Showing My Age: 80’s Style- Vol. 4

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Give me a nostalgic twitch and a spare hour (or two), and I will come up with an 80’s post. 

This Stawberry Shortcake in Big Apple City board game was based on a TV Special of the same name.  I’m guessing that it was my first dabble into the world of cross-marketing to children.  I don’t really remember much about the game, other than that the goal was to evade the Peculiar Purple Pieman of Porcupine Peak.

Does anybody else remember the Le Clic camera?  In the world before pink cellphones and pink MP3 players (actually, in the world before cellphones and MP3 players altogether), a fun-colored camera was a big deal to me.  And whatever happened to those flat, rectangular cameras.  They disappeared even faster than the Polaroid.

  

I vividly remember going with my mom to the corner drugstore on the town square to buy Gingham Girls coloring books.  To this day, I attribute my fondness for gingham to Sarah, Katie, Becky & Carrie.

          

Take the hair clip below…make it fluorescent yellow and add a butterfly design to it.  I had a hair clip just like that.  I wore 2 at a time…one for each side of my head.  The only thing that could top that was when I curled my bangs into a style no one should ever have worn.  Thankfully, I had this butane-powered cordless curling iron to get me through limited receptacle situations such as gym class and summer camp.  Fortunately, I had this attractive and practical Caboodles to store all of my beauty crap accessories (yes, I still have it).

My Sam & Libby ballet flats were white instead of pink.  I wore those shoes in 1989 with my footless, lace-trimmed leggings.  I never had a pair of Original Dr. Scholl’s sandals, but I covetously admired my BFF’s red pair.  Does anybody remember the flat shoes with criss-cross straps that fastened with a covered button?  They were popular in 1986, but I couldn’t find an image of them anywhere.

                          

This is a scary look into my personal 80’s style vault.  In the first photo, you will notice that I am wearing fluorescent clothing and a painter’s cap.  I consider the next photo to be the epitome of all things 80’s.  I am wearing striped jeans, purple fluorescent socks, and jelly shoes.  The stripes on my jeans were multi-colored.  Of course, no 80’s style vault would be complete with a visual representation of my hair.  This was the crowning achievement of my 80’s hair career…mile-high bangs, spiral curls, and some kind of bizarre wing thing.  Not to mention the hair-bow custom made to match my dress.  (I actually made those earrings with craft roses and a glue gun.  How sick was that?)

       

In general, I have fond memories of my childhood record albums…with the exception of this blue Pac-Man album.  It was as awful as you might imagine.  Nothing at all like my cool Strawberry Shortcake in Big Apple City and Strawberry Shortcake Country Jamboree albums.  I still have those albums, though my kiddie record player stopped working years ago.

Technically, this Kenner Darci doll is from the late 70’s, but I can remember playing with my older cousin’s Darci doll (and her Donny & Marie dolls) in the early 80’s.

I can’t believe it has taken me four 80’s posts to get to Herself the Elf dolls and Poochie.  My favorite part was that each doll had a bell on her dress.  I actually had a Poochie stamper kit just like the one pictured here.

              

I had a friend who owned a pair of Romper Stompers.  I always looked forward to playing at her house because I knew I was going to get to walk around on them.  I think I might have liked the toy better than I liked the friend.  I’m a little embarrassed to admit that…though I suppose it pales in comparison to the embarrassment I feel about the bangs I used to sport. 

Thank you once again for indulging my nostalgia.  I wanted to post a picture of somebody wearing 80’s shoulder pads, but it just brought back too many painful memories.

Previous trips down memory lane:

Volume 1

Volume 2

Volume 3

 

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Filed under 80's, Entertainment, Nostalgia, Pop culture

Tags: 80's, flashbacks