[girltrouble]

omg--- lilac-- one of my friends nabed one of the store displays for 'hi-karate'. i thought it was so funny. no the stink that was prevailant in my era was "drakkar noir"....ugh

[lilacwine13]

I remember Exclamation! and Navy, remember dousing myself with one of those before a high school dance. Yikes indeed.

I think thirtiesgal inadvertently described my former department head's sense of style in her description of her high school outfits: upscale beatnik/hippie. I seem to recall her wearing lots of flowy skirts and tops, and this was in the past year. Not sure if it was because of choice or because she had problems finding clothes in her size, though.

As for high school fashion, the less said the better. I lived far enough in the sticks to not have a decent thrift store and couldn't travel to the nearest big city to go shopping (Minneapolis or St. Paul), so I had to make do with whatever was at the local mall or Target. This meant I looked really boring back then because well, that's where almost everyone else shopped too. I did manage to find some hair dye a la Manic Panic at the local record store, so my hair was really bright red for a while. It was great.

What I did do was hats. Lots of hats, lots of different varieties, floppy, baseball, pillbox, flapper, I could have given the girls on Blossom a run for their money.

[octobersky]

Totally OT: Oh. My. Cod. Liz Claiborne! The locker room my freshman year of high school absolutely REEKED of that stank ass Liz Claiborne perfume. LC, Exclamation!, & Aquanet. Oh, and foot & ass.

You forgot Colours de Benetton!! OMG Exclamation! A boyfriend of mine gave me a bottle of that - yech. Cover Girl had some perfume called "Navy" *I think* A friend of mine wore that. Does anyone remember High Karate for the boys? Horrid stuff.

On the subject of stanky perfume/cologne when I was in middle school my parents made me take social dancing lessons. Oh yeah. Not my idea of fun. There was the one boy with the last name of Browning which described him perfectly as he was rather well, brown. But he would bathe in the most gawd-awlful cologne and the poor kid sweat profusely making it reek even more. Us girls had to wear white gloves and after you danced with him your gloves would just reek the entire class. To this day I don't like white gloves or stank ass cologne!

Thirtiesgirl, thanks for the complement, but I don't think it was fashion sense, just a need to not conform. Really if you saw my hair, it was laughable. That look works on one person - Robert Smith.

[thirtiesgirl]

Thirtiesgirl - I can totally identify with trying to be "goth/alternative" in a small town, pre-HotTopic - not that I would have shopped there anyway. My clothes were an odd blend of Express/Nicole/Limited and thrift store/Army Navy surplus store. Yep, that right. Combat boots and Limited jeans with a Navy peacoat accessorized with thrift store jewelry. Also complemented with a permanent scowl, Robert Smith hair and black eyeliner. Honestly in my dismal little town that was akin to social death in some circles. The aesthetic at the time there was Guess jeans, GIANT mall hair, Guess sweatshirts, matching flats and Liz Claiborne purses.

I wish I'd had that much fashion sense in high school. I didn't start visiting the Army/Navy surplus store until I was in college, and then I was almost too afraid to try anything on. I first went in to buy a Swiss Army gas mask bag (remember when those were THE punk rock purse? army green shoulder bag w/ a little Swiss Army cross on the front) because the Army surplus store was the only place that sold them (well, duh!). I probably never would have gone in, otherwise. I was still kind of a wuss back then. But the more I looked around, I realized it was a pretty good resource for 'alternative' fashion. I was so happy when I discovered the pea coat. Such a great look and mine have seen me through many winters (I have a standard black wool, and a chocolate brown wool with leopard print lining on the inside - love it!).

[auralpoison]

Totally OT: Oh. My. Cod. Liz Claiborne! The locker room my freshman year of high school absolutely REEKED of that stank ass Liz Claiborne perfume. LC, Exclamation!, & Aquanet. Oh, and foot & ass.

[octobersky]

Nah, GT I wish I was in the pnw. My bf lives there so I've been there several times - that's how I spotted the COF in at the NIN concert. I went to college in a hippie/liberal town, so about anything flew there. I'm actually considering moving to the pnw though....

Thirtiesgirl - I can totally identify with trying to be "goth/alternative" in a small town, pre-HotTopic - not that I would have shopped there anyway. My clothes were an odd blend of Express/Nicole/Limited and thrift store/Army Navy surplus store. Yep, that right. Combat boots and Limited jeans with a Navy peacoat accessorized with thrift store jewelry. Also complemented with a permanent scowl, Robert Smith hair and black eyeliner. Honestly in my dismal little town that was akin to social death in some circles. The aesthetic at the time there was Guess jeans, GIANT mall hair, Guess sweatshirts, matching flats and Liz Claiborne purses.



