In every year's "new year phase" (I mean that unmarked period that occurs annually, which starts a few days after Christmas and lasts until the end of January), media are full of yearenders, retrospectives, forecasts, advice and a lot of useless but entertaining crap that have to do with a turning over a new leaf of sorts. Retrospectives are quite practical - summarized highlights of the past 12 months served in palatable, bite-sized portions for people to look back on and possibly learn from. Forecasts on the other hand - I'm not talking about the psychic kind - though bordering on useless entertainment, could have some value sometimes.
It's kinda baffling how forecasts are always said to have come from "the experts". I often wonder about who those "experts" are, what are the bases for their extrapolations and what gives them the authority to dictate what's going to happen. "The experts" have often been wrong of course.
Since I am not right now interested in socio-political and economic hypotheses, lemme just start the year with something light and brainless.
I came across this spread in the newspaper entirely dedicated to a fashion forecast for 2010 (much of which I didn't agree with, but yeah, it kept me entertained). A couple of news programs and websites also claim to know what will be hot and what not this year - according to "the experts", naturally. The mouse potato that I am has pretty much gleaned that 2010 fashion will be an updated rehash of mid '80s to early '90s elements. Some of the supposedly up-and-coming trends may not actually catch on, but it's noticeable that the said sources agree on a lot of things:
It seems like they're back:
Shoulder PadsOh, please no ... those and granny jeans have got to be the worst fashion fowlups of the '80s.
Dirty denim
'80s-style dirty denim has been back since mid-2009, and it looks like it'll be here to stay for a while. From acid washed to ripped and /or patched, to frayed-hem cutoffs. Just when I got to believing they were ugly things of catalogues past, they return and I have to convince myself all over again that they're cool.
When you see it on Victoria Beckham, it's likely a fashion do.
Photo from this blog.
Variation: Ripped Tights / Stockings
That is sooo '80s rock. I never thought that look would reemerge. I laughed when The Wedding Singer came out in 1995 and poked fun at all things 1985, but it looks like no one's laughing at distressed tights now.
Boyfriend blazers
That means slightly oversized blazers that look like they were borrowed from your boyfriend, shoulder pads optional. I still have this early-'90s image of Sharon Stone wearing that sort of blazer. Only back then it wasn't called a boyfriend anything; it was just called a blazer. That was before baby tees and fitted jackets were all the rage, so it just has to be given a cute new nickname to differentiate.
Knee boots and knee socks
Knee boots were hot in the '70s and had a variation in the'9os, though before now they spent some time in the fashion don'ts list.
Knee boots I get, especially for people living in cold climates. Ladies in this tropical country are trying to rock it, but it only works for certain lifestyles.
Spotted in recent runway show were various schoolgirl-chic knee socks. Blame Gossip Girl. Or those K-pop and J-pop girls.
Okay, I used to wear colored knee socks as a kid, but nothing is going to make me wear them again at my age, not even if Prada says it's cool, not even if women over 30 are already doing it. I just shudder at the thought.
Besides, i.m.h.o., stockings are so last last year.
Bold prints
Department stores have just restocked with those shirts and tunics with pop-art print. Printed pants are also said to be making a comeback. The bolder, the better, they say.
And by the way, color-block is so last year.
Warrior-princess-inspired look
I've seen this look in a lot of '80s videos, haven't I? Leathers and metallics and rips and fringes and Van Halen type ripped tights - stuff that might have had Xena and Pat Benatar as a pegs, but more streamlined, futuristic, soft and feminine, less shabby (maybe even Lady Gaga, but when she's not trying too hard). This also includes military details, boots and tribal-inspired accessories.
Flamboyant hair accessories
Just some time ago, an old classmate from sixth grade and I laughed at how we used to wear oversized headbands, large bows and scarf headbands back in the '80s. But then I guess we should have saved our old hair-props from our schooldays because they're high fashion again. '30s-style lacey things and feathery things, big '80s-ish bands and bows - I've read that a girl should go the extra mile and dress up her tresses loudly this year.
Fashon-forward Madonna in uber-expensive Louis Vuitton bunny ears.I'm a bit iffy about this fad, though I'm sure there will be numerous knockoffs.
Photo from this blog.
Wide headbands make a comeback with a glammed-up twist.Photo mine, see my shop-site.
The statement necklace
When I was a little girl, my mom was into exports, particularly fashion accessories. In those days, the in bling were chunky, brightly-colored plastic, wood or native-material beads. I'm not exaggerating when I say that a lot of the necklaces I see these days are almost exactly like the ones that were popular in the mid-'80s.
Platform shoes
Really? If this were true, it'd something I'd be happy about. I bought into the '70s retro thing in the '90s, and now that platform shoes are allegedly back, I'd be proud to wear them again (uh, actually, I've already been wearing them for the past year). They not only make me look taller and my legs longer; they sort of balance out the chunkiness of my hips.
Big hair?
No. Freaking. Way. The very reason why women hide their girlhood pictures that happen to be evidence of their contribution to the Ozone hole. I can't believe it. I don't think hairspray will make a comeback though.
That was fun. Save for the platform shoes, statement necklace and less-gaudy hair accessories, I probably won't be seen wearing those mentioned above. Okay, the dirty denim maybe. But far be it from me to commit a faux-pas by adding bulk to my already meaty frame with knee boots and boyfriend blazers. We who don't have celebrity status and who were first-hand witnesses to ostentatious '80s fashion will probably swear not to wear that stuff again. Though the kids who were born in the '90s or later will probably think all this '80s stuff is cool.
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