I always wonder if it is just me or if other people have noticed that there was a drastic difference between the early 80's and the late 80's.  I graduated in 1985....I went overseas for the military right after that, and when I came back less than 2 years later the high school kids didn't seem like we were.  In our school we had jocks, preps, freaks (the potheads or whatever you want to call them) geeks.....when I went to visit my old school in late 86/early 87 I saw my first bright green mohawk.....I thought I would die laughing.  That was when punk came in fashion.  This is up in Baltimore...a fairly large place so it wasn't because we were behind the times. ???  A really close friend of mine is 10 years younger than me, and he describes the 80's totally different than I do, but his heyday was in the late 80's.  Opinions????

In the early 80s, I was growing up in Hong Kong.  Totally different landscape.  I moved to America in 1985, and basically grew up here, so I guess I caught the tail end of the 80s culture.  I still remember seeing E.T. in the theaters, as well as the first two Indiana Jones movies...I don't think I can reasonably compare two different cultures of two different time periods though.

The late 80s were cool, I was getting very good at English and I recall watching A-Team re-runs and MacGyver...and Full House was just starting, I'd watch even though I found it annoying (still do)...I also remember getting into basketball, as Magic and Bird and Jordan were lighting it up...and Wayne Gretzky's Oilers got me into hockey.  We had none of this in Hong Kong, so I guess the late 80s helped me assimilate into the American culture :)

I graduated in 1989 and I was a goth back then(still sorta am). There were jocks,stoners,modern rockers,goth/punks and preppies in my high school. It was tough looking different back then. I even got flack from teachers for wearing my black lipstick and skull buckle boots. I think it depends on what part of the country you are from. I grew up in the S.F. Bay Area so I saw mohawks,etc...back in 83.

Graduated in '90 in Phoenix AZ.  I remember the early 80's as long hair/big hair, hi-top sneakers that you didn't tie, "jellies" for girls, parachute pants & zippers...Saw a big transformation in fashion the summer/fall of '86.  Guys who once had the long hair/mullet/stoner look traded in their locks for shorter do's, often shaved on the sides & back with long hair on top & bangs (the "skater" look).  Girls leaned towards looking preppy or going with the punk/new wave style...

I seemed to be a fashion chameleon in high school...preppy look one day, surfer/sk8terboi the next, Oak Tree fashion model/victim the next... ::)

Actually, there were many faces to the '80s.  And like any calendar decade, the beginning really is a spill-over of the previous.  (We've discussed this many times.)

When I was in MS (started in '80 or so), things were still very influenced by the Disco era.  Girls were still wearing basically flat hair but curled up all around the edges.  Boys often had somewhat medium hair length (for boys, anyway).  Clothes were quite sedate.

Then we went thru a classy black&white faze, where clothes were all b&w and quite tailored.  (I think of it as the Manhattan Transfer look.)  About the same time the Izod shirts - in every imaginable color, mind you - became an absolute inescapable craze.  Then everyone was wearing suspenders and thin ties (and I mean EVERYone), the former of which could be various colors.  Then we really started freaking out and went wild w/colors and prints and how to wear everything (shirts in, out, tied up, loose, everything), and girls maneuvered hair in every conceivable way in bobs (mostly - I swear, not big hair), flaired it out like they got electrocuted a`la Christopher Llyod, or spiked it (which boys of course also did but w/short hair; they also added rat tails later).

In the midst of this huge variety, we obsessed shortly on:
overalls w/1 shoulder strap unattached
big, full big-print "sweatshirt"-type sweaters

I think things were cooling down a bit very late '80s (I know I was - growing my hair and waving it rather than spiking), but there was still much variety.  And like Ang, this is central MD I'm talking about, at least.