When Legwarmers Went With Everything - The 80's #12
At some point in the 80's, minds were lost, the fashion police went on strike, and somebody somewhere suggested: "Hey! Why don't we take a pair of way oversized knitted socks, cut the toes out, and scrunch the rest up around our calves until our legs look like upside-down, overused Q-Tips." And the world aggressively nodded: "OK!" Neon was everything. Everything was already big, grandiose by design, and built to grab your attention. But that wasn't enough. Designers, trend makers, fashion icons... in the 80's they all asked the same basic question. How do we make this visible from space? And then the trend was embraced with the kind of commitment usually reserved for cult-like religious movements and/or pyramid schemes. Suddenly, legwarmers were everywhere. Aerobics class? Legwarmers. Shopping mall? Legwarmers. School? Legwarmers. Office? Trip to the dentist? Beach day? Yep, probably legwarmers. The remarkable thing wasn't that people wore them...