I think I realized I was “in it”, my mild obsession that is, when I was taking photos for my vintage clothing eBay Biz, Hotel Regina Vintage, (girls gotta make a little money) and I was taking a photo of our own dear Pam McGarvey (Sandy in Gemini Rising) for an 80’s dress I was putting up for auction. I think the dress is lovely: a rust jaquard silk with a classic flattering cut, dolman sleeves, and shoulder pads fit for a linebacker. Pam (whose laugh is as charming as she is) started cracking up the minute I presented the dress to her. I have to admit it did make me pause and look at the dress more critically. I still found it lovely, but the shoulder pads were rather pronounced.
“This is how we dressed in the 80’s,” I insisted amidst Pam’s hysterics. I flashbacked to myself at her age, trekking down Fifth Avenue to my temp job in “Looks like a pump feels like a sneaker” (they didn’t really) shoes, pantyhose and dress with shoulder pads, or suit. I’ve always been a conservative dress and I think my style still remains somewhat 80’s in my preference for dresses and suits. I even assured Pam that shoulder pads were making a big comeback this year and she just gave me a look.
Maybe she’s right because the damn dress didn’t sell (yet), but my point is that even though shoulder pads and other retro 80’s looks may make a brief comeback on the runway, I doubt if they will make a major impact on the far reach of fashion. Why? Because it changes so fast now that no one has time to keep up except for a certain few “fashionistas” who in my opinion are beginning to more and more resemble aliens. But I digress…
I began to wonder why I was so drawn to that rust dress (if it had fit it would be part of my Fall 2009 “statement) in the first place, and then I realized that I’ve been on a mild 80’s nostalgia bender in the past few weeks. Maybe it was the death of that former wunderkind John Hughes that set me off, but I began to reflect with sentimentality upon a decade I have previously always despised.
The obsession is beginning with the clothes and then moving on to films. Yesterday, while searching through the Netflix catalog intending to do some research for a new project I’m developing, I suddenly found myself dedicating hours of a rainy afternoon to Judd Nelson’s 1987 mini series “The Billionaires Boys Club”
and I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed every sleazy, nostril flaring second of it. I found myself thinking, “You know that Judd Nelson, was pretty damn good.” Do I really think that or is the 80’s revival just “in the air”? Does it happen naturally or is it all Madison Avenue? I’m not sure, but I can tell you that “Less Than Zero” and “Metropolitan” are now on my Netflix queue. Maybe I’m finally accepting that the 80’s really were “my generation”.
No comments:
Post a Comment