The Funky Fresh 80's

I've got this 80's party tonight. It's a sendoff for one of my God's Love friends who's joining the Peace Corp. I'm excited about going, but not about the 80's gear we're supposed to wear.

I'm not really a theme party kind of girl. It's just not worth the expense for me since I'm on a strict budget right now. But I don't want to be uncooperative. I had to rack my brain to remember what I used to wear back then. I was pretty conservative, but there were a couple of standout items. Shoulder pads for one. They were in everything! (I must have spent half the 90's cutting them out of all my clothes.) And huge eyeglasses. It's amazing how fly we thought we were, and how stupid they look now. If I can find an old pair I'll rock those.

Another thing I wore constantly were those Reebok aerobics shoes. They used to come in every color of the rainbow. I only wore black (more practical for a poor college student), but I wanted all the colors. Your shoes had to match your shirt too (and so did your socks). Everything matched to a fault. And then there were the jeans—Sergio's, Jordache, Sassoon. And those Member's Only jackets. It's all coming back to me now. (Wake me when the nightmare is over!)

I wore a lot of neckties too. That whole Annie Hall thing was big then. Duck boots also made a splash in the 80's (pun intended). Then there was the jheri curl. The ubiquitous jheri curl. The disgusting, juice-dripping jheri curl. It was on the head of at least 50% of black folks in America at that time (I can't speak for other parts of the world). That's a whole discussion in itself!

As fun as it was tripping down memory lane, I'll just quit while I'm ahead (I'm already too close to giving my age away). :-) I just hope I'll be able to put something together so as not to disappoint.