An Eighties Party

A young woman at work was invited to an Eighties party. Guests were encouraged to dress in something that people wore in the 1980's. I thought it was a cute idea. She talked about it afterwards at lunch. She said, "I had this really wild eye makeup and really big hair up to here. And I found this wild shirt and some crazy pants that didn't match it at all."

How strange, I thought. We didn't look like that, did we? She sounds like something out of a John Waters movie.

In high school, we thought we were the height of fashion. I did as much of the preppy thing as I could, with my limited funds and my limited taste in clothes. My girlfriend at the time, Patty, dressed great. She was deemed by Chris Johnson one evening as "the preppiest girl in school." It's not true. Even then I realized that Aimee Adkins (just look at that name) was like a cartoon drawing of what a preppy girl would look like. Chris was drunk with Pattylove. We both were. Still, she was a damn fine dresser. Still is.

I guess it was later in the Eighties when people did strange things like the hair and they eye makeup. Sort of a punk influence combined with a basic trashiness.

My point is that I used to go to 50's parties when I was young. Did we have it as wrong as this girl? Were we that horrible in our aim to get it right?

I asked, "How old were you in the eighties?"

Her reply was, "I was born in 1981."

Oh please! I forget how young they are. Give me someone on their 40's any day. No wonder.