You know when you open the scrapbook to see photos of our parents? When they were young and beautiful in the past. Not that they aren’t now, of course. It is a nice exercise to remember. Even comparing our times with those of yesteryear. The habits, the references, and even the style. Of how good it was to ride around with wings under your feet. With a Booster or a Vespa Special, with the wind caressing your face and the feeling that anything was possible, even without knowing quite what. Always with his Invicta backpack strapped tightly behind him and a great desire for the future, more instinctive than defined.
It is impossible to define a precise style for that generation. Better to talk about shared codes: plaid shirts, Levi’s 501 jeans strictly high-waisted, Fila, Kappa, Champion sweatshirts, the bucket hats. Workwear from Carhartt and Dickies, Reebok or Nike sneakers, maybe the Silver ones that even now are back on sale. But the iconic items that have stayed with us-and are still sought after on the various online stores-are many: Alpha Industries bomber jackets, Ray-Ban Wayfarer glasses, Swatch and Casio watches. Objects that are desired and recognizable. Of belonging almost, not as much as in the 1980s, but whatever.
They were worn a little bit for everything. To go to the CD or cassette store, carefully choosing what to take home, as if it were a piece of identity. Grunge or pop (maybe even Britpop). Songwriting or lighthearted music. Italian or foreign. Always with the Walkman in the backpack, ready to fill the silences. To go to the movies, dreaming of DiCaprio in Titanic or to see Jurassic Park. Or simply to get together to study for maturity, between intermittent concentration and laughter, sometimes without a reason. Because maybe, sometimes, even that could be useful: learning to ask less questions, in some cases, and to wait. Like a call on the landline or like the passage of our favorite song on the radio.
[📸 IPA; vintageecoes.com; gratefulthreadsny.com; ebay.com; etsy.com; angelovintage.com]
