The lady at our table was telling everyone where she bought everything.
She looked fabulous, bedecked as she was in a fluoro cut off top, leg warmers and colourful scrunchie.
From what I could tell, most of the gear was bought in a $2 shop although some others were talking about their op shop experiences. I checked some of their get ups particularly just in case they were wearing something I myself had donated. I think about that sort of stuff, particularly since a friend proudly showed me a jacket little realising that had I known she would love it so much, I could have cut out the middle man and given it straight to her.
But I digress. I hadn’t dressed in 80s gear myself, so I didn’t contribute to the conversation, except to say that I wouldn’t have had far to travel at all if I wanted to look the part.
The sad truth is that there is still a smattering of these fashions in my cupboard. (But let’s be real. Who can put their hand on their fluoro cut off and say this ever constituted fashion? Perhaps that’s why they are so big in the let’s-have-an-80’s joke themed party.)
In the interests of full disclosure, I must simply confess to my one significant concession to 80s gear. And that is the leg warmer.
I have two sets of leg warmers and yes, they do hail from the 80s era. I will probably never get rid of them, because I love them.
These days I don’t wear them on the outside, so no one would know that while the outside is the whatever-is-currently-on-sale look, the inside is still 80’s Sportsgirl. I bring the leg warmers out every winter, particularly when we go on our annual roughing-it camping trip with our friends. They know about the leg warmers and one of them even confided to me that the secret to her warmth is to wear flannelette pyjamas underneath her tracksuit.
But my legs are equally cosy, cocooned as they are in the scrunchie knitted tubes of 80s warmth.
And after so long, they are soft and loose and the epitome of all that was good back then.
