Back in the day..... Bad Fashion Choices!!!

monroebaby · 09-11-2010 02:03AM #1

What did your mother dress you in?? What did you wear to school discos/raves/nightclubs?
The outfits and hairstyles that you cringe thinkin of..
I went through a "black phase" as my family called it, I wore black lipstick and dog collars and stuff like that...
all the photos are hidden...

sunshinyday · 09-11-2010 02:07AM

not my own doing but cardigans and comb overs!

the clothes were all hand me downs. always liked the broken in feeling of those clothes, the styles and colours not so sure though.

Rockery Woman · 09-11-2010 02:23AM

The weird thing is, all the horrible stuff I wore circa 1986 is back in the shops!!!!!

Dudess · 09-11-2010 02:26AM

80s horror - like pixie boots, snow/stone-washed denim items with extra zips, ski pants, jump suits, loud jumpers with pictures/words knitted into them, check pants like something a clown would wear. These were all at the ages of 10/11. My fave outfit was a black and white cropped top (with a newspaper clipping, "inky" effect type print) that had shoulder-pads (actually a nice top if it weren't for those), thick white ribbed tights, electric blue socks with multi-coloured squiggles over the tights, pixie boots, a denim jacket with flowers sewn on it, and either a snow-washed denim skirt or a blue kinda ra-ra skirt (that was actually nice).

My mum bought me an outfit that was pretty cool when I was four in the early 80s - frilly blouse, French Revolution style pantaloon kinda things... and leg warmers. I don't think it was even intentional, but it combined the then popular Adam Ant look with the Flashdance one.

monroebaby · 09-11-2010 02:38AM

Oh god, the 80's! I was dressed by my mammy in the 80's, but in the early 90's I started making my own choices...... Why was I given a choice??

I had a pair of purple culottes, and oh god I just reminded myself of the purple velvet trousers

Dudess · 09-11-2010 02:45AM

Culottes - the confirmation apparel for every Irish 12/13-year-old girl in the late 80s/early 90s ever. How did we not SEE their hideousness?! And they made us look about 50...
That reminds me of my friend's confirmation outfit which was a really bright yellow knitted mini skirt and matching jumper - how we laughed at the time, but it was actually pretty cool and she held on to it for years afterwards...

monroebaby · 09-11-2010 02:56AM

I know right? Blinded by the fact that they were trousers...that could look like a skirt... how dreadful! Also I had an Aran cardigan when I was kid, which was lovely but I hated wearing it because I was forced to wear it. And, now I would love an Aran cardigan, a small fit with skinny jeans and a lovely pair of boots.....Its possible that I could look back on this post in a few years and go WHAT???? haha! :P

Scarinae · 09-11-2010 09:16AM

I don't know what the name for this type of tracksuit is, but I used to have a green and purple tracksuit with cuffs on the ankles as well as the wrists. The top zipped up at the front. The most annoying thing about it was trying to get the trousers on after I'd been swimming, there was this shiny white lining inside them which I used to always get my feet tangled in. I seem to remember it was horrible synthetic material.

I had a pair of glittery black ski pants, they're the ones with the elastic loop that went under the sole of your foot aren't they? I used to wear them with a horrible pink jumper, it had a huge frilly collar and was covered in large black polka dots. This was actually my favourite outfit as well!

I also wore an awful lot of cycling shorts; I had a black pair with a pink and yellow neon pattern, a yellow pair with huge pink and blue flowers

Oh and culottes, I'd forgotten about those! I had a purple and yellow pair, I thought they were great because they matched my triceratops flik-flak watch

I had a reversible Snoopy jumper; it had one large Snoopy with a stripy background on one side, and loads of small Snoopys on the other. It was really warm because it had some sort of padding in the middle.

Does anyone remember the craze for hair wraps? When a small piece of hair had several coloured embroidery threads wrapped around it in various patterns and tied at the end, and you'd keep it there for months. I had three or four in my hair at one point. I was soooo cool!

09-11-2010 09:21AM

Fishie wrote: »

Does anyone remember the craze for hair wraps? When a small piece of hair had several coloured embroidery threads wrapped around it in various patterns and tied at the end, and you'd keep it there for months. I had three or four in my hair at one point. I was soooo cool!

