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Welcome back to Trendy or Timeless, a series here on Anything Goes where we analyze various clothing items and fashion trends, and I determine whether I think they are trendy or timeless. And today, we're specifically focusing on the 80s. Why? Seems kind of random. Well, to me, it's not because I'm convinced that within the next few years, the 80s are gonna have a comeback. I've started to see the 80s slowly but surely trickle back into the zeitgeist over the last year or so. It started, at least in my mind, at last year's Met Gala. I was doing my interviews on the carpet, and all of a sudden, in comes Doja Cat wearing a spot on 80s outfit. And I remember clocking her and being like, whoa, that's different. I hadn't seen anyone do an 80s look like that in a long, long time. And I'm not sure if that sort of opened my third eye to seeing 80s moving forward and everything, or if that was just the first 80s vibe that I personally had seen. Since the last time 80s vibes were sort of in, which I feel like was in what, 2017, 2018. I feel like there was kind of an 80s moment back then or that was kind of more of like an early 90s moment. I don't know. Anyway, since then, I've started to see 80s vibes trickling back in. Okay, another example would be on the Runway. Saint Laurent got some 80s going on. Versace, the latest collection, very 80s. And then there's a little bit of 80s going on in one of the more recent Schiaparelli shows. It even. It's even happening in music though, too. Like in Sabrina Carpenter's latest album. There's some 80s sounds going on in there. And it makes sense to me because we've been doing the 90s, early 2000s thing for like five years now, give or take. We gotta move on to something else at some point. I wouldn't have expected it to be the 80s, but because I'm starting to see it trickle back in, I'm like, I guess that's what we're doing next then. And so today I thought to prepare us all for the potential 80s revival, we would analyze some 80s fashion trends and discuss if they're trendy or timeless to help prepare us for when these things are in the stores. I briefly interrupt this episode to let you know that this episode is presented by Venmo. Okay, hear me out. Apparently you can earn cash back with your Venmo debit card. All you have to do is join Venmo Stash and boom. You get cash back when you shop at your favorite brands. It's kind of an awesome flex. With Venmo Stash, you can get up to 5% cash back at your fave brands. Just pick a bundle of your go tos you to shop with your Venmo debit card and earn cash back at them. And you're free to mix things up. You can easily swap out your bundle of brands every 30 days. Start earning when you do more with Stash. Venmo Stash terms and exclusions apply. Max 100 cash back per month. See terms at Venmo Me Stash terms. Now back to the episode starting with power suits with shoulder pads. Like, gorgeous, beautifully tailored, beautifully colored, sharp, powerful suits for both men and women with big, broad shoulders. Think like a deep maroon, stiff, monochromatic. That's what I think of when I think of a power suit. Shoulder pads are very 80s. Shoulder pads aren't just present in power suits, but those two things go hand in hand. So I thought I'd lump them together as one trend. On a personal level, I actually really like this trend. I love a beautifully tailored suit. I love big built out shoulders. I love shoulder pads. I love the silhouette. I don't like a shoulder pad when you can see the seam of the shoulder pad on the shoulder. But when a shoulder pad is done well, it's done properly. I'm down for a shoulder pad. So that's how I feel about that personally. But I actually also think that this is timeless as well. And, and I'm not saying that because I, I enjoy a power suit and a shoulder pad. I'm saying that because I think a suit and a dramatic silhouette is forever. I mean, I think it depends on, on the pattern. It depends on how big the shoulder pads are. Like, listen, within reason here, I think that a power suit and a shoulder pad is forever. And to be honest, I'm ready to call my stylist Jared and say, let's do this now. Why haven't we done it sooner? Because we forgot about the 80s. To be honest, to me, it's one of my least favorite, like decades of fashion. I don't love 80s vibes. Doesn't come to mind when I'm trying to reference a decade of the past. I rarely am like, ooh, let's do an 80s vibe for this. Like, that's just not inspiring to me usually. But we're starting off strong here, literally with the power suit and the shoulder pad. I'm into it. Timeless. Moving on to oversized Blazers. Okay, think a blazer, but a little bit too long and the shoulders are cutting off. Not at the top of the shoulder, but rather a little bit down the bicep. On a personal level, I don't love an oversized blazer. It's just, to me, kind of maybe messy. Like, when I think of a blazer, I think of chic, sharp, tight tailoring. Right? To me, a blazer is supposed to be well fitted with well tailored. And so an oversized blazer, to me, kind of feels gimmicky in a way. There are some, like, cute photos out there of, I think, Jennifer Aniston. I have this one photo in my head of Jennifer Aniston wearing an oversized blazer. And, like, is it cute? Yes. But it does feel a bit gimmicky to me because it doesn't fit properly. Do you know what I'm saying? Like, I think because the nature of a blazer is good tailoring, it being oversized feels silly. But, like, listen, I think a really, really simple oversized blazer, like, perhaps like a black, oversized blazer like that to me, could be timeless. I think an oversized blazer that. That is, like, barely noticeable, that it's like an oversized blazer. Like, imagine this. Okay? I'm imagining, like, an all