1980's vintage dress Archives

1980’s Vintage Dress Over 40

It is hard for me to wrap my brain around the idea that 1980’s clothing is considered vintage. I’m a kid of the 80’s. Well, 70’s and 80’s if you want to get picky but it is the 80’s that I remember with great fondness. Big hair, tight jeans and bopping around town in my 1965 cherry red Karmann Ghia convertible.

{sigh}

Those were the days.

This sweet little colourful windowpane dress from the 80’s transported me back in time.

You’ve heard of Hot Tub Time Machine? Clothes are my time machine.

The dress is a titch tight on me and my curvy hips, otherwise, I’d be tempted to keep it.

I’ve just listed it for sale at VintagebySuzanne on Etsy.

The little rose is detachable, but so wonderfully retro I wore it with.

This dress easily transitions into 2016 with a beret and some red heels. There are so many colours in the dress the accessory possibilities are endless.

There are lots of things I miss about the 80’s.

Video stores.

Head Banger concerts.

Bush parties.

Trivial Pursuit.

The lack of computers, mobile phones, internet and social media.

The world at my feet.

My youth.

What don’t I miss about the 80’s?

Tight jeans, the Rubik’s cube ( I never did manage to crack that), perms, fanny packs, shoulder pads, my boyfriend’s waterbed.

Yes, the idea of a waterbed was super sexy, but when one has too much to drink it becomes an endless agonising boat ride on an angry sea. Many a night was spent with one leg planted firmly on the floor and the rest of me uncomfortably stuck between the rubber liner and the wooden frame. The silk sheets always managed to slip off. That’s what they don’t tell you about silk sheets. They’re so slippery they don’t like to stay on the bed.

I haven’t let go of the 80’s.

I will freely admit I continue to use the words, NOT, psyche, totally and awesome. You can take a gal out of the 80’s…but you can’t take the 80’s out of my vocabulary.

My style hasn’t remained in the 1980’s.

My hair is straight and flat and although my jeans may be a little tight lately, I have no need to lay on the floor while they are still damp to squeeze myself into them, nor do I need to use a wire clothes hanger to pull up the zipper. Just the thought of that makes me cringe.

What about you? Do you miss anything from the 80’s?

I’m back from my mini vacation where I had a chance to catch up with family as well as the mischievous Melanie & Sue. All kinds of shenanigans ensued.

Stay tuned…there may be incriminating video evidence…

You know I love a good estate sale. They are exciting and a bit addictive. You never know what treasures you’re going to find. Sure it means getting up extra, extra early on a Saturday morning which normally I would hate, but if you have your heart set on something special sometimes you don’t mind sacrificing a bit of sleep.

If you’ve never been to an estate sale they often work based on a ticketing system. The organizers state a time they will be handing out tickets at the door and people line up (often hours in advance) to get a ticket that holds their place in line. Once you have your tickets you must wait until they allow entry to the premises which is often two hours later. People are then admitted entry to the house based on ticket number.

The last few estate sales I’ve gone to I haven’t had much luck.

I was delighted when I spotted a fantastic bar cart a couple of months back in the estate sale preview photos, exactly like what I’d been looking for. We thought we’d arrived plenty early, about thirty minutes prior to them handing out tickets. Turns out we were #35 in line. Some people had arrived at 3 am! Someone else promptly went in and scooped up my bar cart before we even got in the door. Annoying!

A couple of weeks later I spotted another sale where they had a fabulous oval 1960’s teak coffee table…perfect since my pug broke the wonderful 1960’s vintage glass top we had last year. We arrived very early, we were only the fifth and sixth people to get into the home but the third and fourth people ran straight downstairs and bought the table out from under us. GRRRRR!!!

By this time I was beginning to think the Estate Sale Fairy was mad at me.

I gave it one last try in a smaller town called Kitchener about 45 minutes from where I live. I thought there would be fewer people attending and less chance I’d be deprived again of my prize, which happened to be an immaculate ankle length pink 1960’s cocktail dress with black bodice beading.

A true treasure straight off the set of MadMen!

We arrived very early but STILL managed to be the forth and fifth people in line. What is it with these people getting up so dang early on the weekend?

However, after so much perseverance the illusive Estate Sale Fairy had granted my wish! Not only did they have that swoon-worthy Ginger-from-Gilligan’s-Island cocktail dress, they had others as well that were only just discovered on the morning of the sale!

No one else was even looking at the clothes so I didn’t have to fight anyone.

They were mine! All mine!

It was finally worth missing an extra three hours of sleep.

This week I’m showcasing some of the pieces I scored at that estate sale and thanking my lucky stars that the owner was almost the same size as me.

1980’s Vintage Dynasty Dress Styled Contemporary

The first dress I’m featuring isn’t my normal style, being both black and voluminious. 1980’s fashion is borderline vintage for me. This dress really reminds me of the dress I wore to my graduation which is made out of the same crepe material, and yes, I graduated high school in the early 1980’s.

As soon as I saw the sleeves and the neckline I thought, “Dynasty”.

It has shoulder pads but they are very small. I almost wish they were bigger because I have small narrow shoulders and I think it would help the drape of the sleeve.

black 1980s vintage dress suzanne carillo — Dress – vintage, Belt – Anthropologie (old), Clutch – Anthropologie, Shoes – Nine West (old), Earrings – Vintage

The skirt is wonderfully full. This would be a great dress for dancing a ballroom waltz.

It may be a bit large on me, but I think it isn’t too noticeable with the belt. It does come with its own belt but I like the additional sparkle and colour.

What do you think of the dress?

I actually think it looks quite contemporary aside from the longer hem length.

I switched out my winter clothing for my summer clothing and it appears that somehow I now own too many dresses. How is that possible? I need a bigger house. Don’t call the hoarder police. I will be arrested on the spot.

I’ve decided I don’t have enough events to attend. My pug/agent/assistant isn’t booking me enough fancy cocktail parties and red carpet events. It may be time to start selling a few choice dresses on Etsy. Either that or get a new pug, which is kind of like saying, get a new husband.

Tempting…oh so very tempting…but a pain-in-the-ass to retrain someone new from scratch. I know you all know what I’m talking about.