The 80s are often looked back upon as the decade of fashion faux-pas. Certainly, there was no such thing as subtlety at the time.. But in the decade’s defense, modern fashion is greatly influenced by it. The eighties must have been a whole lot of fun, at least as far as fashion is concerned, considering the ubiquity of neon, largeness of hair, and general asymmetry. Most of us are pretty familiar with 80s fashion because of movies like Ferris Beuller’s Day Off, The Breakfast Club, and Weird Science, or re-runs of T.V. shows like Quantum Leap, and the first few seasons of Full House.

From these bits of media, we are exposed to one very obvious truth: that the existence of MTV is irrevocably linked with the way teenagers dressed. With the founding of MTV, fashion became more closely linked to music and pop culture than it had ever been before. The way people dressed was very heavily influenced by the music they listened to, a pattern which, as you may have noticed, is still very apparent today.

In the 80s, the add-age "less is more" didn't apply to anyone. There was good reason that accessorizing was called, well, excessorizing. Jewelry, belts, hats, and even socks - essentially, anything that can be considered an accessory - were big and loud. Necklaces and bracelets were piled on with reckless abandon (and in excess!). For some time during the 80s, it was even popular to wear several pairs of socks, layered to match other elements of your outfit. Sock manufacturers even started making thinner socks, so they would be easier to scrunch, and wouldn't bunch inside the shoe.

Converse Chuck Taylors were very popular. Most teenagers owned at least one, if not several, pairs, and it was common practice for a different color to be worn on each foot. Hair was big, big, big. I don't even want to know how many bottles of hairspray an average teenage girl went through every year. Parting hair far to one side was very common, in accordance to the overall popularity of asymmetry during the 80s, and so were sideways ponytails. Make-up was just as extreme as the rest of the wardrobe - think along the lines of teal eyeliner and hot pink blush.

Of course, there are some things from the 80s that I have a hard time understanding, like the popularity of shoulder pads and bridle pants – which are, in my opinion, universally unflattering. I also don’t understand why there was such a large amount of terrible electronic music, but I digress. In any case, the 80s were such a blast, we still haven’t quite let go of them. There are plenty of 80s-inspired styles on the runways and in stores at the moment. A pair of legwarmers, chunky jewelry, or even just blue eye makeup can be incorporated into any outfit pretty easily, adding a subtle touch of the 80s.