• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Wendy Brandes Jewelry Blog

Never Is the Next New Thing

  • HOME
  • SHOP
  • ABOUT
  • FAQ
  • CONTACT

What Wendy Wore: ’80s-Inspired Mesh and Jeggings

May 16, 2017 by WendyB

I’ve got a new YouTube video coming out tomorrow, for which I wore a 1980s-inspired outfit. Because you can’t see the head-to-toe look in the video, my right-hand woman Eryn took this full-length photo.

What Wendy Wore
Mesh jacket: God Save LA (2013, inspired by Madonna and previously seen here)
T-shirt: Splendid
Jeggings: J. Brand (2010-ish? Previously seen here)
Belt: Purchased from Bluefly (2016)
Imitation Keith Haring clutch: Patricia Field (2015)
Boots: Celine (pre-2007)
Earrings: Originals from the 1980s

Here’s a closer look at the clutch and those “homegrown vintage” boots. Can you believe those are more than 10 years old and still going strong?

I’m also wearing my own 18K gold, barbed-wire, full-finger ring design in this photo.

In the video, I talk some more about the 1980s looks that I still love. (I never get tired of that subject!) But I don’t mention one style that I don’t care for, which is the modern interpretation of skinny jeans, including the “jeggings” I was wearing during the video.

It’s surprising that I don’t like today’s skinny jeans considering that I spent the ’80s obsessed with super-tight dark jeans imported from England and black leggings. I was also a fan of Guess cropped, ankle-zip jeans that were on the skinny side, as well as narrow stirrup pants.

Wearing my Danskin leggings in Amsterdam in 1989. Click for original post.

During the first decade of the 2000s, when the only jeans to be found were low-rise and boot-cut, I desperately wanted what I thought of as skinny jeans. I had only one pair of jeans for years because I was so not into the Frankie B look. Eventually, I discovered Acne’s Hex style in 2007. Those were the perfect skinny jeans for me.

Wearing my Acne jeans in 2007. Click for original post.

In 2017, though, my 2007 Acne jeans style would be more likely to be considered “straight-leg” instead of “skinny. “Skinny” has come to mean a skin-tight, leggings-like fit (leading to the awful portmanteau of “jeggings”), and that doesn’t appeal to me at all.  I don’t mind skinny jeans on other people, obviously; I just don’t want to wear them myself. The only reason I have my one pair of J. Brand jeggings is because I was planning to wear them as part of an Adam Ant Halloween costume. I still tend to wear the jeggings when I’m trying to look costume-y. Other than that, I prefer straight-leg and boyfriend-cut jeans, plus I’ve been keeping an eye out for flares and wide legs that might work.

I’m a bit mystified by this personal fashion “don’t”: Maybe I overdosed on leggings in the 1980s? Whatever the reason, this covers what I don’t talk about in tomorrow’s video. Make sure you subscribe so you can find out what I do talk about!

SUBSCRIBE TO WENDY BRANDES JEWELRY ON YOUTUBE.

You might also like
What Wendy Wore: Style Forever by Alyson Walsh
10 Years After Janet Jackson's Super Bowl
Flashback: The Agony and Ecstasy of a Small Business

Filed Under: 80s style, About Wendy, acne jeans, Fashion, jeans, outfit post, pants, pictures of me, vintage WendyB photos, What Wendy Wore

Previous Post: « Recommended Reading for Women’s Health Week
Next Post: Wednesday’s Video: ’80s Earrings and Edie Sedgwick »

Primary Sidebar

MEET WENDY BRANDES

Award-winning designer of fine jewelry inspired by women's history and pop culture. A former journalist who writes about jewelry, fashion, medieval history, news, feminism, dogs, cats and whatever else is on her mind. Blogging since 2007.
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

ARCHIVES

CATEGORIES

Facebook Pagelike Widget

POPULAR TOPICS

NEWSLETTER

Subscribe for Email updates.
* indicates required

Original jewelry designs, photos and text are © Wendy Brandes 2007-2016. All rights reserved.

© 2016 · FOODIE PRO THEME COPYRIGHT BY · SHAY BOCKS GENESIS FRAMEWORK · BUILT ON THE WORDPRESS