Back in the 1980s, I worked as a writer/ reporter for various teen mags. I thought it might be fun to turn the clock back thirty years and look at what life was like for teens in 1987...
Ian & Polly
People call us 'psychobillies' after the psychobilly music we like - the style stems from 1950s rockabilly, but the sound is very 1980s! We met at an alternative club and we love a lot of the same style and music, but in the past some of my boyfriends have been embarrassed to introduce me to their friends! I don't care though... this is the way I want to dress. I used to get a bit of hassle at school, with teachers sticking pencils into my quiff - it's solid with hairspray - but I actually get away with less now I've left school. I'm on a secretarial course and I have to dress low key for college. Ian changes the way he looks for work too... you don't mess around with jobs, do you? I'd love to say I'll still be dressing this way in ten years time, but I honestly doubt it. I'd like to think I was still a bit different, though, I'd hate to be just one of the crowd!
Fae & Aydo
We follow our own style... we get influences from everywhere, and we go down to London a lot as things are always changing there style-wise. Aydo used to get into trouble at school for not combing his hair, and I used to shave the sides of my head and have a Mohican - my parents hated it. My new hairstyle, Aydo invented at the weekend... it took him sixteen hours to do all the tiny plaits! Aydo is a fashion designer - he designed these trousers - but I'm a receptionist, so I have to tone things down a bit for work! The music we like isn't especially tied up to how we dress - we like Bowie, Divine, Tina Turner, Madonna, lots of stuff.
Andrew & Helen
We've known each other for ages... we go to the same school and live in the same area. People call this style 'casual' - for me, that's about wanting to fit in with friends. I'd hate to look weird or be started at in the street - who wants to be laughed at? I buy my clothes from Top Shop and add style touches of my own - I always wear lace in my hair and wrap lengths of lace around my wrist like bracelets. Music wise, we like Patsy Kensit, Curiosity Killed the Cat, Bon Jovi, U2 and Simple Minds.
Jane & Jon
We met at art college and we both like the same sort of music - The Sisters of Mercy, The Cure, that kind of thing. People expect art students to dress a bit differently so in a way things are easier for me now than when I was at school - I've been a Goth since I was about thirteen. My mum got used to me dying my hair different colours, but school never did! It's not an expensive look - I make a lot of my own clothes and find stuff in the Oxfam shop too. We're both vegans, so I won't wear make up that's been tested on animals - I buy white stage make up and false eyelashes from a theatrical shop! It's funny how people judge you for the way you dress - we're both quite shy, but people have all kinds of odd ideas and we've been hassled in the street a few times. Why judge people on looks... it's personality that counts!
Cathy says:
I love this blast from the past. Which look would YOU have chosen? How do you think things have changed since 1987? COMMENT BELOW to have your say!
People call us 'psychobillies' after the psychobilly music we like - the style stems from 1950s rockabilly, but the sound is very 1980s! We met at an alternative club and we love a lot of the same style and music, but in the past some of my boyfriends have been embarrassed to introduce me to their friends! I don't care though... this is the way I want to dress. I used to get a bit of hassle at school, with teachers sticking pencils into my quiff - it's solid with hairspray - but I actually get away with less now I've left school. I'm on a secretarial course and I have to dress low key for college. Ian changes the way he looks for work too... you don't mess around with jobs, do you? I'd love to say I'll still be dressing this way in ten years time, but I honestly doubt it. I'd like to think I was still a bit different, though, I'd hate to be just one of the crowd!
We follow our own style... we get influences from everywhere, and we go down to London a lot as things are always changing there style-wise. Aydo used to get into trouble at school for not combing his hair, and I used to shave the sides of my head and have a Mohican - my parents hated it. My new hairstyle, Aydo invented at the weekend... it took him sixteen hours to do all the tiny plaits! Aydo is a fashion designer - he designed these trousers - but I'm a receptionist, so I have to tone things down a bit for work! The music we like isn't especially tied up to how we dress - we like Bowie, Divine, Tina Turner, Madonna, lots of stuff.
We've known each other for ages... we go to the same school and live in the same area. People call this style 'casual' - for me, that's about wanting to fit in with friends. I'd hate to look weird or be started at in the street - who wants to be laughed at? I buy my clothes from Top Shop and add style touches of my own - I always wear lace in my hair and wrap lengths of lace around my wrist like bracelets. Music wise, we like Patsy Kensit, Curiosity Killed the Cat, Bon Jovi, U2 and Simple Minds.
We met at art college and we both like the same sort of music - The Sisters of Mercy, The Cure, that kind of thing. People expect art students to dress a bit differently so in a way things are easier for me now than when I was at school - I've been a Goth since I was about thirteen. My mum got used to me dying my hair different colours, but school never did! It's not an expensive look - I make a lot of my own clothes and find stuff in the Oxfam shop too. We're both vegans, so I won't wear make up that's been tested on animals - I buy white stage make up and false eyelashes from a theatrical shop! It's funny how people judge you for the way you dress - we're both quite shy, but people have all kinds of odd ideas and we've been hassled in the street a few times. Why judge people on looks... it's personality that counts!
Cathy says:
I love this blast from the past. Which look would YOU have chosen? How do you think things have changed since 1987? COMMENT BELOW to have your say!
Definately Jane and Jon. Used to wear studded belts with everything. Used to go to DJ Hammy's night in Southampton and listen to The Fall, The Smiths, The The, Echo and the Bunnymen, Joy Division amongst others. The best indie night around and it is still going now 30 odd years later
ReplyDeleteTeens haven't really changed at all. It's refreshing to hear that, thirty years ago, teenagers had the same attitudes as many teens today. I don't know why they wouldn't but I guess I never thought about it. I'm kind of 1980s in my style - I'm a punk so I have a blue mohawk and wear motorcycle boots, tartan trousers, battle jackets (jackets with patches), that sort of thing. I can relate to Ian & Polly and Jane & Jon. Never had a problem with teachers and my mohawk (I think they were scared!) but my peers were always touching my hair. One boy almost impaled himself on my mohawk because he wasn't expecting it to be so solid! I did warn him though. And, like Jane & Jon, I'm quite shy but people stare and whisper in the street and have all sorts of strange unproven ideas about me based on how I look. No, I don't sacrifice people to Cthulu or stamp on puppies or commit various petty crimes (I'm a law abiding vegetarian and I can barely talk to people let alone sacrifice them to a fictional monster), thanks for your concern, I guess.
ReplyDeletejane and jon sound awsome i can't believe their vegan!!!!
ReplyDelete