A mall circa 1982 (filmed in November 1981 actually)
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TIL ordinary people, the ones you would see everyday didn't quite look like Bananarama. /s Maybe those people writing articles on pop culture websites need to do their research right? What I find surprising is that the Farrah feathered hair survived well into 1981 despite Farrah Fawcett herself dropped the look by then!

And here's a mall walk from Christmas 1988, so it's almost 1989. More exaggerated hair and clothes design, but still a far cry from what pop stars rocked in music videos, hey:
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I think Bryan Adams in the 80's is one of those few popular singers that actually looked more real - no crazy hair or outfits on his Run To You, Summer Of 69 videos for example.

Eastern Europe was even more clean-cut than the West in attire, but even the West was not as outrageous and crazy-dressed as some people today believe. The Farrah do survived well into 1980, 1981 and even early 1982 in the USA. Curly/permed hair was present on some women, but not as popular as in the late 80's (and many of those rocked an afro, even White and Asian women). There were also more straight hair styles in the early 80's. In general the late 80's seem more of the same messy/frizzy big hair on 95% of women, while the early 80's seem more varied in terms of hair styles. But the late 80's had more varied clothes, while the early 80's clothes were fairy uniform and more clean-cut/conservative. :)

I prefer the look and feel of the early 1980's as the later half was too rich on baggy tracking suits in crazy colors like purple and frizzy hair on everyone. It looks like many people in the late 80's looked like homeless people lite with their messy hair and clothes. ;D As I like classy girls over the over-sexualized late 80s to present ones, I dig the females from the early 80's more.

In the mid-80s my sisters had this look going on... baggy shirts, big belts worn on the outside, pixie boots, blonde highlights  ;D...

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Thanks for that stuff. I love the authentic things more than the set up ones in magazines. :)

Yes,  I was always perplexed by those websites purporting to show 80s fashion.  I usually find them to be way off the mark.  I always wondered if it was a geographical thing or a socioeconomic thing.  I came from a middle class family in Hawaii.  I graduated from HS in 1984 and went to college in the rural Midwest, then came back for graduate school in 1988.  What I remember of the time in no way resembles what I see on some of these websites.

After I graduated from high school, I mostly wore T-shirts and shorts.  In cool weather, T-shirts and jeans.  In cold weather, add flannel shirts.  My hair was mostly unstyled, parted in the center.  In college I grew it out to shoulder length hair --- sort of the hippie look.  Sort of like this

https://www.mens-hairstylists.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/1990-Mens-Hairstyle-Long-Curly-Haircut.jpg

except only one half or one third as long.

In high school we had a dress code and had to keep it short (above the collar).  My private high school dress code also forbade T-shirts, so I wore mostly aloha shirts or polo shirts or knit shirts, with trousers.

This is what Hawaii looked like in 1984:

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It's fairly close to the way I remember it.  Here's another video, longer, but probably not safe for work:

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Here's a video of a subway ride in New York City in 1987.  These kids are more on the hip and stylish side, but even then, it's relatively restrained compared to what you see on some websites.

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Here's a video taken outside a Grateful Dead concert in Philadelphia in 1988.  Probably NSFW.

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Again, pretty close to the way I remember it.

Yeah, those websites seem to be very very NY- or LA-biased (or if European London-biased). I am not aware of the demographics, but I bet just as much if not more people lived outside of the East and West coast US. And while all those hip and experimental subcultures like New romantics, etc. really DID exist in big cities like NY and London, they were not as huge as people make them out to be. Maybe with teens at most but most employers from like McD to big corporations wouldn't accept a very OTT look, especially back then. Those artsy/hip/whatever styles predominate always in the arts and artistic-like settings like record shops. Even now few people dare to dress like from a music video. Imagine 20 years from now sites claiming that women in the 2010's dressed just like Lady Gaga. ;) So the most popular style of most people was totally different, yet those websites exaggerate the more hip/underground stuff. :D

In the emo era we had some emo-like classmates, but the majority wore far more conservative clothes. I think all subcultures must be embraced, even the less daring ones. What those sites also forget is that often the wacky way of dressing is often a phase in people's lives and it's place-dependent. Many people also rotated many different looks (e.g. dress as yuppie for work, be more like a rock star in their free time).

Last year my daughter was in a school play and had to dress "80s". She asked my opinion of various options she'd chosen and none of them seemed like anything I wore or remembered others wearing. She seemed to think that Lycra shorts and leg warmers would be a standard outfit to wear to school!

Think "The Breakfast Club"

The images I clicked on seem to be copyrighted.

Last year my daughter was in a school play and had to dress "80s". She asked my opinion of various options she'd chosen and none of them seemed like anything I wore or remembered others wearing. She seemed to think that Lycra shorts and leg warmers would be a standard outfit to wear to school!

Who can blame her really though? If you google "80s clothes" you get things like:
https://smhttp-ssl-56544.nexcesscdn.net/media/catalog/product/c/1/c1891_80s_wild_girl.jpg

It's the same for other decades - only the most exaggerated b.s.

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Look at the way the kids are dressed in this CityTV news clip from 1985.  I was 9 and neon colours were all the rage back then.  It's also great to know that the boys aren't afraid to wear pink.  ;D

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Look at the way the kids are dressed in this CityTV news clip from 1985.  I was 9 and neon colours were all the rage back then.  It's also great to know that the boys aren't afraid to wear pink.  ;D


There must've been a whole lot of different colors back then.

There must've been a whole lot of different colors back then.


I could show you a few pictures of the things that I wore at that time that would make you cringe!

I could show you a few pictures of the things that I wore at that time that would make you cringe!


go right ahead.  :)

I could show you a few pictures of the things that I wore at that time that would make you cringe!
I love to cringe so put them right up. ;)

Oh my thank you for the vids christopher!!!!!!

I loved the 1981 one!!!!!!!! (The 1988 one I didnt care for really,too stupid looking with baggy pants,etc)

Who can blame her really though? If you google "80s clothes" you get things like:
https://smhttp-ssl-56544.nexcesscdn.net/media/catalog/product/c/1/c1891_80s_wild_girl.jpg

It's the same for other decades - only the most exaggerated b.s.


Very f**king ridiculous.  Only Maddona or maybe even Cyndi Lauper could have pulled that stuff off.

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CNE footage from 1983.  Of course, The CNE was the place to pick up guys! ;D

Very f**king ridiculous.  Only Maddona or maybe even Cyndi Lauper could have pulled that stuff off.


http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iyuUQT9UiC8/TdcBEKlQBjI/AAAAAAAADIQ/hHvOKka1v0g/s320/Cyndi+Lauper+rock+hair.jpg

https://i.pinimg.com/474x/8d/8a/7f/8d8a7f2ae5b8b72973bae7b81c62845a.jpg

Don't forget the punk scene was big in the early to mid 80s. A quick search on YouTube found vids from the US, UK and even Australia. Their everyday wear was pretty wild.


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Really, though, I'd recommend going to classmates.com and looking through some old high school yearbooks if you want a better idea of popular styles from any given year.  ::)

I love looking thru my school yearbook!!