The eighties saw a wider variety and quicker change in clothing styles than currently. That's why I thought this list would be fun for others to read and add to, so feel free to send me any suggestions. Years are approximated, since some fashions tended to last longer in some regions opposed to other regions.
This page currently edited by: Dagwood. Past editor: Banasy
Clothes beginning with: [Index] [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] [misc]| Name | Sex | What | When | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17th Street Surf Shop | Male/Femal | T-shirt | 1986 + | White background with various designs, sometimes a surfing cat |
| 8-ball (or other pool ball) leather jackets | Both | Clothes | 198? | Think of Salt -n- Peppa |
| andrew | male | sleeveless tee shirt | 1988 | I have the 1988 College Special Edition of Rolling Stone and it shows both Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas in these, but has no collegiate content. The miami vice look was big in the late 80's OUCHY!!! |
| aqua-net hairspray | unisex | super hold hairspray | 80-89 | All you needed was a 1/2 can of aqua-net, and you could achieve any style, any height! Perfect for a tight perm to blow out bangs to the ceiling. Required 2 shampooings to remove and still left white "glue-like" substance in hair, the build-up made it easier to get skyscraper bangs next styling! |
| arm warmer | both, but mostly female | a long glove with no hand | 1988 | These were essentially elbow-lengh gloves with no hands. I saw them worn by The Stingers members Phoebe "Rapture" Ashe and Ingrid "Minx" Kruger in the last year of Jem. Rapture sometimes wore only one. |
| arnica | male | collar button signaling | mid 1980s | In many junior high subcultures if you buttoned your collar it meant you were "taken": if you left them unbottoned you were "free". |
| arnica | male | one pierced ear | early to mid 1980s | It was fashionable for guys to have one pierced ear. In the junior high subculture if you had your left ear pierced you were straight, and if you had your right ear pierced you were gay. No one pierced both ears but George Michaels, so it was speculated that he was bisexual. It turns out this was true, and now I think he's come out as queer. |
| bandanas | unisex | accessory | 1983-89? | Rockers and New Wavers favored these worn cowboy-style. The styles ran from western to bright checks to tiger stripes. You could also roll one, tie a triangle knot in it, and wear it with the knot in front with your Polo shirt, collar up, of course. |
| bangles | female | accessory | 1980's | These came in various sizes from thin to thick and wide. They were mostly round but also came in square and wavy. |
| baseball-style concert t-shirts | both | shirts | 1980-88 | Concert shirts with colored 3/4 sleeves on a white scoop-tailed t-shirt - most likely bands: Journey, Genesis, Asia, ELO, Phil Collins, Styx. |
| boxer boots | male | canvas boot | 1984 | You had to buy 2 pair . 2 different colours you had to wear a different colour on each foot. |
| braided leather belt | male | accessories | late 80's | Extra long braided belt, looped, and allowed to hang to the ground, the longer the bettter. Also cool was to have your baseball cap strapped to your belt loop on the same side. |
| caterina | female | leggings | 80's | strechy-like capri's that go under short dresses or skirts (usually black or brown) |
| charm necklaces | female | 1984 - 1986 | Popular with younger kids, not sure about high schoolers. These were plastic link necklaces with plastic charms that would clip onto them. Girls used to trade charms with their friends. You could fit A LOT of charms on them because they clipped all along the plastic links. Most of the charms had little bells attached so you were sort of noisy walking around with them. Some of the charms had cool moving parts, like a plastic roller skate with moving wheels. They were really popular around 1985 or so. In sixth grade even my teacher had one! | |
| clutch purses | f | purse | dont know | No strap purses that you had to "clutch" under your arm. Rabbit fur was very popular but your arm tended to wear off the fur. |
| converse | both | sneakers | 1986 ish | My mom used to wear CONVERSE with almost everything ...she had white ones and would change the shoelaces...it was pretty cool! |
| corset belt | female | accessory | c.1987-88 | A corset belt is a short, wide belt that laces up the center, it's basically a short, belt version of the medieval European corset vest. These were worn with minidresses, cinched over big shirts, or worn like a regular belt. I've seen them worn on Jem in the third season. |
| dungeres | girl | jeans | 1980s | ??????? |
| fedora | both | head | mid 80s through early 90s | Fedoras could be worn with everything mostly if you had long hair. |
| gelati jeans | femail | clothing | Jeans brought out by companies such as Nif Naf and Sandy Surf Co. These jeans are similar to bubblegum jeans. They came out in a range of gelati colours, with one of the most popular colurs being peppermint green. | |