black outfit. Black slacks, black turtleneck, black oversized blazer like, that, to me, feels timeless. But, like, if it's obvious that an oversized blazer is being worn because there's contrast in the outfit, like jeans in a T shirt, and then an oversized blazer, that, to me, feels less timeless. But then I'm torn because a blazer is such a classic jacket, that part of me is like, could a blazer ever go out of style even if it's oversized? Maybe not, because it's such a timeless style of jacket. I don't love it personally, but it's definitely technically a timeless shape. So I am a bit torn. I'm gonna go with trendy. I think a blazer that fits properly is timeless. I think there are a few rare occasions where an oversized blazer could be timeless if it's super understated. It almost doesn't even read like an oversized blazer. Like, technically it is, but it doesn't read that way. Wait, but then does that make it timeless? Wait, I think I just changed my mind. I do. I see. I do think you can make it work. You can make it work. Wait, I think I just changed my mind. Okay, now you know what? Timeless oversized blazer is timeless as long as it's styled in a way where the Oversized blazer isn't like the focal point of the outfit. Okay. That's my answer. Moving on to high waisted jeans. I'm talking really high waisted. Okay. I'm not talking about like, you know, cutting off at the belly button. I'm, I'm talking about going an inch above. This is another thing that I don't like. I do not like high waisted jeans. Um, I do find them to be gimmicky. Like jeans don't need to go up that high. I feel like my evidence for high waisted jeans being trendy is how I feel about them right now and how most people feel about them right now. They feel cheugy, they feel of a different time. You know what I'm saying? Like high waisted jeans were super in when I was maybe in high school, I think maybe middle school, middle school or high school. And now no one's looking for high waisted jeans. And I feel like the conversation around a high waisted jean is ew. I think they might come back. Unfortunately, kind of, I don't really care. I mean like, it's not like a skinny jean. Like I feel like a high waisted jean is definitely less polarizing than a skinny jean, but I'm going to say trendy. I do think that there are rare occasions where a high waisted jean could be styled in a way that feels modern and unique and interesting. You know, it's sort of a basic enough clothing concept that you could definitely get creative and find a way to make it feel interesting enough that it's almost timeless. But I think 90% of the time a high waisted jean is trendy and so to me it's going in trendy. I think the only timeless waist height for jeans would be like mid, like classic middle height waisted jeans. Mid waisted jeans like a Levi's 501. A low waisted jean, like that's not timeless. We've all watched that come in and out now twice in our life. I think the high waisted jean falls into the same category. Trendy. This episode is brought to you by ebay. Tell me if I'm alone here, but shopping used to feel more fun before all the algorithm fed blah and the endless sea of dupes. But I have a confession. I found that fun feeling again on ebay. It's not mindless scrolling, it's a fashion pursuit. And when you score that rare sneaker or that bag you've been manifesting, it's a rush. Ebay has millions of pre loved finds from hundreds of brands backed by ebay. Authenticity guarantee eBay things people love this episode is brought to you by Squarespace. If you want a website that actually looks like you, not some boring template, Squarespace has these incredible AI powered design tools that make it super easy to create something unique. Plus, if you're offering services, you can manage bookings and payments all in one spot. It's simple, stylish, and totally doable. Go to squarespace.com emma for a free trial and when you're ready to launch, use code emma to get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. Okay, moving on to another type of jeans. Tapered slash pegged jeans. Okay, imagine jeans that are tight on the top, or not like super tight on the top, but like, you know, snug around the waist. And then the silhouette of the pant kind of balloons out around the thigh and knee. And then around the knee, start to close back in towards the ankle, and then it's tight around the ankle. Now, according to my dad, because I discussed all these things with my dad, because he lived through the 80s, was sort of into fashion during the 80s, so he knows, he was like on the ground, you know what I mean? He reported to me from the ground, which was incredibly helpful. Apparently there were two ways to accomplish this sort of shape with jeans. Either a pair of jeans that just already has that shape, it's cut with that shape, or a pair of slightly wider leg jeans folded at the bottom in such a way that made it tight around the ankle. Okay, if you were to like take your pant and then fold over the flap. Like, if there's like, it's, there's like gaping fabric, fold over the gaping fabric and then roll up, right? So then it is tight around the ankle. This, to me, is one of the worst shapes for a pant possible. I can't think of a more hideous shape for a pant. They look goofy, they look silly. It's an unflattering silhouette. I found when it comes to dramatic silhouettes in clothing, a more flattering option would be to have volume up at the top, perhaps around the shoulders, and then volume around the ankle. That's a beautiful, dramatic shape to have, say, you know, like a flare pant and a shoulder pad up top. And perhaps, you know, maybe tighter tailoring around the ribs, waist, thigh, knee, because that creates a nice sort of, I guess that would be sort of like an hourglass shape in a way. Another potentially