I got one done and my mum hated it :rolleyes:
"that's lovely now take it out"

I didn't really pay much attention to them when I was 10+ I guess... I liked nice combats and various tops. Went through a bit of a goth phase. Had the most awful pair of bright silver shiny trousers when I was 16. Mum even tried to hide them

She was right too!
Other than that I wore pretty bland stuff.

Wibbs · 09-11-2010 10:37AM

Rockery Woman wrote: »

The weird thing is, all the horrible stuff I wore circa 1986 is back in the shops!!!!!

As my granny used to say, wear something long enough and it'll come back into vogue.

Though thinking of my own faux pas I reckon I'd need to live to be 400

RhubarbCrumble · 09-11-2010 11:11AM

Dudess wrote: »

Culottes - the confirmation apparel for every Irish 12/13-year-old girl in the late 80s/early 90s ever.

So true. I got my confirmation in 1992 and wore mint green culottes with a matching jacket and plaid blouse with a chain attached at the neck, oh and crimped hair!

baby and crumble · 09-11-2010 11:24AM

The 80's were awful. I still can't believe that the stuff I wore as a kid is back in fashion. :eek::eek::eek::eek:

My worst EVER outfit was a pair of black leggings with runners and a black tee shirt that my Dad got free with some camera film so it had "SPECTRA PHOTO!" written on it. To be fair I wore it once and felt like an idiot so it quickly went in the bin.

I had loads of jumpers with cartoon characters on them, my Mum was a big knitter...

That and the time my Gran gave myself and my 2 brothers big back patches with Iron Maiden stuff on them when I was about 6. I SO didn't want a giant skull with snakes coming out the eyes on my denim jacket! She always used to buy us the same thing in case one of us thought we got a bum deal!

That and my first school dance (or the Hop as it was affectionately known back then :rolleyes:) I wore cords, a white shirt buttoned the whole way up and a waistcoat.

God, could I have BEEN any gayer??? I was only 12. Ah well, I was clearly taking some lessons in fashion from Blossom...

Xiney · 09-11-2010 11:24AM

circa 2001:

I'm more upset about stupidly baggy clothes because I was insecure about my body (was actually within the healthy bmi at the time) than about the blue hair. And I'm more upset over the lame haircut than the blue hair.

Dudess · 09-11-2010 11:31AM

Oh yeah, the wearing lots of baggy black stuff to hide my "fatness"... :rolleyes:
Christ if I had that body back I'd wear next to nothing all day ever day!

RhubarbCrumble wrote: »

So true. I got my confirmation in 1992 and wore mint green culottes with a matching jacket and plaid blouse with a chain attached at the neck, oh and crimped hair!

Oh the mint green ones were the most evil culprit! :pac:

cdaly_ · 09-11-2010 12:00PM

Dudess wrote: »

80s horror - like pixie boots,
shoulder-pads
electric blue socks with multi-coloured squiggles over the tights,
and leg warmers.

Ah yes, I remember it well... I was in college in those days. Black pointy suede shoes, narrow ankle baggy trousers (had a cool blue with red highlights stripy pair), red argyle-style knitted tank top over a t-shirt of some kind, columbo-style mac, little thin plait from the nape of my neck and a dangly sparkly earring ('cos most of the boys had a silver hoop by then and I had to be different...).*

Myself and another lad used to hang out together and we looked like clones...

*Actually, I quite liked that outfit...

Dudess · 09-11-2010 12:04PM

Oh yeah, those Mickey Mouse/Snoopy etc quilted sweatshirt things - Jesus! :eek:

Maple · 09-11-2010 01:27PM

Dudess wrote: »

Oh yeah, the wearing lots of baggy black stuff to hide my "fatness"... :rolleyes:
Christ if I had that body back I'd wear next to nothing all day ever day!

QFT!

I'd walk around in a bikini all day long.

rain on · 09-11-2010 01:47PM

Dudess wrote: »

My fave outfit was a black and white cropped top (with a newspaper clipping, "inky" effect type print) that had shoulder-pads (actually a nice top if it weren't for those), thick white ribbed tights, electric blue socks with multi-coloured squiggles over the tights, pixie boots, a denim jacket with flowers sewn on it, and either a snow-washed denim skirt or a blue kinda ra-ra skirt (that was actually nice).

Did this remind anyone else of the descriptions of Claudia's super-cool outfits in the Babysitter's Club series?

Around ages 9-11 I wore leggings as trousers wayyy too much. Jesus I had this horrendous turquoise pair (this might have been ski pants now that I think about it.. ugh) that I wore with a lavender polo-neck under a purple floral shirt.. oh horrors. I also had a lovely mustard-coloured pair of leggings that my mother insisted on pairing with a navy and mustard floral jumper.. the mothers were as to blame as anyone for the atrocities that were committed back then!

In my teens I went the other way and like a lot of people on this thread went down the 'baggy clothes to hide my perfectly normal body' road - I didn't think I was too fat as such, I just didn't think it was anything of anyone's business except my own what my body looked like. Those giant Road jeans (which sat so low that a good two inches of underwear showed) with a men's size band t-shirt was a pretty common combination up until my late teens. Combine that with the fact that I'm 5'2" and I'm fairly sure I looked like a small sack most of the time.

Princess Peach · 09-11-2010 01:52PM

Dresses with frilly collars and petticoats and floral prints.
Lycra cycling shorts that were black on one side and luminous yellow on the other.
Adidas ripoff tracksuits, with the buttons all down the side :pac:

Truley · 09-11-2010 01:54PM

Two words... Adidas. Poppers.

So in the 90s everyone looked like this.

And god help you if you were seen in public in less than three stripes, the shame! :rolleyes:

rain on · 09-11-2010 01:55PM

Princess Peach wrote: »

Lycra cycling shorts that were black on one side and luminous yellow on the other.

Oh god I'd forgotten about the cycling shorts

Stheno · 09-11-2010 03:29PM

I was dressed in a pale pink hideous top and skirt for my confirmation, the top had a sailor collar.

Now pink, especially pale pink is not my colour. The photos were so bad my parents got them for free. That was in 1985 or so.

I fondly remember a pair of white patent doc martins

starlit · 09-11-2010 03:45PM

Wearing leggings when I were younger with just a short top or something like that, ugly looking pairs of shorts either too tight or just showed too much yuck. Baggy jumpers I guess were my worst fashion faux paux! Wearing plain white tops in general like. Went through wearing an all 'black' stage too, nothing like the goth look. Just plain black clothes trousers and hoodies etc not much for colour when I was younger but improved on that since, don't wear as much black on a daily basis only when going out or for certain occasions. The worst my mother use to dress me is tucking my clothes into my jeans or trousers hate that! So 80's or so old fashioned, never liked it even at the best of times, wouldn't tuck in a school shirt always had it out felt more comfortable that way! Some tracksuits and a few other embarassing type of clothes back from the 90's! A couple of hair cuts and styles I didn't like either. Certain shoes were hiddious now that I recall! Floral designs, mad pink t-shirts too, and better not to forget those cycling short types, have got rid of them at this stage!

LenaClaire · 09-11-2010 03:54PM

We had a teacher that always made you tuck your shirt into your pants but that was just when leggings and tunic tops were really big in the late 80's and he made me tuck my top into my leggings.

I cried

Edgedinblue · 09-11-2010 04:36PM

I had the usual, those horrible tracksuits, bandanas, ballball hats, wooly jumpers, dungereeeeee shorts and the socks pulled up!... and to top it off curly hair thats been brushed!! :eek: ginger fro! Thanks Mam!

But of course it didnt get any better when i could finally dress myself, baggy clothes, dirty old check shirts, always had my hair tied back and straightened, also got highlights done once (not good!!!) dyed my hair black, actually dyed my hair every colour under the sun, loads of eyeliner. my opinion in those days was that baggy trousers were the only kinda bottoms anyone can wear, and that all skirts should have been removed from fashion!

nowadays, i love dresses!

although i still secretly LOVE baggy trousers!

barleybooley · 09-11-2010 05:30PM

I had a hand me down turquoise shell suit and I thought I was the bees knees at the time. I also used wear a lot of leggings with over sized t shirts, the shame now! Luckily I was a teen from 2001-2008, so looking back those pictures aren't so bad, a LOT of black eyeliner and black clothes and also a lot of Susst and Nope clothes so it's not all bad.

