Attention all people who lived in the 80s!?

Question

i am an 18 year old college student who has been duped into a sorority male pageant contest... mr. phisignificant blah

alright so basically there are three events all with the theme i love the 80s

1. beach attire- what type of bathing suits did guys wear in the 80s? where can i get one? website with photos would be greatly appreciated

2. school spirit- what type of athletic apparel were worn in the 80s? like were the short basketball shorts big or what? what styles were there (links with photos would help)

3. formal wear- again what styles were popular for formal wear in the 80s and what is a website with some photos to point me in the right direction

Answer 1

Swim wear for guys was generally Speedos, like you see on competitive swimmers. Those tight little bikinis. If men wore trunks, they were NOT the big huge down to the knees trunks you see today, but instead came to about mid-thigh and were nowhere near like as baggy as they are now - they were proper fitting, so you could admire the swimmer's butt. ;)

Same thing for basketball shorts. They were much shorter and a lot less baggy. Here's a link to a picture of Larry Bird and Magic Johnson that shows how the shorts fit back then: http://sports.espn.go.com/media/pg2/2002/0927/photo/s_birdmagic_i.jpg - swim trunks fit almost exactly the same way.

As for formal wear...

I searched Yahoo Images for 1985 Prom and 1985 wedding and found the following examples:

http://nnhs65.00freehost.com/prom/1985-TN-Paul-Itoney-Bonnie-.jpg
http://www.schrohe.com/images/PROM85.jpg
http://members.atlantic.net/~jmwaugh/images/wedding.gif
http://www.alicebell.com/images/CR_Gander/teresa.jpg

But I also remember a LOT of guys wearing Miami Vice style stuff to their proms. http://img476.imageshack.us/img476/6444/variouspics0416br.jpg

The Miami Vice look will probably get your further in judge's points than a tux. It's far more 80's, where tuxedos are fairly generic.

Answer 2

I don't know about websites, but the guys wore the regular swimsuits that look like boxers with strings and bright colors I believe. They are popular again now. Basketball shorts were short and not baggy. Formal wear was the same as it is today. Nice looking tux. Most of the things that were popular then are back around today.

Answer 3

1. You'll do just fine with a boxer-short like swimsuit unless you are a bodybuilder, then you can get away with a bikini. Don't worry, the other guys are wondering the same thing.

2. Oh, god, I remember everyone thought that "high tops" were "in". Especially the ones that you could pump. And "tight rolling" jeans was a big thing. God, I hated 6th grade.

3. If you want to stand out in a crowd of losers, wear a black and white tuxedo. No fanciness. Who cares, the girls will swoon for it.

Answer 4

it all depended on the clique you belonged too
I was a theatre student and we we into New Rpmantic, Glam and Punk and mixed up all up with thrift and vintage finds (like the movie "Pretty in Pink", you should rent that film)
I remember that the guys liked the 50's and 60's inspired cabana wear look. we were not a sun worshipping crowd but we looked great at all times and we were sort of outsiders so didn't participate in school spirit themed events and big basketball shorts is a much later style

Answer 5

it really wasn't that good. Only the good music is heard now, back then there was an awful lot of rubbish too. No one wore any of the fashion stuff that people now a days think they wore back then. After about 85 it all started going downhill, Stock Aitken and Waterman took over the charts and all the songs sounded the same.

Answer 6

here's a site with descriptions. http://www.inthe80s.com/clothes/j.shtml
and you should click on the side for ebay or something to get pics.

Answer 7

have a look

http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10&hl=en&gbv=2&q=eighties+clothing&btnG=Search

Answer 8

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980s_fashion
http://www.niftythreads.com/library/awesome80s.html