By Lucie M. Winborne, ReMIND Magazine
Half the enjoyment of living through a decade is looking back at it later, whether it’s with a nostalgic or jaundiced eye, and the ’80s provided their fair share of fodder. Yes, there were important advances in medicine and technology. There were global shakeups, losses and victories. But if we’re honest, much of the fun lies in remembering the cultural milestones embodied in less momentous matters, such as …
How we looked.
Eighties fashion was all about BIG, baby. The teased and feathered hair towering skyward. The big tops — T-shirts, sweatshirts and sweaters accented with big, gaudy belts. The shoulder pads that symbolized girl, er, woman power. (Well, didn’t they? What other purpose could they have possibly served?) The bold eye shadows that stretched to the eyebrow. The bright clunky jewelry.
How we smelled.
A whiff of scent is such an innocent thing, isn’t it? But sometimes its advertising smells of scandal, like that for Calvin Klein’s “Obsession,” which featured suggestive nudity during his divorced, “anything goes” days. Or Jovan’s “Musk,” a brand name that the Rolling Stones allowed to be imprinted on their 1981 “Tattoo You” tour tickets, to the open derision of at least one rock critic.
How we drank.
Remember “new” Coke? (Also known as “Epic Fail.”) How about Original New York Seltzer? The brainchild of a father and son team who wanted to create a more “natural,” caffeine-free beverage, this soda in chunky little glass bottles featured flavors such as blueberry, peach and root beer, but it’s not really clear whether it was the taste or those fun-to-peel-off foam labels that kept people coming back for more.
How we played.
Did a doll once really incite riots? Amazingly, yes. Both cute and homely, Cabbage Patch Kids dolls were at one point so popular that understocked stores didn’t stand a chance against thousands of desperate customers, some actually wielding baseball bats. On the tamer side, girls who grew up dreaming of owning their own horse found a lovable substitute in My Little Pony, a line of colored plastic horses with brushable manes and tails.
How we kept fit.
What did expanding boomers do to stay in shape? Huff and puff to celebrity workouts in color-coordinated leotards, sweatbands and leg warmers, of course — thanks largely to the example set by Jane Fonda. Just as important was the soundtrack. Olivia Newton-John might have wanted to get physical, but most of us knew she wasn’t talking about exercise, no matter what moves she demonstrated in her hit song’s video. Even movies jumped on the bandwagon: Heavenly Bodies and Perfect may have been short on plot, but they were long on hot dance routines and toned muscles. And the list goes on. Each decade can and does fill books with our memories: embarrassing, nostalgic, amusing and sometimes simply inexplicable. But in the process of creating them, would we really have it any other way?
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