By the time I got to college, all those fabulous college theme parties made regular trips to the "Purple Heart" thrift store in Houston a weekend event. Somewhere, if I can find it, I have photos of me in a "you Tarzan - me Jane" leopard print furry cave girl outfit, of me in a leather miniskirt dress with a studded dog collar neckline.... Even though it was still the late 70's and the "popular" types continued wearing the skinny strap polyester disco dresses for formal events, my friends and I started doing the vintage thing and literally created the trend on our campus for 1950's-'60's style cocktail dresses and more. I have never really given it up.
Above: For a "Gatsby" theme party, I actually made my own dress, by hand. Under-dress was a gold-purple metallic lame` fabric, which I not only designed, made my own pattern, and sewed, but also hand-beaded the bodice. The over-dress was a sheer transparent silk, shot through with purple, green, and metallic gold. I sewed this into a toga. To create matching shoes, I spray painted a pair of navy "Dress for Success" leather pumps dark green, and sprinkled green glitter on them while they were still wet. Then I bought some already made sequined braid and sewed straps. I also made the headband out of scraps from the dress. (Finally, all those damn sewing classes my mother had made me take came to good use!)
Below: A '50's "Debutant " style dress from Purple Heart worn as an early '80's "Formal" gown. Pale pale pink, almost blush, silk taffeta under-dress, stiff silk chiffon over-dress in the same color.
Above: Another '50's cocktail dress, worn in the '80s, this time with a fitted black velvet bodice and a black layered full tulle skirt. It occurs to me as I write this that probably few even know what these archaic terms mean anymore. :-(
Life is not always peaches and cream, velvet and pearls....I mentioned before the many sub-movements of late '70's fashion....one of which was punk. I embraced it heartily. Made myself a "SID VICIOUS LIVES" t-shirt, where the letters looked like blood dripping, bc growing up in Dallas , Texas, you could not find these sorts of things for sale in my local Valley View Mall. Below: Winning a punk dance contest at a discotheque in Athens. I am wearing an hombre burgundy-purple sequined tube top as a mini skirt, and a boy's red silk polka dotted shirt as my shirt. It would have been better with a pair of Dr. Martens, but I didn't have any - yet.
After punk came "New Wave"....and more college theme parties. Here, my roommates and I are devolving (as in the band DEVO.)
Above: We called this look "preppy punk" (above) bc most of the time, we were just "preppy" (below)
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