"kind of like seeing five sorority girls in a row walk by in juicy sweatpants, little white t-shirts, and uggs. awesome."

Exactly mouse!!! Reminds me of that line in the Holy Grail - "you're all individuals. right?" "Right!!"

[mouse]

i think there's a very large difference between grunge and the current hipster i'm-not-trying no-style style. for one, these girls were wearing urban outfittery heeled boots, not docs. definitely not a throwback to 90s styling, but more a concerted effort to be very current. unfortunately they did not consult each other and ended up looking like twins, which only highlighted their fervent trend-following.

kind of like seeing five sorority girls in a row walk by in juicy sweatpants, little white t-shirts, and uggs. awesome.

[thirtiesgirl]

Being a '30sgirl, I never had an issue with shoulderpads in the '80s, although some of the colors were pretty annoying. By the '90s, I was in full-on mod mode, I think as a reaction of sorts to grunge style. I wore monkey boots instead of Docs (although I did own a pair of two-tone Doc saddle shoes: burgundy & blue), tartan skirts, little sweaters, and black loafers. If they'd had skinny pants & skimmers at the time, I would have worn those, too.

That said, though, I also had a goth side that I never seemed to be able to find the right clothes for. I grew up in a small beachy tourist town about 2 hours north of LA, so there wasn't any place for me to shop for goth gear in my hometown. I didn't have a car in high school or early college, so I couldn't drive to Hollywood to shop at places like Retail Slut on Melrose (long before Hot Topic took over the malls of America, there was Retail Slut). So I was what I like to call a 'Ross goth.' We had 1 Ross store in my hometown, which I'd trawl about once a month for flowy, lacey tops and dresses, usually made in India, and hopefully dyed black. If I couldn't find black, I'd go for burgundy, purples or red. If they had any kind of knit or crocheted detail, all the better. I had a pair of granny boots (aka, hobnail lace-up boots) that I wore with most of my Ross goth outfits. And as I gained weight in college, the Ross goth look worked well to 'hide' the extra lbs.

What I was *actually* doing was making myself look more & more like a Stevie Nicks reject, unbeknownst to me. My 'Ross goth' look was actually 'upscale hippie/beatnik,' which I didn't realize until I saw an upscale hippie beatnik woman (there were many in the touristy beach town where I grew up) come into the record store where I worked in college, wearing the same blouse I'd bought at Ross just a month before. Oh sure, she was all pinks, mauves and aqua blues, but it was still the same damn shirt worn by this crystal-wearing hippie with the Darryl Hannah from Splash hairdo, smelling of patchouli.

I promptly went home, cleaned out my closet and got rid of as much Ross goth stuff as I could, I'm sure making any hippie/beatnik types who shopped at the Goodwill very happy. I tried to contain my Ross goth shopping in the next few years, but it was difficult. There really weren't any decent plus size clothing stores in my area at the time, save Lane Bryant, and their styles were so trendy back then, I really didn't like what they had to offer. It wasn't until I moved to LA in the late '90s that department stores really began to make some decent, wearable plus sized fashions that weren't uber-trendy or looked like old lady resort wear with rhinestones, shiny studs, puffy clouds, etc., or all made out of seersucker cotton. Lane Bryant slowly got better, less trendy and a little more individualistic (although not by much). But in the meantime, it must be said that I perpetrated many crimes of fashion while waiting for clothing retailers to catch up to the fact that there are many plus sized women out there with different, individual senses of style, and we don't all like to look the same, follow the trends or hide behind our clothes.

...Anyway, 'nuff said for now, before I rant myself into the plus size fashion thread. What can I say? I'm a big girl with a big mouth.

[girltrouble]

oh now, octo, there is no shame in grunge. you're up here in the pnw, yes? the wetlands? up here it made complete sense. back then seattle was waaaaaay more working class in atmosphere-- honestly i miss that seattle instead of the stupid, pretentious, microsoft millionare, i-have-a-condo-and-drive-a-hummer, nouveau riche bullshit that's over run it.

there was nothing wrong with grunge-- it was a product of it's environment and a reaction against the even worse cof, hair metal stylee, and the bright obnoxiousness of early to mid 80's color and shoulderpads.

[octobersky]

Mmm the grunge look, I remember that pretty clearly. I was about 20 (gah, i'm old) and one of my favorite outfits was a pair cutoffs - stolen from a boy, black tights, Doc Martens, black or some other nondescript color shirt with a flannel or sweatshirt or baggy sweater tossed over it. Comfort, pure comfort. I also owned a few babydoll dresses and clunky maryjanes....Yes Busties I was a crime of fashion!! But seriously soooo comfy, plus I thought I looked adorable. I wouldn't be caught dead in said outfits now though......

