On the way to the dentist last week I saw a couple of college-aged girls wearing fanny packs.

Fanny packs. 

Now, I’ve been seeing Saved By the Bell-era fashion slowly creeping its way into the mainstream over the last year or two (like high-wasted shorts and baggy neon tank tops), but fanny packs?!  Those were questionable even in their heyday.  I remember my brother making fun of my purple one (that matched my slap bracelet…which I casually stored in my Caboodle, BTW).

Then for the almost three decades since, fanny packs have been viewed as the pinnacle for seriously bad fashion.

So how (how??) does this notoriously appearance-obsessed demographic make the same mistake we did?  At least back in the late 80s we didn’t have the benefit of perspective.  Much of that bizarre fashion had never been attempted before (and let’s face it, we were dizzy from all the Roxette playing in our Walkmans) so we didn’t realize how ridiculous we looked.

But we’ve been making fun of that era’s fashion for years now; why else would 80s parties be so amusing?  So there’s just no excuse for dusting off the mom jeans and shapeless tops.

When skinny jeans hit the market, that was bad enough.  Unless you have no curve, skinny jeans will throw you over the edge in the hip department (there’s something to balancing out hips with what’s going on at the ankle).

Then you throw in things like acid washed denim, rhinestone corset dresses, and studded shoulders on a pleather jacket – as I saw during a single trip to Dillard’s recently – and it’s evident the fashion industry is throwing their own 80s party.

Pass me a Sea Breaze.