On Saturday night, we went to Pizza Chicago downtown for Shiaw-Ling’s birthday party. This year, her theme was the 80s and 90s, and she encouraged her guests to come dressed for the occassion. I did my best to reproduce my wardrobe, makeup and hair from 1982, the year Shiaw-Ling was born:
Yes, those are actually leg warmers over my jeans, in order to produce the most idiotic fashion trend I have personally been a victim of.
Unfortunately for Peter and me, we’d found street parking near the restaurant. Everyone else had figured they’d be smart and simply park in the nearby San Pedro parking garage, where, for some inexplicable reason (Paris Hilton checking out the San Jose club scene?) the top two floors were blocked off. As a result, there was no parking in the garage, and they had to spend additional time trying to find street parking.
When you’re 20 years old and dressed in 80s clothes, people know you’re being ironic. But when you’re old enough to have lived through the 80s and you’re dressed in 80s fashion, it’s not always that clear, whether you’re in a costume or whether you’ve never bothered to update your look. Since we were in the latter category, it was a nervous 15 minutes, and it didn’t help that Shiaw-Ling’s party area was right by the door.
The “hip” club guy look of suit jacket over t-shirt was Peter’s choice for 80s wear. It turned out to be a popular look for the men that evening. Rags may have a slight advantage over Peter by having a bottle of wine in his hand:
I was pretty glad when Loretta and Maureen arrived in 80s clothes, together with Keith (who’d accessorized his club guy look with the prerequisite stubble) and Constantine, who embodied the “you can never wear too much denim” attitude.
The only person to go for the 90s look was Chris, who went all-out grunge with a skirt. He tried to look depressed like Kurt Cobain several times during the party, but failed, which may have been what cost him a top place spot in the costume contest.
Shiaw-Ling had actually set up quizzes and contest for the theme, which I didn’t expect. It soon became all too clear that some people spent the 80s watching Saturday morning cartoons, while some of us were going to concerts and watching John Hughes movies.
So we didn’t do so well on the quizzes, though I did win the costume contest and the My Little Pony clones that came as first prize. Everyone had a fabulous time, including Neil and Kelly (who thinks 80s is a funny party theme, not a historical decade.) Since she and Shiaw-Ling are birthday buddies (same day, one drinking age apart), they were both birthday princesses.
We had to go home to put our children to bed (and to prepare for Kelly’s birthday celebration the next morning), but most of Shiaw-Ling’s friends went back to her place for a sleepover, where Chris planned to sic the Trivial Pursuit game we’d bequesthed to Shiaw-Ling upon all.
Carolyn,
I laughed and laughed and laughed at this entry. Thanks for the commentary, and for sharing the pictures! I hope you had a good time too, despite the initial 15 min. squirming. (Sorry we were late, btw!) I am certainly amused that your children think of the 80s now as a theme, not a chuink of your life. 😀