Princess Peach · 09-11-2010 06:17PM

Those leggings that had the stirrup at the bottom that would go under your foot.
Those jelly sandals made of glittery plastic.
Inflatable bubble bags.
Puffer jackets.
And of course, Spice Girl t shirts.

Edgedinblue · 09-11-2010 06:42PM

Oh i forgot to mention the dreaded Spaceman coat! anyone else have one??

theres a few people at home who still laugh at myself and my cousin cause we had them! i hated it, horrible looking yoke

baby and crumble · 09-11-2010 07:40PM

Anyone remember these shoes? I had a pair in purple suede, they were my FAVOURITE thing, I totally forgot about them!

Asphyxia · 09-11-2010 08:32PM

I went through the whole rocker chick look, I dyed my hair black with red and blue highlights and got loads of piercings including my lip which I am sad I took out

I don't think I looked bad besides the heavy eyeliner but I prefer the way I am now even though I am still a little rock chick inside. I still like to wear a skirt with fishnets and docs

Rainbow_brite · 09-11-2010 09:22PM

What springs to mind for me is those boot runners where I used to change the shoe laces to a mad turquoise colour and try make the "tongue" of the runner stick out and wear a mad coloured pair of slouchy socks underneath.
Ohhh and Jelly sandals/shoes, Naff Jackets, and those cotton dresses/tshirts with a fringed edging on the sleeves and along the bottom that would be brought back as presents from holidays in Spain or the Canaries.

I also loved getting t shirts done with those iron on prints but it always came off in the wash.

Scarinae · 09-11-2010 09:26PM

I had such jelly sandal envy, I never got a pair but my friend had these silver glittery ones and I thought they were the bees knees!

Rainbow_brite · 09-11-2010 09:31PM

Edgedinblue wrote: »

Oh i forgot to mention the dreaded Spaceman coat! anyone else have one??

theres a few people at home who still laugh at myself and my cousin cause we had them! i hated it, horrible looking yoke

That Jacket always reminds me of Bianca from Eastenders she used to live in it first time round when they were "in fashion".. and I spotted her wearing it not so long ago again now she's back! That jacket has to be 10+ years old!

rain on · 09-11-2010 09:59PM

Did anyone else have a Global Hypercolour t-shirt? They changed colours when they heated up.. my friend had a purple one that turned pink and I had an orange one that turned yellow. Thought they were the bees knees.

LenaClaire · 09-11-2010 10:07PM

rain on wrote: »

Did anyone else have a Global Hypercolour t-shirt? They changed colours when they heated up.. my friend had a purple one that turned pink and I had an orange one that turned yellow. Thought they were the bees knees.

Oh I remember those! My best friend had one and I begged and pleaded for one but my mom said they were too expensive.

Although I do remember my friend got embarrassed because when her breasts grew in they lit up the hypercolor and drew everyones eyes there.

sineadgalway · 09-11-2010 10:12PM

I had one of those global hypercolour tshirts that changed colour when you breathed on them...wore it all the time!! Also about 10 sizes too big....

File:Generra_Hypercolor.jpg

biggest bad choice was cutting my hair short...everyone assumed I was gay...not much man pulling in those days!!

Novella · 10-11-2010 12:49AM

I honestly don't know why, but when I was about fourteen or fifteen, all of my friends started wearing their jeans really low, with their underwear peeping over the top... so I did that too.

Now it wasn't a hanging out thong thing, it was more insanely baggy jeans with hot-pants underneath.

Also, stripey knee socks with shorts.