*Hangs head in shame and waits for rotten fruit to be thrown*

[thirtiesgirl]

i think grunge would at least deign to put on some goddamn pants.

This is true. But I recall seeing at the time a lot of girls doing the big flannel shirts, cut off denim shorty shorts, ripped tights and DMs. Sometimes the flannel shirts were so big, they practically hid the shorts from view. That and the babydoll dresses with big clunky shoes and bruised knees. Two looks I hope to never see again.

[mouse]

i think grunge would at least deign to put on some goddamn pants.

[thirtiesgirl]

last night, at the liquor store, two girls dressed identically:

--black boots
--black, hole-y tights
--baggy plaid flannel button-down, at least 3 sizes too big

ok, i get it. you're trying for that i'm-not-trying, lindsay-lohan-via-devendra-banhart, everything-that-gives-the-eastside-a-bad-name look. i understand, and sometimes that look can work. but come on, you two are obviously there as friends. one of you just handed the other some cash. i mean, isn't that basically as bad as showing up to the prom wearing the same dress as another girl? you guys obviously know each other, why don't you call each other before planning your meticulously unplanned eveningwear? cos otherwise, that shit's just embarassing.

That look sounds decidedly Grunge™ to me.

I should have picked up on the Oompaloompa orange tan thing. I *was* an Oompaloompa, fer chrissakes. Not in the movie, of course, but a kids' theater group I was in at age 10. We did a production of Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, and they painted all the Oompaloompas orange. We even had to be in some dopey children's parade with our green wigs and orange makeup, which of course melted in the sun as we walked the parade route. ...Hmm, perhaps this should be in the confessions thread. Bless me father, for I have sinned. I was an Oompaloompa and hated it.

[yuefie]

Spotted at a my local mall:

Man, mid forties still dressed as he clearly was in the 80's.

Example one: Big time mullet. We're talking business up front, party in back. He may as well have had a flat top with a wide rat tail in the very back.

Example two: The original Pac-Man tee that was so old it was see thru.

Example three: The acid wash pale blue bleached mom cut jeans (high waist, tapered leg) that were so light they almost appeared to be white with darker patches around knees from being so old, completely frayed at the hem.

Example four: Very, very old, dirty ass velcro Reebok's.

He was also sporting a large beer gut which was peeking out of the bottom of his shirt.

[mouse]

last night, at the liquor store, two girls dressed identically:

--black boots
--black, hole-y tights
--baggy plaid flannel button-down, at least 3 sizes too big

ok, i get it. you're trying for that i'm-not-trying, lindsay-lohan-via-devendra-banhart, everything-that-gives-the-eastside-a-bad-name look. i understand, and sometimes that look can work. but come on, you two are obviously there as friends. one of you just handed the other some cash. i mean, isn't that basically as bad as showing up to the prom wearing the same dress as another girl? you guys obviously know each other, why don't you call each other before planning your meticulously unplanned eveningwear? cos otherwise, that shit's just embarassing.

[octobersky]

That fake bake, orange-y spray tan. In the first "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" the Oompaloompa's had orange skin tones, hence the name

Edit- yeah what lilac said! Yes he was very, very orange.

[lilacwine13]

On my last trip to the mall I saw a 70 year old woman with a rat tail that went halfway down her back. The rest of her looked normal, though.

An oompa loompa tan would be really, really, orange.

[thirtiesgirl]

Pardon my ignorance, but what is an oompaloompa tan?

[cecilia]

Oompaloompa tan! Ha, I love it! Whenever I see a man sporting a rat tail, it makes me wish I kept scissors in my purse.

[octobersky]

Spotted at NIN concert in Seattle:

Strangely boxy white/grey shirt
"Mom" style jean shorts, cut to midthigh in a pale blue dirty wash
Back fishnets under said shorts
Teal/grey athletic socks pulled up to the lower calf
Dirty white Reebock circa '92

I didn't see a full front on but I really don't think she was trying to be ironic.

Yet another:
Late 40ish man
Oompaloompa tan
Dyed black hair which looked normal from the front, but when he turned around he displayed a butt-length scraggly rat tail
Black eyeliner
Black shirt/jeans
Over shirt/jeans a cheap looking black satin kimono jacket trimmed with gold satin, plus the sleeves were gathered with elastic so they were puffy. Just a strange looking little man....