I’ve got a new YouTube video coming out tomorrow, for which I wore a 1980s-inspired outfit. Because you can’t see the head-to-toe look in the video, my right-hand woman Eryn took this full-length photo.
What Wendy Wore
Mesh jacket: God Save LA (2013, inspired by Madonna and previously seen here)
T-shirt: Splendid
Jeggings: J. Brand (2010-ish? Previously seen here)
Belt: Purchased from Bluefly (2016)
Imitation Keith Haring clutch: Patricia Field (2015)
Boots: Celine (pre-2007)
Earrings: Originals from the 1980s
Here’s a closer look at the clutch and those “homegrown vintage” boots. Can you believe those are more than 10 years old and still going strong?
I’m also wearing my own 18K gold, barbed-wire, full-finger ring design in this photo.
In the video, I talk some more about the 1980s looks that I still love. (I never get tired of that subject!) But I don’t mention one style that I don’t care for, which is the modern interpretation of skinny jeans, including the “jeggings” I was wearing during the video.
It’s surprising that I don’t like today’s skinny jeans considering that I spent the ’80s obsessed with super-tight dark jeans imported from England and black leggings. I was also a fan of Guess cropped, ankle-zip jeans that were on the skinny side, as well as narrow stirrup pants.
Wearing my Danskin leggings in Amsterdam in 1989. Click for original post.
During the first decade of the 2000s, when the only jeans to be found were low-rise and boot-cut, I desperately wanted what I thought of as skinny jeans. I had only one pair of jeans for years because I was so not into the Frankie B look. Eventually, I discovered Acne’s Hex style in 2007. Those were the perfect skinny jeans for me.
Wearing my Acne jeans in 2007. Click for original post.
In 2017, though, my 2007 Acne jeans style would be more likely to be considered “straight-leg” instead of “skinny. “Skinny” has come to mean a skin-tight, leggings-like fit (leading to the awful portmanteau of “jeggings”), and that doesn’t appeal to me at all. I don’t mind skinny jeans on other people, obviously; I just don’t want to wear them myself. The only reason I have my one pair of J. Brand jeggings is because I was planning to wear them as part of an Adam Ant Halloween costume. I still tend to wear the jeggings when I’m trying to look costume-y. Other than that, I prefer straight-leg and boyfriend-cut jeans, plus I’ve been keeping an eye out for flares and wide legs that might work.
I’m a bit mystified by this personal fashion “don’t”: Maybe I overdosed on leggings in the 1980s? Whatever the reason, this covers what I don’t talk about in tomorrow’s video. Make sure you subscribe so you can find out what I do talk about!