The 80's Costumes
The 80's Halloween Costumes

The 1980’s were a decade of Smurfs, Cabbage Patch Dolls, Teenage Mutant Turtles and Pac Man video games. Movies brought forth two very different social agendas, one being the “Nerd” from the movie Revenge of the Nerds and at the other end of the spectrum was “Valley talk” from the movie Valley Girl. Every tween and teenage girl would say the word “like” before every sentence.

MTV brought music videos into our homes for the first time. Pop, rock, new wave, punk, rap and hip hop were the new genres of popular music. Some famous groups of the 80’s were Vanilla Ice, Milli Vanilli and M.C. Hammer.

Madonna and Michael Jackson not only ranked number one in the music world, but the fashion world as well. Michael Jackson began a fashion revolution. His fans embraced his style of military jackets, cropped pants, bright-colored socks, sequins and the infamous white glove. His red leather jacket would become one his signature pieces of clothing. Madonna was the biggest fashion icon of the 80’s. The “material girl’s” fashion sense was emulated by women all over the world. Her style ranged from many layers to barely there cone-shaped brassiere’s, lots of o-ring bracelets and chunky cross necklaces, ballet flats and lace-up boots.

Movies that made their way to the big screen in the 80’s and are considered classics today are E.T., The Breakfast Club, Pretty In Pink, Flashdance, The Big Chill and Fatal Attraction.

Tanning was a popular pastime in this decade and people would spend hours laying out on sunny days. Plus with the introduction of the “tanning bed”, it made it easy to get that bronzed look even on days that the weather wasn’t cooperating. For do-it-yourselfers, the only way get that beautiful blonde highlighted salon look, was by simply using the product, “Sun-In”. There wasn’t a girl or guy sitting beachside or poolside that didn’t squirt a little Sun-In on their hair during these excessive tanning years.