I WON'T BE DENIED A FASHION TREND

Momservation: On fashion trends - If you’re old enough to have worn it the first time around, it’s best not to have it in your closet for the second coming.

 

               

 

I am an 80’s gal. My friends know if you’ve got a 1980’s themed party coming up, I’m your go-to gal for vintage 80’s wear and accessories. VINTAGE. Meaning, why the heck do I still have this stuff around?

 

Crimping iron? Check. Big, black bow a-la Madonna for the hair? Check. Knock-off Guess acid-washed, overall jean skirt? Check. (Never mind there’s no way I can squeeze these kid-baring hips in it). Neon pink skinny tie a-la Nicolas Cage from “Valley Girl?” Check. Bangle bracelets, dangly earrings, Motley Crue pin? Check, check, check.

 

Don’t even get me started on 80’s music. Or quoting every line from “Sixteen Candles.”

 

Despite my absolute love and nostalgia for all things 80’s, I have to admit, I was a 70’s girl first. Only, I feel like I was left out of the party. I was still a bit too young for all the popular fashion trends and it seemed everything I desired my mom told me I was too young to wear it.

 

I desperately wanted those Ditto, Jordache, Sasson, and Chemin de Fur jeans instead of plaid trousers. I thought it would be so cool to wear tube tops and wrap around skirts instead of shirts with unicorns and rainbows or iron-on T-shirts that said, “Keep on truckin’.” I ached for platform sandals like Candies or Cherokees instead of my Hush Puppies. But more than anything else I really, really wanted the glorious wavy bottom wedge shoes - Famolares.

 

They were the one designer 1970’s trend I thought I had the closest shot at getting. It wasn’t racy. It wasn’t sexy. And as an eight year old third grader I thought the moderate platform wasn’t too mature for me. Plus, I went to a private school with a uniform dress code and the only shoes I could wear with my plaid skirt were navy blue or brown shoes. And wouldn’t you know it, the loafer style Famolares I wanted came in blue and brown!

 

But Mom said no. “You’ll twist your ankle. They’re too mature for you,” she said dashing my hopes. Even when the first day of school came and lo and behold other 3rd grade girls were wearing Famolares, my mom still said no. I got one pair of school shoes a year and we had just bought me the ugliest navy blue shoes on the face of the earth. When Christmas came I angled again, but even Santa wasn’t on my side.

 

Then the 80’s came and Famolares disappeared with bell-bottom jeans and platform shoes. And even though I moved on to flats and leg warmers, I never forgot about my first love.

 

Fast forward 30 years. A friend had just returned some 80’s wear I let her borrow and we were reminiscing about our favorite past trends. I told her about my long lost love of Famolares and how I still, to this day, ached for their touch upon my sole.

 

That’s when it occurred to me that with the magic of the internet it wasn’t too late to be connected to my one true love. That night, while my husband was asleep in bed, I searched online, desperate to be reunited.

 

Sure enough, after sifting through Famolare Hi There platforms, Famolare Get There heels and sandals, and Famolares in wrong sizes and colors – there they were on eBay, just as I remembered them. Brown, lattice front, wavy wedge, size 8 Famolares. I bought them instantly, money no object, finally mature enough for them to be mine.

 

When they arrived two days later, I was giddy with anticipation. I was already wearing the outfit I knew they would look perfect with. When I slipped them on it was like we were always meant to be together.

 

When my kids came home from school I danced around in my beloved shoes declaring, “Mommy is going to bring back an old fashion trend! I’m wearing these babies everywhere!”

 

“Those are them?” my son said disappointed with all the hype.

 

When I paraded around in them for my husband, eager for his approval, he shrugged and said, “If that’s what turns you on.”

 

When I wore them to my kids’ soccer practice skipping over to show the other moms, said one unimpressed, “Hmmm. Those aren’t how I remembered them.”

 

When I posted a picture on Twitter, giddy to show off my Famolares like a proud new mom one follower said, “They kind of look like nun shoes.”

 

When I wore them to Girls Night Out one friend decided, “They look a bit sensible. Sort of like orthopedic shoes.”

 

Coming to the realization that the fantasy was better than the reality, my mom was the one who finally put it all in perspective. When I called her to tell her what I finally had on my feet after all these years she said, “Saying you would twist your ankle was a convenient excuse. They were like $50 back then. Those shoes were too expensive and they just weren’t that cute.”

 

And a week later, when the novelty had definitely worn off and I had cast them aside in favor of my reliable old running shoes my daughter said stating the obvious, “Mom, where are your Famolares? How are you going to start a fashion trend if you never wear them?”

 

Yeah. Some things are better left in the past.

 

Except the 80’s. The 80’s will live forever if I have anything to do with it.

 

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Comments

  • 10/8/2009 1:20 PM Linda wrote:
    OMG!! LOL

    Hey, you rock those shoes!

    For me, it was a pair of LA GEAR hightops (pink and silver, of course)

    Maybe I should go hunt them down?

    eh...
    Maybe not!
    Reply to this
    1. 10/8/2009 1:29 PM Kelli M Wheeler wrote:
      Thanks! 

      I had the LA Gear hightops too! Grey and pink and I would roll them down so the pink would show and then wear them with two pairs of socks to match whatever IZod tops I was wearing (usually baby blue and pink with the collars up). You can just imagine my sausage roll bangs with my Aqua Net big hair can't you?
      Reply to this
  • 12/29/2009 9:36 AM Tracy wrote:
    Thanks for the memories! I happened to have the very same pair... Only mine were on the High-Up sole. Fabulous condition! What a lucky find!
    Reply to this
  • 2/17/2010 2:16 AM Anna Sullivan wrote:
    Well.I like your memories you shared about the fashion trend.
    Anna Sullivan,

    Reply to this
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