Back to the Future

Last Friday night, I ended up in an electro club surrounded by the cream of the crop of the underground Berlin music scene.

Not that I was aware of this, but as I stood heavily criticizing "the poser" pouncing around on stage, my friends in the know pointed out that he was actually the guitarist from Mia, a famous German "electro punk" band.

He was contorting his face so unrecognizably, that even if I had known who he was, I don’t think I would have recognized him. He had on the "so now" 80s get up, mixed with a touch of heroin chic: Scruffy converse all-stars, skintight navy blue jeans, a white shirt and black tie, nicely complimented by his greasy hair, which hung sweatily in his eyes, and of course the obligatory cigarette dangling from his mouth.

People weren’t dancing initially, which was either because they were too cool, or perhaps because the music was a bit clunky and not easy to dance to unless you had robotic limbs. However, when the second band did an electro cover of Sinead O’Connor’s 80s classic “Nothing Compares 2 U,” the crowd went wild, singing along and swaying happily. Total 80’s overload.

Saved from the dumpster

I couldn’t help thinking “what is wrong with us all?”

There we were, a crowd full of skinny jeans tucked into pointy boots, t-shirts with bat wings and leggings wearing 20-somethings reliving a decade of fashion which should have been packed into bin liners along with our "blankies" and baby clothes and bid farewell outside a charity shop (or flea market) on January 1, 1990.

For years we all laughed heartily at the pictures of our parents sporting the very clothes that have slowly but surely been creeping back into our wardrobes, one by one, over the last few seasons. And quite rightly so -- the 80s were a dire decade for fashion and just because a few supermodels have strutted down the catwalk wearing pointy ankle boots and shoulder pads doesn’t mean we all have to take on the fad.

Or does it?

Fashion nostalgia

I have a theory that, for the generation of 80s children, the decade’s fashion revival reminds us of our childhood and that’s why we have embraced every last legwarmer and stripy top.

Looking back down memory lane with our rose-tinted glasses, we remember dancing to Depeche Mode or Cindy Lauper with BFG’s, (Big Friendly Grown-ups), at our parents’ parties. Or being completely in awe of Kylie, in her days of frizzy perms and high-waist, drainpipe jeans.

To us, 80s clothes are like the "blankies" of our twenties, familiar and comforting.

Faith gives in to "the blankie"

That’s not to say there hasn’t been a resistance, just like the advent of mobile phones which had us divided into two camps in the 90’s; those who thought they were just for show-offs, and those who liked showing off with them.

I was in the former camp for a long time, until one day I buckled and joined the "other side." The 80s revival has presented a similar dilemma for me, since having arrived in Berlin.

Although I haven’t yet acquired a short fringe and a pair of leggings, I have to admit that despite my protesting, I have finally given in and can now be seen wandering the streets of Kreuzberg sporting Robin Hood boots and almost skinny jeans. Oh dear.