Someone earlier made a comparison of the '80s' fashion of Saved By The Bell, which of course is more like 1989-1990 fashion, and the grungy attire seen on The Breakfast Club (1985).

I've noticed too a lot of the video footage and TV shows and films from the eighties I've seen suggest that a good percentage of what people wore in the eighties was stuff like flannel and dark earthy tones, pretty similar to what we think of as being typical 90s fashion. It looks campy nevertheless, but in an 'underdone' kind of way, not an excessive or overdone way.

Was 80s and 90s fashion more alike than people remember it as being?

I was born in 1986 and the first five years of my life was awash with neon.
Neon on my clothing. Neon on my bedding and drapes. Hell, I even had Barbies in neon pink. A neon pink doll corvette and limo. It was everywhere.

I'm surprised my retinas aren't burned. LOL. If someone was doing grungy, I missed it.

One of my favorite shirts at the time was a black t-shirt with neon blue trim on the arms.
Wish I could find something like that today. Plain and grungy it was not for sure.
Another shirt I had and loved at the time was a half t-shirt with black checker boards, geomectric shapes and again neon highlights (orange I think). This no doubt would look ridiculous to people today, back in the 80's I don't recall friends thinking twice when I'd wear it. In the same time frame, I'd also wear plain white t-shirts and a thin flannel shirt cover, so very much the average, grunge look I'd guess. The colorful neon stuff that was available and accepted at the time is what seems to set the 80's apart. No folks didn't wear it constantly, but yes we wore it, and with pride!!

I saw a meme once that showed a picture of an "80s workout video" with the line "how people think people dressed in the 80s" above it. Then the picture below that was, I think, a still image of The Breakfast Club where the clothing was pretty plain and it said "how people actually dressed in the 80s". I wish I could find it.

From my own observations from my family's photo albums and home videos, typical clothing from like, 1984-1993 were thin cotton button-up shirts and jeans (acid-washed from 1987-1992ish), and the hair of course was a little more wild, like teased bangs for women and mullet-like hair on men (though not as dramatic-looking as it tends to be portrayed retrospectively). I think neon was really more for kids (pants with laser-like designs on them, for example).

Moral of the story, the average person didn't dress like a rockstar in the 80s.

Someone earlier made a comparison of the '80s' fashion of Saved By The Bell, which of course is more like 1989-1990 fashion, and the grungy attire seen on The Breakfast Club (1985).

I've noticed too a lot of the video footage and TV shows and films from the eighties I've seen suggest that a good percentage of what people wore in the eighties was stuff like flannel and dark earthy tones, pretty similar to what we think of as being typical 90s fashion. It looks campy nevertheless, but in an 'underdone' kind of way, not an excessive or overdone way.

Was 80s and 90s fashion more alike than people remember it as being?


I've noticed this too, the '80s really toned it down compared to the '70s, people in casual attire looked more sensible ;D, from some pics I've seen from the '70s, people really DID wear some far out, outta sight stuff(in class pics, everyday wear, ect). I actually think the '80s went back to a kind of '50s/early '60s look, especially in men's fashion, 1985 looks closer to 1955 than 1975 to me :o. Also for some reason when I look at '80s pics a lot of the women wear sweaters with light, fair colors like light blue and light pink, aside from that and some of the hairstyles(usually associated with small subcultures anyways) the '80s looks surprisingly tame.

I got to see some old camcorder videos of my extended family from 1986, 87, and 88. Aside from the occasional perm and my dad's bright red pants, everyone was dressed very plain/"grungy".

I think people base their appearances on a decade on the media at that time and not everyday people.

In 2025 people are going to think every single person in 2005 wore XXXXL baggy clothes with 5 chains or sideswept bangs and guyliner.

In the 80's ordinary teen girls dressed more like Lynn Tanner from ALF than like Madonna or Cyndi Lauper.
http://www.filmsprung.ch/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/alf2.jpg
Most ordinary kids wore casual clothes. There were of course some people into punk fashion, etc. but they were not the majority like the media make us believe. The hair was wilder, sure, but the clothes of ordinary people were quite conservative as opposed to those of then-current pop stars.

I bet in the 80's most girls looked like her:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wHgia79XjQI/Td5fiGd5LPI/AAAAAAAAAoM/AylEk9PxcaM/s1600/prep.jpg
than like them:
http://thehealthnews.org/1/ilaclar/Gurel/80s-clothes-for-girls-i19.jpg

When will fellow people from the 21st century stop bastardizing previous decades?!

I've noticed that pale colors were in for ordinary people in the 80's, not everyone was into neon colors. Neon colors were more of an early 90's thing IMO.
I don't know why people think that everyone looked like a rock star back then? It's just the opposite - most ordinary people looked nothing like pop stars back then, while since the 90's the difference between the attire of ordinary people and celebrities has been diminishing.

When will fellow people from the 21st century stop bastardizing previous decades?!


Hmmm, You see that girl on the right, in the orange shirt? Take away the belt and I wore shirts just like that in the 80's. Neon, geometric, and worse...cut off at the mid-section, it was awesome, and I loved it. (No I'm not gay, not that there is anything wrong with that)

Would anyone wear that in the 90's or beyond and not get laughed at or accused of being gay (not that there is anything wrong with that) ? Probably not. Also BTW, I'm not a bastard. You can blame it all on modern youth, but the real fact is...There were people at that time (maybe cooler than you?) that thought that look was the right look. Would I wear that today at anything but an 80's party? NO WAY!! Just like my dad wouldn't be caught dead wearing bell bottoms now! LOL I think it's important to remember, in the 50's not every single person on Earth wore poodle skirts and bobbie socks. In the 60's not every person dressed like a hippie and in the 70's not every person wore one piece polyester suits. Those that did however, set the memerable trend for the decade. Most people aren't going to focus on the ordinary, like you did in your last post. If you can accept that and understand it, you'll see where I'm coming from!  The 80's were AWESOME, TOTALLY AWESOME...no bastardizing needed. :)

Does this mean in 2035 people are going to assume that girls dressed like Lady Gaga and Nicki Minaj in the 2010s?

Does this mean in 2035 people are going to assume that girls dressed like Lady Gaga and Nicki Minaj in the 2010s?


That could very well be the case, Emman.  ;D

Does this mean in 2035 people are going to assume that girls dressed like Lady Gaga and Nicki Minaj in the 2010s?


I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case.