isn’t really coming back!!!

  2. Oh, Chris. These are FABULOUS. The best I’ve seen so far. You’ve got the hair. The makeup. The clothing. The “look”. You are AWESOME. Way to rock the 80’s, girl. WAY TO ROCK IT.

  3. Wow Chris! Great pictures, especially the ‘would you buy a car from this woman’ *grin* I shouldn’t say this, but my husband’s eldest sister still kind of looks like that picture… but I couldn’t imagine her any other way (she is really sweet).

    My sister was an ‘eighties valley girl type’, playing madonna and white lion and hanging out at the roller rink. I spent a number of those years rubbing makeup off my face and combing my hair back out ;o) She would get so mad at me!

  4. Oh my freaking goodness! I wish I had all my old pictures…I could seriously give you a run for your money with that hair! Alas, they are in MI in my parents basement. So sad. :o)

    I’ll try to find some old ones though…this is so funny!

  5. oh my. i had one perm, but it wasn’t nearly as curly. on the other hand, the drunken look, that one i sported on many occasions. but that’s a look that never goes out of style.

  6. Oh. My. God. You were like totally cool. I spent my 80’s being a jock, but I wore awesome sweater dresses WITH shoulder pads to all those team dinners.

  7. Oh, no, must resist the lure of showing myself in horrible hair do’s and big shoulder pads! How can I keep from embarassing myself? Hide the photo albums

  8. You are either the bravest person I know or the stupidist!! I’m banking on bravest. Those are hands down the best 80’s photos ever. Were you an extra in “Fast Times at Ridgemount High”? Sorry I missed you today at the shop – how sad am I? I am Wednesday girl!!! And sometimes Friday girl – oh, and this Sunday girl…..

  9. Love the hair! Mine was always too fine to take a perm, I was so jealous of the other girls!

    P.S – YOUR PARCEL HAS BEEN DELIVERED!! I GET TO OPEN IT IN AN HOUR!!!

    *bounce*

  10. Your big hair is both frightening and amazing. You must have had stock in Aquanet baby!

    I was a bride in the 80s and had the uber-perm, too. I think that’s what held the veil on.

  11. Chris, you are a braver woman than I! Graduated in 1981, married in ’85. Taught all those jr high Madonna-wannabees throughout the mid to late 80s. Please, say those styles will never come back!

  12. Oh my.And I was the one busily bleach spotting and pegging my jeans, doing weird clockwork orange things with makeup and writing all over my converse. That is when I wasn’t thrifting for velvet dresses and mexican skirts. Can we say wannabe punk rock girl ;)***CV

  13. Wow – you were rockin the 80’s! Hats off to you sistah – I wouldn’t even want to go there with my 80’s photos. Permed and streaked hair, massive plastic neon earrings & blue eye shadow. Shudder!

  14. Oh, the memories!! I’m so jealous of your perfectly feathered hair! Mine never had that wispiness. I had a LOT of bad perms to try and compensate for my imperfect feather. 😉 And man, do I remember those Op shorts, too! I know what you mean about makeup and the ’80’s… I keep my Mary Kay blue eyeshadow in my cosmetics drawer just to keep myself in line whenever I think I should put some makeup on. 😉 Take care, Chris! 🙂

  15. Oh, man! Love the photos … I’m not sure if I can pull anything out quite the same from the 80’s for myself, but I definitely have memories of trying to emulate Madonna. 🙂

  16. Call me strange, but I’m totally in love with your hair in the second picture. Most people get to laugh at their 80’s pics. You were a fox. I can’t even find anything to poke fun of. 🙁

  17. You are brave! I had some big hair, big shoulder pictures from the ’80s but I think they were burned some time ago. You do look great, however. 😉

  18. Heh. I’m so glad I blog anonymously. That way I don’t feel obligated to resurrect photos of my past.

    You know you’re old when the music of your misspent youth (think The Sex Pistols, The Ramones, Dead Kennedys, The Clash, Talking Heads, Roxy Music) is now cool and retro to your college student daughter. GAH!

  19. Great photos! Did you ever wear blue and pink eyeshadow, too? Or buy blue mascara? I remember a lot of ruffles. My mum made most of my clothes so I had a different sort of embarrassment in that era.

  20. WOW! I remember having a perm in the 80’s, but I was young and didn’t care for it the way you should. I’d call it my awkward phase but frankly, I’ve had an awkward life:b

  21. Like, oh-myh-gawd.

    Wow – I looooove the hair and those short shorts are pretty hot! I’ve heard that the 80’s style is coming back. Seriously.

    Great pictures!!

  22. WOW! You are brave. Well done on sharing. The photos are fab. I count myself v. lucky as I was into hip hop & dance music from age 12 so was into hoodies & cropped pants by my teens. Still am really…..

    Funnily enough my husband loves that 80s type music but I can’t flippin stand it. I was a cool urban London kid! And in 88/89 the rave scene started which I was definitely a part of. So no eighties get up for me – yay!

    I might have to post a pic of my wedding though…..on a beach in Antigua in flip flops and a Quiksilver Roxy dress 😉

  23. Don’t laugh. Big hair is starting to turn up again in NYC.

    I could re-visit the sweater dress, though. I’ve been thinking about knitting one, anyway.

  24. You achieved hair height that I could only dream of back then! No matter how much I teased and sprayed back then they always seemed too small. Thank got 1990 came along and I grew those suckers out!

  25. i had layered hair in the 80’s but never really big hair. it just didn’t work on my head.

    and i may not have been a bride in the 80’s but i was a bridesmaid.

  26. Wow! You definitely had the hair and makeup. My hair was super straight back then so I never could get the “big hair” thing going like that even with a perm. I’m here to tell you, I TRIED!

    I am 100% with you on the makeup thing. My Southern mother who wouldn’t be caught dead without 2 pounds of hairspray and full makeup thinks I’ve gone insane. I wear mascara and lipstick, MAYBE. I never knew why I became so makeup-o-phobic in my old age. Now you’ve explained it. I used my lifetime’s allotment during the 80s. haha I think your wedding picture looks terrific. Of course I got married in 88 and mine look very similar… but still.

Leave a Reply to Kat with a K Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badge

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.