Back in Time

A couple of weeks ago, I was invited to attend a Girls’ Night Out to see an 80s cover band on February 18th (this past Saturday). The friend who invited me, Jen, implied in the invitation that we would be dressing and doing make-up like in the 1980s. I was very intrigued by the invitation and jumped at the chance for a girls’ night out. But I wasn’t really keen on the whole dressing up thing. As I have mentioned before, I am not comfortable going out in public unless I think I look “just so”. I also had no idea what I would wear, as I wasn’t sure I remembered 80s attire very well and even if I could remember, I surely had nothing in my closet that would fit the bill.

I know Jen well enough to know that she would surely rock the 80s look and the others who had accepted the invitation seemed to be quite psyched about pulling together “the look”. So in my mind, it was either step up to the plate or stay home. As the time got closer, I Googled “1980s style” and was quickly brought back up to speed on all the varied looks of the time. I was also flabbergasted to see a picture of a girl that really could have been my class picture from 1981. It wasn’t me, but the sweater, Oxford shirt, hair, and make-up were me that year to a tee. I realized I could do this. More than that, I realized I was getting excited to do this.

So I began my plan. Too bad I didn’t have any Izod and Oxford shirts, boat shoes, or sweatshirt with the neck and sleeves cut off and the inside-out seaming around anymore (and haven’t had for about 30 years). I got a tip from Jen that Old Navy had the “Flashdance” sweatshirts on sale for $8.00. After checking with her that she didn’t mind having the same shirt, I headed to the store to score one. While there, I found a facsimile of “boat shoes”. I was on a roll.

I followed the Facebook page Jen had created for the event with interest to see what everyone else was planning. Most were mentioning a particular style they were going for: the Sheena look, the Belinda Carlisle look, the Molly Ringwald look. Originally I thought about going for the Molly look, but when I found that picture online that could’ve been me, I realized the look I was shooting for was me circa 1984.

This is how I looked then:

My h.s. senior class picture, 1984

And this is how I looked last night:

Me - Back to the 80s

I wish I had pictures of my girls’ faces when they saw me. I certainly didn’t look like me. I think the style of the 80s blew them away temporarily. They were happy that I had borrowed from both of them (bangles from Sapphire and a purse from Emerald). They recovered quickly and told me I looked very 80s (although I’m not sure either of them knows what that means) and that I looked great. Sapphire even said that I was the most beautiful woman of the 80s. 🙂

The ladies and I met up at Jen’s house, oohed and awed over each other’s looks, checked out each other’s make-up, had hors d’oeuvres, and mingled. Jen even named each of us for our 80s style. She called me Heather (as in Locklear):

[Photo credit: www.izismile.com]

After about an hour or so, we headed out to the theater. The show itself was less than stellar. The opening band was a 90s Alternative Rock cover band and they were imho not very good. The feature band wasn’t much better. The lead singer was crude and crass, so much so that my friends and I dreaded every time he opened up his mouth to speak. I knew maybe three of the songs. I was more of a Journey, Police, Queen fan in the 80s. This was more Motley Crue, Metallica, Poison.

There was also the requisite fight for shows of this type. From somewhere in the front, this fight pushed backwards toward us like a fast-moving wave. We saw it right before it got to where we were standing. We quickly moved to our right, along with everyone else around us. And we kept moving to the right as the fight seemed to continually drift in our direction. It was over as quickly as it erupted, with one of the guys’ friends pushing him to the side past us and out of sight.

But who cares????? The night was fabulous!! I was with some fantastic women and we had a blast, just being out on the town together.

As for the being out of my comfort zone issue. I did feel a little odd at first, especially when only a small percentage of the attendees of the concert were dressed to the nines in 80s gear, but I soon got over that. It was too much fun just being with ladies who were rocking the whole experience. It was also fun seeing the outfits of those who did dress the part, especially those who most certainly were not born yet in the 80s. And the best part, was the realization that if I can go out in public in 2012, dressed as if I stepped back in time to 1984, on a day other than Halloween, then I must be cured.

I must confess to one small misstep, however. Check out my feet:

I had tried to pick out 80s-looking socks. I remembered during the show that we wore these shoes without socks back in the day. [Palm on forehead. :)] Oh well.

Check out Jen on the Edge and Justus4carters for more pictures from the evening and their takes on the whole night.

How would you dress if you were going to an 80s event?