| hair bobbles and slides | female | for bunches | 1981-83 | novelty hair slides such as tothbrushes were liked. Hair bobbles were often just hard round and plastic and huge, but there were many new designs happening. hairbands and bun-nets were popular. |
| jammers | unisex | sunglasses | 80'-90's | Jammers multicoloured sunglasses |
| jaw clips | Female | head | late 80's | Brightly colored jaw clips used to pull up one side of the hair while the other side was left hanging. Paired with dangle earrings that reached your shoulders you were considered cool. And from what I am seeing the jaw clips and the earrings are coming back. Not used in the same manner of course...lol |
| jeans with white piping | m/f | 80's | Mostly girls wore these. The jeans had a white piping down the outside of each leg. | |
| jelly shoes | female | shoes | '80s | Clear shoes that little girls wore. Came mostly in clear or pink, and, if you were lucky, sparkily. Usually worn with socks that had beads at the tops so when you folded them it would produce a jingle-bead effect. All the rage in pre-k, but everyone soon caught on. |
| john | m | Skillito Thongs | early 80's | Really narrow thongs that every time they were worn your feet would end up really black as they paper thin on the soles. they were brightly coloured |
| john fluvogs | female | shoes | 80s | shoes that were SO pointed you could kill the smallest spider in a corner. |
| laura | female | Empire Waist Skirt | 88-90 | Skirt who's waistline came up to just below the bustline area, common in pencil and ra-ra skirt styles - somtimes worn with suspenders and/or bolero jacket |
| leaf earrings | female | leaf earrings | 1981-82 | Gold leaves that looked like actual gilded elm or poplar leaves hanging from the earlobes by a small chain. Very popular in my Texas suburb with Siouxsie Sioux-style teased hair and the briefly popular under-the-hair headbands (as opposed to the Native American-style over-the-hair headbands of the late 1960s/early 1970s). |
| lee lee | female | butterfly tops | 1986 | These were blousy dressy tops made of sequins in the pattern of a butterfly. The sleeves even hung a bit like the wings and the entire shirt made up the actual butterfly. We wore these with black stretch pants and matching flats. |
| leggins | female | skin type lycra trousers | 1980's | Lycra material trousers which are skin tight mostly worn inside to lounge around in. Came in blue and pink. Also worn working out. |
| liberty spikes | both | hair | 1980s-today | Spikey hair that is chunked into long parts that taper to a point usually any color of the rainbow and can be very long, 3 ft tops beeswax is usually used to put them up. |
| lisa | f | Italy Jackets | 1986 | Okay, if you lived in Philly or New York this was a must have for all the guidos. It was a white silk material jacket with a zipper. You dudes would have your name embroidered on the front and on the bag was a huge Italy boot! Around the waistband and wrists were the italy colors on the elastic, red green and white. Oh my god, with the gold chains with the italian horn hanging and the black slicked back hair, it made my heart skip a beat! Damn if they didn't get out of the iroc smelling like cheap cologne, send my heart aflutter. |
| megan | female | for this information | like now | i need this website and everything....! |
| melanie | female | def leppard british flag t-shirts | 80's | the famous t-shirt that looked like an entire british flag front and back made famous by Def Leppard. |
| melanie | female | rainbow shirts | 80's | 3/4" sleeve white shirts with a rainbow extending from 1 arm, across the chest to the other arm. |
| mid mohawks | both | hair | 1985-95 | Mohawks that were gelled on top,and left the hair on the sides down very famous for punk rockers |
| moon boots | female/male | snow boots. | 80-89 | moon boots were the boots that looked like neil armstrongs when he landed on the moon. mostly kids wore them in the snow, but sometimes there would always be that one kid who wore them all the time and they smelled so bad. |
| mullet | female | safety pins | mid to late 80's | You were not stylin unless you had about 15 safety pins giving the bottom of your jeans that great "tappered" look. |
| nICOLE | FEMALE | Esprit Woven Shoes | 1987 | White leather woven sandal-like shoes. Kinda of crisscrossed like a checkerboard on the top of foot and woven around heel. So cool! Only white!! |
| net gloves | both | accessory | 1980's | These were fingerless gloves made of a lacy or fishnet pattern that ranged from wrist length to over the elbow. |
| nightwear | female | nightdresses | 1982 | Victoria plum or similar design such as mrs piggy nightdress in pastel colours pink yellow and blue, They were often quite long with a valance at the bottom that flared out like a gypsy dress. |
| peg rolled jeans | both | jeans | 80's | Jeans that you pulled so tight at the ankle then rolled them 1-2 times. |
| peter pan Boots | female | boots | 1980's | Peter Pan Boots came in leather or suede, you would fold over the top of the boot. You tucked your guess jeans into the boot or your stirup pants. They were very cool |