And my poor, poor hair. What colour hasn't it been?

squeakyduck · 10-11-2010 09:48AM

coral colored puffa jacket, a big green jumpsuit (the shorts ones) with a big gaudy belt on it!, leggings (as pants)

Velvet dresses with frilly knickers underneath in case I fell over. Ugh, late 80's child with many MANY fashion disasters!

rannerap · 10-11-2010 11:42AM

Fishie wrote: »

I had such jelly sandal envy, I never got a pair but my friend had these silver glittery ones and I thought they were the bees knees!

me too! I was never allowed get a pair, my mam said they looked awful and I would thank her in the future, how right she was

ztoical · 10-11-2010 12:34PM

neon socks and bicycle shorts. Went through a bicycle shorts stage for a summer when I was about 10 or 11 and had one for every day of the week including a hot pink pair I thought were the best thing ever but ruined when my mother attempted to iron them. Thankfully I have destroyed any photographic evidence.

kerash · 10-11-2010 01:53PM

Leggings with thick socks over the ankles, a brown duffle coat, a 'boys!!' 3rd hand shell suit.
Horror of all horrors my mam would dress me (10) and my sister 5/6 in matching outfits - tarten skirts and a wooly jumper - i specifically remember a green outfit oh and horrible thick white tights.
I had pink coulottes i thought were awesome and a pink polka jacket with puffy shoulders. Oh and I also had a reversable jumper - red with a huge cat on the front/plain..
Mustard cords..

I remember chooseing a velvet ensamble one christmas in the 90's topped off with black velvet beret, waist coat and trousers - underneath was a white blouse with huge frill down the middle and massive cuffs.

and doc martin shoes - rather than boots, so so cool

Edgedinblue · 10-11-2010 02:28PM

Rainbow_brite wrote: »

That Jacket always reminds me of Bianca from Eastenders she used to live in it first time round when they were "in fashion".. and I spotted her wearing it not so long ago again now she's back! That jacket has to be 10+ years old!

Oh i remember her wearing it the first time around! there defo more then 10 years old now at this stage. Mustve had one when i was around 6/7 and i'm 22 now!

Ugh lord im cringing just thinking about those stupid coats. ugggghhhh!

Konata · 10-11-2010 02:40PM

I always wished I was alive during the 80s but these fashion mistakes are making me think otherwise

Since I'm only 20 I don't have any major gripes about what I've worn in the past (apart from shell suit trackies and velvet trousers >_<) but I do have one major fashion faux pas. When I was 18ish I used to wear a lot of string tops over long sleeved tops... I was wearing one the day I got my LC results. This picture was splashed across several national newspapers:

Comments afterwards: "Why are you wearing a bra over your top?!".

Oh the embarassment >_<

Chuchoter · 10-11-2010 04:31PM

From the ages of 10-12 I went through this big goth phase. It was highly highly embarrassing.:o

Little Acorn · 10-11-2010 05:32PM

I owned something very similar to these colorful leggings when I was about 6 or 7,
except mine were shorts that ended just above the knee, and were skintight and kinda shiny- think they were called ski shorts but not sure?
I used to wear them with t shirts and thought they were soooooo cool!:o

http://www.welovecolors.com/img/prod302I8L.jpg

Velvet hair scrunchies-I think most people owned one of these at some point.
http://everyoneknowsbest.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/scrunchies.jpg
http://www.thefashionpolice.net/images/Hair-scrunchie.jpg

Actually on that site were I found the scrunchie picture, there was another picture that I'm guilty of too:

The Bra Strap Hairband!:pac:

Also used to tie bulky sports jumpers around my waist, -very gammy looking.

Had a horrible pair of skintight trouser yokes that I wore to a disco once, they flared out like hipsters at the bottom, but were tight like leggings near the thighs, and they were metallic silver with a matching belly top!-I honestly believe that was the worst outfit I wore in my entire life. Even at the time my friends were like: Wtf are you wearing?!
You'd need to see it to realise how bad it was.

Does anyone remember the craze for these type boob tubes in about 2000/2001?

http://s.ecrater.com/stores/11166/485e92d22a80f_11166n.jpg

I had a black one, a red one, a blue one, a pink one, a purple one, a silver one, AND a gold one!!
They're not that bad actually, wish I still had the stomach to wear one.

