Off topic subject – 80’s Fashion.
I’ve been looking for an 80’s dress that I like, or at least a style so I can force my mom into making me one…but I’ve not really had any luck.
I think some of you (or most…?) lived through the 80’s, so I was wondering if you could help me out.
Pictures would be great, so feel free to post. =]
Have you tried vintage clothing shops? Might be a way to get ideas, if not the dress itself. My favorite brand without a doubt was ESPRIT – they were very popular in the 80s. I used to rip pictures out of their mailings and put them on my bedroom walls.
You could also shop ebay for 80s era sewing patterns.
Are you looking for some dressy or casual? I can remember one of my favorite looks in HS being a black spandex mini skirt and black pumps with a solid, but brightly colored mock turtleneck. BIG earrings were mandatory with almost everything. That was my “chic” look. 
I looked at some vintage shops online, and only mainly found 30-60 clothing.
xD I’m looking for a dress. Any kind. Everyday dress or a more classy one.
The dress I wore to my graduation in 1986 had a sailor top so it was kinda boxy and then it had a 4 inch wide band that fit closely around the waist and a full, just below the knee skirt. If you want 80’s dresses, look for photos of Princess Diana.
I have some patterns that my SIL gave me, I haven’t looked at them in awhile. If you give me your clothing size, I’ll look to see what I’ve got. Measurements are better than number sizes.
You might find 80’s dresses on Ebay. :shrug:
I was still too young to dress in the 80’s style for the “real” part of the 80’s, but what I remember seeing a lot of was frills. Skirts were really short with rows and rows of ruffles on them - wide ruffles, not narrow. I remember one dress in particular that the top was like a tank top, fell down just below the waistline and then went into the 3-5 inch wide ruffles to just above the knee.
HTH!
That was my graduation dress…lol. Well it wasn’t a tank…had short sleeves…but it was black and had sort of black and white plaids in the ruffles. i believe it was 3 rows of wide ruffles…maybe 4. And they were all different plaids. I loved that dress and our class colors were black and white so it fit in perfect. 
Do you think you could find a picture of that dress?
Sara- Thanks for the offer. I’m sort of a bigger person, so I don’t know if you’d have anything. =\
ooooooooooh…i know i have some but where is a very good question. if i have time to dig around today i will.
Thanks! =]
I think they’re all in a size 12 range. :shrug: Too small for my family, that’s why they’re packed away in a box. :teehee:
I vary in that range. Some sizes are different so I can wear 12, then theres a few 14 that work for me.
Do you need this dress for a particular event?
I was thinking that if you wanted to knit something, a sweater dress with dolman sleeves would be very 80s, especially if bloused a bit with a large belt.
Oh wow. Ruffles. I remember that being very big earlier in the 80s, when I was in jr. high. There were these very fussy looking blouses that everyone wore with their sassoon jeans. :teehee: I remember the sailor look too. Ah – I know! How about a bubble skirt? Those made a resurgence recently for some odd reason, so maybe you could find a newer one on a clearance rack.
I don’t really need it. I want one bad and so I convinced myself I might need it later on in the future. xD
People keep talking about bubble skirts. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen them.
I feel like the most uncool teen. xD
And don’t forget about “big hair”, too! :roflhard:
Bubble skirts were cool! My mom made one for me out of houndstooth fabric when I was a younger teen, and it was kind of a big deal for me…my first piece of “couture”!
Basically, anything bold was popular then–bold and chunky jewelry, bold colors, bold clothes! 
The ruffled skirts were popular then. They were usually mini-skirts with maybe three layers of ruffles. Butterick has a pattern that might be helpful…it’s not exact, but maybe it can pass for an '80’s skirt. Lamé was a popular fabric for party dresses as well as satin. For my high school dances, strapless was usually pretty popular, although I’m not sure who figured that putting a developing woman’s bust into a strapless dress would make for a good idea! We would wear lots of rhinestone jewelry with these dresses, and if you wanted to be really fancy-schmancy, you could wear elbow-length gloves or lace gloves. Madonna influenced a lot of the '80’s fashion. Layers of jewelry were popular too. We’d pore over our Seventeen magazines and oogle over the Gunne Sax dresses! :teehee: If you can find old reruns of the short-lived ‘80’s sitcom, “Square Pegs”, or even “The Facts of Life”, these can be helpful, as well as old John Hughes’ movies: Sixteen Candles, Weird Science, The Breakfast Club. Am I dating myself here? :oops: My sister had a dress almost exactly like Madonna’s dress in her “Material Girl” video minus the bow in the back, if that helps to paint a picture.
Since we’re talking about dresses–please everybody, don’t laugh!–I posted a couple of my prom pictures if it’ll help. I didn’t include the guys I went with since we were talking about dresses. The names have been changed to protect the innocent! The green dress you might not be able to see a lot of detail in the picture because of the lighting, but it was kind of “Carmen Miranda”-ish in that it was short in the front and went longer in the back and had a ruffle around the bottom (I think this was a Vogue pattern) similar to this current Vogue pattern style. The burgundy dress had a detachable dotted tulle overlay skirt so you could wear it straight or with the overlay–very cool! Hope some of my rantings helped a bit! :oops:
You can find lots of vintage sewing patterns on Etsy and Ebay. That’s what I would do. I’m old enough to remember the 80s, but apparently not wise enough to avoid their return. I caught myself buying leggings the other day. You can laugh, but they’re so comfortable!
Here is a post with some pics of us in the 1980s, but also of some cool sweater dresses that are very 80s looking.
Who HASN’T seen these? They’re cult classics, now. And you forgot Pretty in Pink. :teehee:
I did forgot Pretty in Pink–I blasphemed!
