I graduated from high school in 1992. I was born 9 months to the day my dad returned from the Navy; what were my parents to do?
Anyhow, I couldn’t help but chuckle watching this slideshow of photographs taken by Michael Galinsky of people, in malls, in 1989. I had that big hair. And, damn it, it was cool then. Well, sorta.
Anyhow 2, the slideshow is a fun reminder that aesthetics change. We all thought we looked hella good. Shut up, like totally.
Via BoingBoing, which never disappoints.
Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
Comments 41
Yrro — May 11, 2011
Fashion wouldn't be fashion if it didn't change in ridiculous ways.
What always frustrates me is when I look at high schoolers today and see that the styles that got me picked on are cool now.
cyffermoon — May 11, 2011
I graduated high school in 1989. These are very representative. However, I have to say that I myself thought most of those trends were stupid (as teenagers who are 'too cool for school' tend to do). The permed shoulder-length hair with high bangs you see in most images - we called it "pyramid head".
justducky — May 11, 2011
I miss my hypercolor shirt!
John Hensley — May 11, 2011
Looks better than emo hair. Get off my lawn.
miga — May 11, 2011
And to think, someday we'll look back and say "Jeggings?! Flannel?! WTF was I thinking?!?!" If we don't say that now, of course.
azizi — May 11, 2011
Here's a video link to another trip down memory lane which is MUCH more representative of what I remember about fashions in dress, hair styles, music, and dance in the late 1980s USA:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LFGYX8NR3I&feature=related
Soul Train
Nectarine — May 11, 2011
Big hair, mom jeans, whatever! What really seems weird and dated is seeing people smoking inside the mall.
April — May 11, 2011
That was fun. Ah, memories. Except my 1989 had a lot more (visibly obvious) people of color in it....Maybe there is something to be said here about racial segregation in the 80's in the areas these photos where taken?
well — May 11, 2011
looks like my art school these days..
Liz — May 11, 2011
My mother, bless her soul, graduated college in 1982 and still dresses like this. And until her friends and I dragged her into a modern hair salon, she rocked the fluffy blond bangs and hair. I don't know if we'll ever get her out of light-wash denim.
Oelsen — May 11, 2011
Hm. Most of that even seems normal by todays standards.
I think fashion died some years ago...
Sarah — May 11, 2011
I always used to wonder if we'd collectively look back on the 2000s with similar sartorial regret. Then jeggings happened and I knew it for a fact!
m — May 11, 2011
thing is thouhg, aside form the hair I don't really see any difference. There's the age bracket och 13-40, but beyond that, the old couples are dressed in the same way that my parents are today, and the little kids and sdgier teens aren't all that different from the indie teens and little kids today. It's quite faschinating in its own right, how much attention we pay to the details.
fog — May 11, 2011
neat. I spent the majority of 1989 in the womb, but these styles didn't change too drastically before I was first developing my idea of what a "cool teenager" might be like.
Bill Angel — May 12, 2011
Looking the the young men and women's hair, I was struck by CONSERVATIVE their hair styles were. No one had their hair dyed blue or green, all of the hair colors in the images circa 1989 were natural looking, as far as I could tell.
Also I did not see a single tattoo on anyone's arms, which one sees many examples of now where I live. (Baltimore)
Ricky — May 12, 2011
All fashions and fads are stupid, it just takes a little time before we are willing to admit it.