| philly kid | male | casal glasses | '82 - '90 | Very expensive, trendy eyeglasses worn by hip hoppers of the 80's. The frame was made of plastic with 14k gold on the rim, nose bridge and along the top of the frame. These glasses were also sought after by thieves who often went so far as to murder individuals who were reluctant to hand them over. Yep, that was the 80's. |
| ring sweater | F | sweater | early 1980s | Any solid color sweater with a design encircling the neck -- like a ring. |
| rita | Male/Female | I.D Bracelets | early 80's | I.D Bracelets-usually worn by couples with their names inscribed on the inside. |
| rolled up jacket sleeves | male | man top | mid 80's | A suit jacket with a dress shirt rolled up to your elbows |
| sarah | female | Frolsch beer bottle tops | Late 1980s | Inspired by boyband Bros, you would atatch the bottle top to the front of your doc marten shoes, worn with stonewash jeans with turn ups so your sock showed. |
| scarf | Female | accessory | 80's | Big scarves worn around the hips pirate fashion, seen in Pat Benatar videos. |
| scrunches | female | accessories | late 80s to early 90s | Hair accesories that people would wear on their side pony tails or just their pony tails |
| shikira | female | woolen dresses | 1982 | Snow-themed woolen dresses that had a picture of snow flakes on the front and a little village in the background. They were hugely popular and mainly came in the colour blue. These were around the same time as those woolen hats also with snowflakes on, with a long plaited tail at the end. |
| shikira | female | patent leather shoes | 1987 | They looked like Dr.Martin boots but were in the style of a shoe found in Kay's catelouge. They came in different colours from orange, green, black, red and yellow. Mine were shocking pink and were very loud looking with my school uniform. |
| shoulder pads | both | Shoulder pads | the 80s | Shoulder pads |
| shoulder pads, multiple | female mostly | shoulder pads, layered | early to mid-1980s | The shoulder pads that were everywhere in the 80s looked best with tailored, fitted clothes. Unfortunately, they were also put in the oversized cotton jersey clothes that were popular at the time. A lot of these came with velcro in the shoulders so you could put in any size and shape of shoulder pad you wanted. With oversized tops, the pads would often slide off the shoulder to the front or back, so it was common to see women repositioning them. This was especially funny when they'd wear an oversized top with shoulder pads under an oversized jacket with shoulder pads under an oversized coat with shoulder pads. They'd have one pad sliding to the back, one to the front, one sliding down the arm, etc. |
| skirts/spandex | F | skirts/spandex | 83-86 | Wearing a short skirt over long, tight spandex. |
| slip | female | petticoat dress | 1982 | Tartan slips that were like plain white vests underneath and tartan skirts all in one's. A jumper was often worn over the top with matching tights. |
| star earing | female | accessory | 1983-1989 | Big star earrings with many different, bright colors. I remember wearing them like to school dances. Very popular back in the day. |
| stirup pants | female | pants | the 80's | Stretchy pants with an elastic waist that had an additional piece of elastic sewn to the bottom foot opening. The elastic was worn hooked under your heel, A STIRUP. It was popular to wear scrunchy socks over the top of these. And don't for get your KEDS!!! |
| sweatbags | female | purse | 1985 | A sweatbag was a purse made of sweat shirt material and they came in all different colors and they had tears of sweat underneath the name. |
| tight-rolled pants | female | jeans/any pants | late 80's | Girls would tight-roll the bottoms of their jeans or any pants that they wore. |
| toe socks | female | brightly stiped socks w/ a pocket for ea. toe | 1976-1982 and 2001 | These were very popular in the late 70's and early 80's but disappeared after leg warmers got popular. They were usually worn with Birkenstocks (although some sported the flip-flop Big Bird look.) I was extremely happy to find them at Walmart recently (with matching gloves, of course!) and even found one in turquoise tye-dye! |
| tretorn | female | shoes | late 80's | The tretorn shoe was the coolest shoe to have. If you had the plaid striped, you were just in a league by yourself. I wish I had a pair now! I loved my shoes. |
| v-back sweaters | female | sweaters | Usually fluffy & knitted with giant needles, the V went at the back. | |
| vest | both | tops | mid 80s to mid 90s | Vests were really cool back then it could go with anything! T shirts, dress shirts, etc. |
| waffle jumpers | male/female | a jumper knitted in a waffle type design | 1981 | Everyone wore these in blue to school and maroon coloured at home. They were really cool. Skinheads wore them too. They could be round or v necked. |
| watch ring | female | ring that is also a watch | late 80's | It is a ring that is also a watch... 2 in 1! |
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