Timewarp

Last night our house was the setting for the Middle School Mixer 80's themed dance preparations for Katie and her best friends. Having quashed their initial misguided plans for afros and bell bottoms by displaying a series of photos posted on Facebook that highlighted authentic 80's looks on friends (who were much cooler than I could have hoped to be during that particular decade), the girls expected me to provide alternatives to their original plans. The girls expressed disbelief over the hair styles because they have no existing memory of "big" hair or "tall" bangs outside of dance recitals and Halloween. The evening's preparations included a special trip to the store for banana clips and Rave hairspray which were eventually put aside in favor of less disturbing hairdos.
The girls' outfits were absolutely vintage. A dear friend was dusty, but laughing, as she unearthed a series of her college and high school vests, tops, giant belts, bangle bracelets, and other miscellaneous treasures for the girls to try on while putting together the ultimate 80's ensembles. Her treasures have a far cooler international flair that my own long-gone suburban duds from the same time period would have lacked. Ruching, leg warmers, marled yarn, giant buttons, rubber bracelets, fingerless gloves... oh my.
The girls had a ball at their dance, and they were extremely pleased with themselves for showing up in a muted monochromatic palette and having brushed out their terrifyingly big hair before leaving the house. (How many of us wish we had done the same back in the day?!)