gorgeous shape could be just volume waist down, like with a gown, you know, a Lot of gowns tend to be more tailored on the top. And then there's volume, I guess, ribs down. That creates a really nice shape. It just flows nicely. It almost never is flattering to have volume between like the knees and the breast. Like, that's not flattering. You know what I'm saying? It, it makes you look shorter. When the focal point, the volume is in the center, it doesn't flow to me. So I absolutely hate the shape of pant. But that's not how we determine if things are trendy or timeless. The criteria is, will this be cringe in five years? Is this cringe now? Uh, and I think the answer with t tapered pants, balloon pants, peg jeans, trendy, because I, I don't like. No one right now in this current moment will touch that shape of pant with a ten foot pole. I mean, maybe there's some people out there, they're into it, but other than that, I, I'm not seeing this, this shape of jean around for a reason. Because they're unflattering and they're a little bit silly. They're silly because they're unflattering. It's like, why would you ever choose that shape of jean? It makes no sense. Moving on. Let's move on. I think I've made my point clear here. Moving on to acid wash. It's like regular blue denim, except it has a bunch of white splotches all over it. Looks like somebody threw bleach into the washing machine with a pair of normal jeans and then they came out and had a bunch of speckles all over them. I actually had a pair of acid washed jeans. They were Super 80s, actually. They were. Guess I had them in, I think like 2018. And I actually really love those jeans, mainly because they fit really good and my butt looked amazing in them. And that did not happen a lot back then. And it still doesn't. In retrospect. I think they are ugly. It's unpleasant to look at, it's splotchy, it's irregular, it's chaotic, it's fatiguing to the eyes. It's a very extreme pattern. And I will say acid wash comes in different flavors, if you will. The early 2000s, there was like a different kind of acid wash that was less like speckly as the sort of classic 80s acid wash. Let's just focus on the classic 80s acid wash. I truly think absolutely hideous and I think trendy. I think it's too extreme of a wash. And to me, the only classic wash of A blue jean is a natural blue jean. And it can vary depending on how worn in the jeans are. Right. Like for example, raw denim that's timeless dark wash, like a classic chic, simple dark wash, classic medium wash. Sure. Classic light wash, sure. As long as they look like they achieved their color naturally. I think timeless. Even if technically they were purchased pre worn in pre lightened. Because all denim starts raw, super dark, you know, and then over time it lightens. That's sort of how the, the various washes of denim were formed. And so I think anything that looks like it happened naturally is timeless. Acid wash does not look like it happened naturally. It looks chemically induced. I don't know. When it comes to jeans, I think the only timeless style of jeans truly in my opinion is, is a straight leg, mid waist natural blue wash of denim. I've seen so many different jean trends in my life. Skinny jeans, boot cut jeans, low waisted jeans, super high waisted jeans, colored jeans. Like fun colored jeans. Like the only thing that has stood the test of time has been like a Levi's 501 really? And like a wrangler, like a straight leg wrangler in, in jean styles similar to that. That's just where I stand on jeans. Okay, moving on to massive chunky layered statement jewelry accessory maximalism. Think like massive gold earrings. Think a bunch of resin acrylic bracelets. Bangles all over the wrists. Think a big chunky gold necklace with like a big, big pendant on it with like a big red like jewel in the center. Big bold statement jewelry. I actually really like statement jewelry. I mean, I think there are so many variables, you know, like I don't like all statement jewelry and I actually personally don't wear statement jewelry almost ever. I can't remember the last time I wore like a big statement piece of jewelry. It's been probably years, to be honest. Even when I'm going to an event and it maybe is more appropriate to like really dress up and go full fashion mode. I can't remember the last time I really leaned in to the statement jewelry. It's just not really my style and it tends to overpower me. I feel like, I don't know, I don't seem to wear it well, but I actually like it. Like I love like a big earring with you know, like an interesting design. Like I think it's really fun stacking a bunch of resin bracelets. I'm really torn. On one hand. I feel like statement jewelry in one way or another can, can always be made cool. But Then, on the other hand, there are moments where maximalism is really not in. Gaudiness is really not in. And there's moments in time where it feels costumey, and then there are moments in time where it feels very fashionable. I feel like I'm leaning towards trendy, but I think if it's truly your personal style, like, this is one of those things where if it's really your personal style to wear statement jewelry, and you're super into jewelry, I think it can be timeless on an individual level. But I think overall, I'm gonna say trendy, but I'm really hesitant. Like, I'm only, like, 75% sure that I think. I think trendy. I don't know. I might change my mind on that, but that's where I stand right now. Whenever I'm really conflicted on whether something feels trendy or timeless, I think about what it would look like in an image from a hundred years ago. Like, how out of place would that particular item seem? And I know that one time, actually, twice, two times on this podcast, I've said that I think the Labubu is a timeless design.
