Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Rockin' 80s Party in Style


Here's my prep for work 80s party.
I'd love to show up in head to toe neon colors, but I had to channel a bit of a rock star since I was required to channel a bit of Madonna as one of the MCs for the night.

Despite emptying my jewelry box and pouring all the content onto myself, I could never pull off a Madonna....
1. I didn't do a cone bra - somehow an essence of this whole Madonnaness
2. My fringe refused to be teased up into a Madonna dirty blond 80s look, it's always limping down back to 2007-2008 side swept look.
3. I heard there were gonna be some dramatic dramatic costumes, think cartoon characters, so I decided that I wouldn't try to be authentic 80s, I'd just do a modernized version instead.


At first, I planned to wear a faded grey denim jacket...but denim jackets aren't made for 30something degree celcius weather...so I changed my mind and wore a thinner jacket instead. Plus, the denim jacket kinda made me look bulky (ooops).

Denim jacket = In Fashion/In&Out
Tank top = Giordano, circa long long time ago
Skirt = Zara (I ended up wearing a different skirt that night)

I tried to tease the heck outta my hair to make it as big as possible, but failed miserably. After a while, I just had fun and made a modern side pony tail instead...just for fun.

Here are the accessories that I wore for the party...

My rock chick bangles (HK$10 each), plus a vintage dragon bangle borrowed from sous chef.


Leather bracelet, borrowed from sous chef.


Cross earrings, HK$10 from Argyle Centre.


Lots of my existing necklaces (I ended up wearing more necklaces that night)


I tried on two different belts...this looks better than the sparkly elegant-ish one.
It's from Zara, circa last year


Of course, there's no 80s without the famous leg warmers. I wore these black sparkly ones from H&M, and a pair of generic black shoes from Argyle Centre (HK$59), and painted my nails black (circa fall/winter 2008)

On the day....

Spent around 10 minutes having fun with my fellow MC, lovely Lyd, doing our modern big hair (after multiple failures trying to achieve 80s big hair, I just gave up).

I used a hot curler, teased my hair, sprayed some parts gold, and pretty much emptied the hairspray bottle. The hot curler looked kinda "naughty" eh?

Finally...

- Changed my hair band to a huge lace bow (home made, stuck it to a sparkly silver headband)
- Wore a shorter tiered skirt with a lace trim (from Zara circa two years ago)
- Wore my faux snakeskin tights
- Added black lace gloves and a couple of rings
- Changed the denim jacket to a thinner black girly motorcycle jacket (more summer weather friendly)
- Changed the tank top to a more curve-friendly H&M black top

I wish I could show up in neon shades like my girl, Jen.

More pics of crazy 80s outfit coming up...stay tuned! ^_^

3 comments:

michelle said...

Rita I love your 80s look!! Its so retro, so modern, so chic and so Madonna-- i'm so glad you got on those lace gloves!!

Sometimes I think when people dress up for an 80s theme, they take it too literal--buying all vintage 80s stuff--or make it ridiculous--they throw on anything spandex or neon and call it 80s. But your outfit was a mix of 80s inspired trends with a modern twist--which is why I love love love it. :)

Jackie said...

I approve! Good choice. And a tip for the future on how to get BIG hair:
1. When still wet spray copious amounts of root volumising spray into your hair. Lift it by sections and spray into the roots.
2. Blow-dry your hair upside down. Seriously.
3. Lift hair from the crown and back-comb at the roots.
4. Tip your head upside down again and spray copious amounts of hairspray into it.
5. BIG HAIR SORTED.

I hope I sound like a L'Oreal ad =)

Finally got a long overdue HK post up! Phew!

Jax x

Unknown said...

thanks michelle...i wanted to be literal...but failed ^_^ so i went for a modern version instead...oppps. glad you like it

jackie, i am so gonna try to tips the next time i need HUGE hair ^_^