The 80s Are Still Not Going Away: Madonna, Teenage Kicks and Me

I remember as a pre-teen wearing head-to-toe black (the closest I could get to a grown-up look, styling-wise) and two enormous black eyes of eyeshadow to channel Madonna for the summer camp talent show. We danced badly but aerobically to “Like A Virgin“, not having a clue what the lyrics meant.

I’d seen Madonna in Desperately Seeking Susan and she was the coolest of cool. In the time since then, she’s rocked some deeply dubious looks [including the rarely spotted "squatting-naked-with-a bottle-of-mineral-water"], but the 80s are back [still, FFS] and Vogue just published an online gallery of her styles through the years. They left out the mineral water shot, though.

Meanwhile, zooming back up to 2012, there’s yet another new name for the kind of outfits I’ve been wearing since the gods know when. This year –according to the Company magazine that I bought in a moment of brain death yesterday– it’s called the “Teenage Kicks” look. The black is still in full effect; crucifixes are a thing again, though they’re not something I’ll be wearing. More androgyny than the Desperately-era Madonna, and less lace.

Ho hum, but at least I’m in fashion for another year under another newly-minted but very old look. Roll on the full 1990s revival. No, wait, roll off again; I just remembered the white hoodies and dungarees.

Maybe I’ll finally be able to find some clothes worth buying again – last season’s offerings were all kind of seen-it. This year I’m still keeping my fingers crossed for a dark, skinny-slouchy tomboy style to outrock the neon-blocking sports luxe freaks, so that I can buy some new pants before the ones I’ve had since the 90s fall apart.

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This post was sponsored by Ticketamerica.com, which was handy as I probably wouldn’t have got around to finishing it today otherwise. Ticketamerica.com has concert tickets for Madonna and Drake for their world tour and One Direction concert tickets. Look them up for madonna tickets, one direction tickets and drake tickets if you like that sort of thing.

Image credit, top: cliff1066â„¢

Image credit, bottom: Horia Varlan