Have you ever glanced at your old high school yearbook pictures and asked yourself “What in the world were we thinking?.” Just like thousands of other’s much of my childhood and high school years occured during the 1980’s. Now as I am looking back at some of the fashion choices we made during the ‘80’s and I agree with some of the items that designer’s are bringing back. Items such as bell bottom jeans and wedge or platform shoes are items that have made very successful comebacks. However, just because some items are having successful comebacks certainly doesn’t mean that all fashion items from  the 80’s will have a successful comeback. Some items from the past should stay right where they are.- in the past.

I look at myself and my friends back in the ‘80’s and frankly I want to know exactly how we thought we looked good.  Our hair was teased up real high and then saturated with Aqua Net hairspray to keep it held in place.  I’m sure everyone who lived during the 80’s remembers that large pink and white aerosol spray canister of Aqua Net hair spray, it was an essential beauty product for a great many people. However, it would make your hair so stiff that if someone were to try and run their fingers through your hair they would not be able to do so.

Now, I have seen both woman and men who dress as if they are still living in the 1980’s with their parachute pants and teased hair for the ladies, and mullets and the “Don Johnson” look on the men. The next fashion item that should never be repeated are the parachute pants, they are baggy and truly unflattering. 

The third fashion mishap would be the funky hairdo’s, sported most often by the men, the ones called mullets and the one called a tail. I don’t see where the mullet would look good on any of the people I know in my group of friends. The mullet hairdo is when the hair is cut short in the front and sides yet remains longer in the back. The mullet first came out in the late ‘60’s however it didn’t become a fashion fad until the early ‘80’s. There was also the tail hairdo where you are literally leaving the tail on the back of the head. To get it right most barbers would separate the hair into three even sections and he would cut off both of the side sections leaving the middle strands as the tail. I never understood the mullet and tail idea but I guess it’s to each his own am I right?

The number four fashion mishap that should never return to the current fashion lines would be the dreaded shoulder pad. In the 1980’s women were walking around looking like football linebackers with such squared shoulders. The shoulder pad was first introduced in the 1930’s, however they too did not become a fashion fad until the 1980’s, and by the 1990’s the shoulder pad fad had faded.

Our fifth and final fashion mishap from the 1980’s would be the Don Johnson look. There were hundreds of fans for the hit TV series Miami Vice where Johnson played Crockett. The t-shirt under the bright Armani suit coat, white pleated dungarees, and slip on shoes. These are the top five fashion mishaps of 1980 that should never make a comeback to the fashion world of today.