I'm only 23 so there could be many more fashion disasters to come!:)

storm2811 · 10-11-2010 07:51PM

Well from about the age of 4 to 8 I wore doc martins at every chance I could get, usually paired with flowery leggings and a huge jumper, probably my mam's or dad's, sometimes wearing my dad's overalls too.:pac:
My mam would go out and buy me lovely little dresses and jeans but I'd have none of it, I wore whatever I wanted, no matter how awful it was, I thought I looked great.
I remember I found some Irish dancing dress in my babysitters house and I was mad to wear it, I wasn't allowed so instead I wore some maroon velvet monstrosity for about a month..oh the shame!:pac:

From about 10-14 was my "rocker" phase (I listened to Avril Lavinge and Linkin Park for gods sake), would wear huge baggy trousers and little black t-shirts, converse, vans and still doc martins!
Oh god...I still love cons though, wear them every day untill they fall apart and have to buy a new pair.

rainbow kirby · 10-11-2010 09:22PM

I wore football jerseys and tracksuit bottoms a lot as a teenager, I used to own about 5 or 6 Manchester United jerseys of various vintages. Given that I've had short hair since I was 14, I used to pass for a boy a lot of the time...

There's also my early college hippy stage. This involved huge amounts of tiedye stuff and pretty much every kind of baggy or flared jeans sold in Temple Bar. :pac: There are pictures of me taken when I was about 20 wearing a zip-up hoody with the 7 colours of the rainbow in correct descending order, a black knee-length A-line skirt, rainbow knee socks and Converse in a bright red Chinese satin material.

The one I hated the most... the "I'm fat, just hide everything" stage. Back when I was at my biggest, I used to wear Penneys mens hoodies, mens size XL band shirts and whatever jeans or combats I could get in Evans all the time. I must have looked so depressed all the time

Scarinae · 10-11-2010 09:31PM

Little Acorn wrote: »

Does anyone remember the craze for these type boob tubes in about 2000/2001?

http://s.ecrater.com/stores/11166/485e92d22a80f_11166n.jpg

I had a black one, a red one, a blue one, a pink one, a purple one, a silver one, AND a gold one!!
They're not that bad actually, wish I still had the stomach to wear one.

My sister had a blue one of those tops! I thought it was SO COOL and I couldn't wait for her to get bored of it and pass it down to me, as she used to do sometimes with her clothes... By the time she did, thankfully I wasn't interested anymore!
I'm amazed you had it in so many colours though - where on earth did you wear them all?

Little Acorn · 10-11-2010 09:53PM

Fishie wrote: »

My sister had a blue one of those tops! I thought it was SO COOL and I couldn't wait for her to get bored of it and pass it down to me, as she used to do sometimes with her clothes... By the time she did, thankfully I wasn't interested anymore!
I'm amazed you had it in so many colours though - where on earth did you wear them all?

To the teeney bopper discoes of course!:) All my friends had some too, and we would swap with each other a lot. They would borrow my boob tubes, and I would borrow their halternecks.
Thinking about it now, we got away with murder with what we were allowed wear so young.:pac:

squeakyduck · 11-11-2010 10:56AM

I never really wore a dress by itself until my debs day....I used to wear skirts and dresses over jeans with my black docs. The only skirt I had to wear was my school skirt!

I also used to rock the baggy jeans with tiny tshirts showing off my then wash board belly and a bright pair of knickers peeping over the waist band!

I loved wearing boys shirts and hoodies over them in the cold. Ugh Arrest me fashion police!

Das Kitty · 11-11-2010 11:29AM

I still remember a lot of the stuff I wore when I was younger fondly. Maybe I'm delusional!

I had one of those reversible mickey mouse jumpers, looking at photos I still think it was cute for a kid.

Some of the stuff was terrible though but it makes me smile to think of them. Like the turquoise cycle shorts that ripped in the gusset on a cycling trip, or the green shell suit with leopard skin detail

I also had a top that fastened in the crotch like a baby's vest! Really uncomfortable! I suppose the purple denim dungaree shorts were dodgy as well.

I had lilac velvet trousers when I was 21. They were actually nice, I'd wear them again! I spent a couple of years in men's velvet jackets from charity shops listening to Belle and Sebastian and the likes. Then again I still love velvet now.

One thing I am glad of is that I never got X Worx jeans or Parallels. Phew!