DU Women: Did You Wear Shoulder Pads in the 80s?

[Yavin4]

Confess!

I had to watch a training video at work today, and the woman was wearing shoulders. The video was made in the late 80s.

So why did women wear shoulder pads?

[xmas74]

1. Of course I did.

Many of the outfits had them sewn-in.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

2. I wore vintage clothes-I was in my punk rock years

but I did have a dress with shoulder pads at my friend's wedding. Big shoulder pads ARE HIDEOUS!

[BlackVelvetElvis]

3. Because they wore them on "Dynasty"

Joan and Linda, that is.
I dunno. I cut those damn things out.

[Cobalt Violet]

10. But then the shoulders were at your elbows weren't they?

[MountainLaurel]

4. I cut all of mine out

Of every item of clothing I owned. I already had weird posture and broad shoulders, and I sure the hell didn't need to accentuate either.

[SmokingJacket]

7. Me too.

Stuffed them into my bra.

;-)

[Sanity Claws]

5. I wore them because they were in style

I know it looks dumb now but lots of styles look dumb in hindsight. How are those baggy jeans going to look in 20 years? Or what about nose rings?

[barackmyworld]

6. football player chic?

I remember making fun of my mom for her shoulder pad clothes.

[CatWoman]

8. I still do

a lot of my clothes have shoulder pads.

[flamingyouth]

9. I always cut them out of my clothes

[alphafemale]

11. Hated them. I'd cut them out.

Sometimes I think there are bets made by people in the fashion industry. And they have a wicked sense of humor.

Ain't NO WAY anyone would wear THAT!

Wanna' bet?

[LibDemAlways]

12. The 80s was also the era of the

oversized tee-shirt - with shoulder pads - decorated with swirls of glitter and worn over calf length leggings. And lets not forget big, big hair.

I spent '85-'90 working in a travel agency in a well-to-do Southern CA suburb. One Halloween I dressed in the outfit described above - not my normal attire - I was never trendy. Anyhow, not one customer even batted an eye. I thought I looked ridiculous.

[Kat45]

13. Yup. Every top had them; you didn't have a choice but to buy them.

I was too lazy to cut them out, and they weren't too bad on me, having narrow shoulders.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

14. Yes, it was hard to avoid them, but...

I drew the line at wearing a coat with shoulder pads over a jacket with shoulder pads over a blouse with shoulder pads. I usually cut out two of the three sets of shoulder pads.

[MidwestMomma]

16. That made me laugh

I know exactly what you're talking about. I could handle only one pair of shoulder pads per outfit also. :)

I think the big shoulders were supposed to make your bottom half 'appear' smaller.

[Technowitch]

15. Sadly... yes.

And every now and then, I run a cross a blazer or other article of clothing that still has 'em.

I've become very handy with the scissors. ;)

[orleans]

17. snip snip and out they'd go

i remember there were only a couple things i had where they were totally sewed in and i couldn't hack at it to remove them. i never wore those tops again.

[Starlight]

18. Yes. It was fashionable. Wearing a jacket with no shoulder pads

would have looked strangely old fashioned and out of style. Like today's fashions will look in just a few years. :smoke: