The Sex Police

I found myself the other day dressing how I did as a thirteen year old.

We all know that fashion is cyclical and nostalgia brings things back but it's quite scarey when you remember things the first time around.

Mother always says you can only do a style once - otherwise it just looks like you've been wearing it non-stop all these years. But as I donned my late eighties ensemble of black jersey pencil skirt, leggings with lace-up ankle boots and no less than 2 layered oversize tops (black & white with print with a stripe showing underneath) it made me feel all nostalgic and warm inside.

Now I know I can't carry off the look as well as my skinny 13 year old self but as we all know confidence makes all the difference! What I couldn't get over was how it gave me a touch of youthful exuberance - especially when I put Neneh Cherry on the stereo and cast my mind back to the late eighties....

A time of optimistic pop songs and knee socks. Kylie was doing the locomotion, Tiffanny doing that funny hand dance in a mohair sweater big enough to fit Bros in and the pop scene was a wholesome affair. You'd sit glued to Top of the Pops, read Smash Hits cover to cover (learning all the lyrics) and pick up fashion tips from all your favourite stars.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEqsZExmDzI

I think the defining video for the generation was Robert Palmer, Addicted to Love. The first time you saw it you stopped in your tracks, whether young or old, boy or girl! Us girls went and bought tight black dresses and red lipstick (I think the boys went to their rooms!). We took kylie's red knee socks and kept our eighties back-combed hair. We mixed the black with red and white but never another colour, pencil skirts and leggings, bandeau tops and boob tubes, layers with maybe an oversize crop-top thrown in for good measure. If you saw a group of us together it was like a shoal (?) of penguins.

The promenade in Blackpool on a Saturday night was like a zoo (no change) and the boys used to call the girls the Sex Police - it was the standard weekend uniform lasting till the mid nineties.

And now its back - the black and white is a strong style statement this Autumn/Winter and the casual jersey separates are here to stay (with even the oversize crop top making an appearance). The leggings might be black or just as easily tribal print - the jersey pencil skirt in a rainbow of colours from H&M and the oversize vest or tee - from Me&Yu of course!