Growing up in the 80's was interesting and it's fun to see much of the fashion come back around.
I'm pictured here with my Dad and my sister. It's probably around 1989/1990. What I love about this photo is that I could probably wear most of this now and look in fashion! I have a ton of skinny jeans and anyone who follows my Instagram will know I have a pair of slouchy boots in my current collection. My leather jacket has a fur collar rather than fringe effects this time around.
Top left sees me in 1987 with my suede fringed jacket and dressed head to toe in black - I was in my goth phase. I loved the ballet pumps I had so much that I bought a second pair. Everything back then was black tees, long floaty skirts and skinny black jeans. The only time you saw white in my wardrobe was if I needed to wear a shirt for work.
Top right I must have been off on a walk somewhere and I am wearing my Dr Martens with fluorescent laces. Funnily enough, these types of boots are all the rage now. I have on one of the biggest and snuggliest jumpers on the planet. It's actually from Burton, a menswear shop, but that was OK because I needed slouchy jumpers back then to suit the goth come grunge look.
Bottom right I've been crimping my hair again. I used to do this a lot and it took ages. I would probably have been heading off to one of the large rock nightclubs, usually Jilly's Rockworld in Manchester or Nottingham Rock City; a friend used to organise trips once a month and the bus picked up from a pub close to my house. I've probably got my finest spandex pants on with my thigh high boots. We'll come to them in a moment.
Bottom left I am on a bus to nowhere; the khaki shirt was picked up in the Corn Exchange in Manchester. The Corn Exchange was badly damaged by the IRA bomb in Manchester in the early '90s and all the shops had to be relocated until the building was restored. Top Shop had to rent space on the lower ground floor of Debenhams and John Lewis (now Primark) gave up some space for Marks & Spencer, until they could have a replacement building completed. These days kids seem to think that terrorism originates from the Middle East, but back then it was much closer to home.
These boots were also in the loft. They were purchased from Faith Shoes in the early '90s and I always wore them on nights out, usually to the local rock night (anyone ever heard of the Cheshire Cat in Nantwich?). These will certainly be recycled and will look great with some of the skirts I purchased recently - unfortunately now I am much older, I have to tone the look down or suffer the consequences of looking MDL (mutton dressed as lamb).
And finally, I found these babies. I think these were my most proudest fashion moment of my early twenties - the purple suede thigh high boots. They were purchased in Birmingham; there were a bunch of alternative shops under one of the older shopping centres and I found these just waiting to be purchased. I immediately put them on and went straight to the Sisters of Mercy concert at Birmingham NEC (1992). They would have been worn with my favourite spandex; today you can buy shiny leggings from places like Primark and you'd have a similar effect. I used to buy night dresses from British Home Stores; no, not the flannelette things, but the short strappy silk numbers! I had one in purple and one in black, then I used to wear one over the other, sometimes purple over black or back over purple. The following year, similar items were sold as dresses in the mainstream shops.
If you haven't already fathomed by now, I am currently in my 40's. Heavy metal, rock, goth and the likes are my music of choice; early clothing choices might have given that away. I hope you enjoyed my trip down memory lane.
Please comment and let me know what influenced you when you grew up; fashion and music choices please. I'd love to hear from you.
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