What were the most embarrassing fashion mistakes of your youth?

@boiboing (13153)
Northampton, England
February 15, 2016 2:27pm CST
If anybody tries to tell me that they never made a fashion mistake, I will come to the conclusion that they are either lying, fooling themselves or have spent their entire life being totally 'safe' in beige and navy. I'm sure I'm still messing up on a regular basis - certainly my Italian and Portuguese colleagues always look at me like I'm in need of a style make-over - but like most people, my worst crimes against fashion were in my late teens and 20s. My mother frequently used to ask me "Are you REALLY going out like that?" but I don't recall that she ever sent me back to my room to change. I had no money in my student days but I had a lot of access to jumble sales (I think the US calls them 'rummage' sales), charity shops filled with dead men's and women's clothes, and lots of vintage stores. I was also more than capable of hitting the home-dye kits and abusing my mother's sewing machine. Probably my lowest low point was tie-dying old men's 'long johns'. I like to think I pre-dated the trend for 'leggings' but strangers would comment on my wrinkly baggy knees and my saggy crotch (it was the long johns that were saggy, not my actual crotch - all was much perter then) because I also pre-dated lycra. My German army surplus home customised trousers were pretty terrible and smelled like an old wet dog. My mother hated them. And I had far too many disgusting old men's tweed jackets and saggy old lady cardigans. My mother's old school gym skirt got quite a lot of outings too and I used to pair it with a very loud black and red 'Dennis the Menace' top. Once I started work, I had a shocking collection of terrible skirt suits. It's a wonder that all the polyester rubbing together didn't cause me to spontaneously combust. Come on now, please don't pretend that you've not done the same. Please tell me some of your worst fashion excesses and disasters.
15 people like this
16 responses
• United States
15 Feb 16
Probably when I was in high school I dyed my hair blond and tried to do the side ponytail from the 80's. Didn't work out too well for me lol.
1 person likes this
@boiboing (13153)
• Northampton, England
15 Feb 16
Oh I can just imagine how that damaged your hair. Did it take years to grow out?
1 person likes this
• United States
15 Feb 16
@boiboing Not really. My hair actually grows quite fast. I didn't cut it short then. Just dyed it. I've been dying my hair for years though.
@RasmaSandra (73570)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
15 Feb 16
@DanieGirl80587 throughout high school I dyed my hair in every imaginable color. When I stopped on hot summer days under the sun I looked like a stripped racoon until it all grew out
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29823)
• Momence, Illinois
16 Feb 16
Back in the early 70's I had a pair of jeans, they were bright red with blue back pockets with a white star on them. I thought I was looking good lol. NOT.
@boiboing (13153)
• Northampton, England
16 Feb 16
I bet you walked with a swagger when you had them on.
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29823)
• Momence, Illinois
16 Feb 16
@boiboing Indeed I did lol. Yikes
@freak369 (5113)
• United States
17 Feb 16
One word - corduroy. I distinctly remember having a brown pair when I was younger and I honestly think that brown was the only color that it was made in. You could hear me coming before you could see me and sure as maple syrup flowing slowly on a winter afternoon - the thighs wore out before anything else on them.
@boiboing (13153)
• Northampton, England
17 Feb 16
I remember corduroy skirts always got odd 'bum-patterns' on them and were particularly bad if you cycled in them.
@irishidid (8688)
• United States
16 Feb 16
GoGo Boots. Need I say more?
@boiboing (13153)
• Northampton, England
16 Feb 16
No, not a word. Did they have tassels?
@1creekgirl (40570)
• United States
16 Feb 16
For some reason I still don't understand , I made a pukey mustard/brown colored jumper one year. Not only was it a horrible color, it was so badly made that I was spared the indignity of actually wearing it.
@1creekgirl (40570)
• United States
17 Feb 16
@boiboing I really don't think it would be a good color for anyone!
@boiboing (13153)
• Northampton, England
16 Feb 16
I really don't know anyone who can carry off a colour like that.
1 person likes this
@Poppylicious (11133)
16 Feb 16
I used Sun-In on my hair when I was thirteen, but only a streak and it actually looked pretty darn cool. It was the late eighties, after all. I had a pair of flesh coloured leggings. That wasn't a good look. At university I had to do some teaching practice and a blouse I bought to wear for that was exactly the same as a blouse the sixty year old student bar manager had. She looked far better in it. *sigh*
@Porcospino (31366)
• Denmark
15 Feb 16
When I was a teenager I cut my own hair.I thought that it would be really cool, but the result absolutely horrible. I lied to the hairdresser and told her that my mother did it, but she didn't believe me At the same time I had some pants that I really liked. They were multicolored and they looked like something a clown would wear, but at that time I thought that they were really beautiful
@boiboing (13153)
• Northampton, England
15 Feb 16
My mother made me a pair of terrible dungarees out of some chintz curtains. They were awful.
@marlina (154166)
• Canada
15 Feb 16
When I was younger, I was wearing my skirts and dresses way too short.
@boiboing (13153)
• Northampton, England
15 Feb 16
Oh but I bet you had the legs to get away with it.
@Jessicalynnt (50525)
• Centralia, Missouri
16 Feb 16
I remember the days of scrunchies and tight rolled pants....
@RasmaSandra (73570)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
15 Feb 16
@boiboing I loved to dress crazy as a teen. I would buy whatever looked good and comfortable to me. I once even had a red flannel shirt with blue roses. I loved it because it was oversized and went like a tunic on my jeans.
@boiboing (13153)
• Northampton, England
15 Feb 16
Sounds a bit like the massive 'Dark Side of the Moon' jumper my boyfriend's mum made and I hung onto when we split up.
1 person likes this
@DianneN (247099)
• United States
15 Feb 16
What was fashionable at the time would look ridiculous today. Believe it or not, I never made a fashion faux pas. I came from a family in various areas of the fashion industry and had fashion sense. Money was never an issue, even in college. I guess I was pretty fortunate to have beautiful well made clothes.
@boiboing (13153)
• Northampton, England
15 Feb 16
Come on, there must be a big shoulder padded jacket or a really terrible pair of shoes in your past, hidden away in your darkest secret corner of your mind.
@JudyEv (326046)
• Rockingham, Australia
15 Feb 16
Wow, you must have looked a sight at times!
@boiboing (13153)
• Northampton, England
16 Feb 16
Yes indeed.
@Traceyjayne (1763)
• United Kingdom
15 Feb 16
wearing blue clothes and brown eyeshadow.
@boiboing (13153)
• Northampton, England
15 Feb 16
Could have been even worse the other way around.
• United States
15 Feb 16
When I graduated from high school I made a beautiful yellow linen a-line dress to travel in. What I didn't realize is that it wrinkled badly practically from the first hour it was worn. It looked awful when I arrived at my destination after a plane ride. Then I washed it instead of dry cleaning it and it lost all it's body, never to return.
@boiboing (13153)
• Northampton, England
15 Feb 16
I bet that standing in your room in front of the mirror you looked amazing but you arrived looking like an unmade bed.
@LadyDuck (458583)
• Switzerland
16 Feb 16
My worst fashion mistake, shirts too short. I was a teenager when the mini-skirt was so popular, but wearing a mini skirt to climb up the stairs from the Milan metro can be very embarrassing.
@garymarsh6 (23393)
• United Kingdom
16 Feb 16
OH Barbara you sound like a right catch! My mistake was owning a pair of oxford bags that had probably belonged to coco the clown and I even had long hair. How gross was that? Mind you these days I would be grateful for a little bit of hair!