Tiny shorts were hangover from the 70s, along with satin jackets and really tight, waist high jeans. There was no escaping tiny shorts in the early 80s, particularly if you did any exercise at all. To make things even worse, I think these belonged to my mother before I got them:
I’ll save my comments on the hairdo(n’t) in this photo for another time…
Tiny shorts look bad on men and women, no matter how young and trim you might be:
Hard to make out in this picture, but I am wearing the “men’s boxer underwear” short made popular by Madonna in “Desperately Seeking Susan”:
Verdict: despite what men might think, tiny shorts are bad idea. And that includes the Hooters waitresses for whom this is still a uniform.
The New York Time’s Critical Shopper slid down the slippery slope of her fashion past on a recent visit to the newly opened Topshop on Broadway. Oh, the horror!
“I found it ironic that the thumping soundtrack, when I walked in, was “Natural’s Not in It,” by Gang of Four:
The problem of leisure/What to do for pleasure/Ideal love a new purchase
A market of the senses/Dream of the perfect life/Economic circumstances?
The body is good business/Sell out, maintain the interest
This set the tone: At Topshop, it is 1983 all over again, with all the shiny spandex leggings, big cheap bangles and Day-Glo Wayfarers this implies.”
Oversize, knotted T-shirts, white lace leggings, “tea-cozy” floral prints, Day-glo rosaries and wrist cuffs, and - heavens - leggings in an acid-wash denim print:
All of which brought back my own wardrobe from that time and many questions. Was it as bad as I think it might have been? Was I stylish or merely trendy? Is recycled fashion better (by being somehow ironic) than the original thing, or is it just different? Can you revisit your fashion past and hold your head up high or shudder in disgust? This blog assembles the evidence for both sides.
