Ah, the 80s, the era of my youth. Well, some of it. There’s nothing better than an 80s dress-up party. But what exactly was I wearing in 1989? Why could I find the album from 1987 but not the one I needed?

This question had me stumped last weekend. I had well and truly moved beyond the fluoro and bubble skirts of high school. I had also moved out of the goth phase. I was probably still hanging around The Underground and dance/house music was just starting to make an impact.

My friend Jane, whom I met in 1988 or 1989 when we were both volunteers at UWA radio station 6UVS (now RTR) suggested I probably had a perm, a memory I had tried to block out. She was right, even without the photos I knew I had a bad spiral perm done in London that year that went tight and curly instead of long and wavy.

Unable to locate photos of exactly what I was wearing circa 1989 I dragged out the Doc Martens boots purchased that year in London, the velvet Katherine Hamnet jacket, the mod-ish tartan mini-skirt and ruined the look entirely with blue eyeshadow, coral-red lips and a big fringe and top pony tail.

See for yourself in the flickr photostream. Ghastly. Really should have borrowed a crimper like others did.

Great party, by the way Simone! And happy 40th again.