Christmas, 1987

By Lori Ferraro

Below is a page from my diary, dated December 25, the year was 1987.

Ladies – how many of you woke up to find one of these blasts from the past under your tree?

Lori's December 25, 1987 (Christmas) Diary Entry1. A few Forenza sweaters.
Yes, those hot, chunky cable knit roll neck sweaters from The Limited. I even had my senior picture taken in my favorite, a Peptol Bismol pink number.

2. An Outback Red turtleneck.
Again, from The Limited. Outback Red was a hot brand back in ’87 – I remember this was a mock turtleneck in a pretty shade of red. I would wear it with my “Z Cavaricci” brown pants, gold corkscrew earrings and a red scrunchy in my hair. THAT was a sweet ensemble.

3. An “Axcess” watch.
This was my favorite watch ever. Gold face with a cutout that had a sun and moon that changed as it went from day to night. It felt all classy and grown up.

4. Benetton outfit.
I remember this “outfit” consisted of a bright Kelley green top and stretchy elastic-waist white pants. Two words – Not. Flattering. I didn’t really care how it looked on me, I just loved it was from Benetton – on sale, marked way, way waaay down . . . the only way I could ever talk my mom into anything from that store.

5. Colors Perfume.
And I wanted to smell like benetton too – all sixteen year old girls wore this is 1987 – I think it was the law. I can picture that bottle on my white dresser and remember how I would admire it before I fell asleep.

Lori's senior picture in which she's wearing her pink Forenza sweater, a Christmas present from 19876. Esprit Purse.
This was one of those “roll” bags, that kind of looked like a barrel or a log. It was light gray and really soft. It was a pretty little bag.

7. “another Liz Claiborne etc.”
This purse was white with brown trim, plastic-y and stiff to the touch. You can kinda tell I was pretty much over the Liz Claiborne thing at this point, like great, ANOTHER one . . .

8. A BOYFRIEND.
Jason. He came over last night and today. He asked if I wanted to “GO WITH HIM” (where?) He’s sweet. He’s gorgeous.

A good Christmas, and a good haul, right?

I’m hoping the following Christmas Santa brought me some self-esteem because obviously I had zero, with my “he-seems-to-really-like-me-a lot-and-I-have-no-idea-why” attitude, yeesch.

I do love having this ridiculous record of what happened on that Christmas morning. I can see that Benetton outfit and feel that Forenza sweater, remember the pretty smell of the perfume and how cool I thought that watch was.

The picture of that Christmas/time in my life is seen more clearly thanks to what I was carrying/smelling like/dating/wearing.

Author: Lori Ferraro

Lori is a writer and actor living in Portland, OR. Her website, Drawn to the 80s, is where her 5 year old draws the greatest music hits of the 1980s. She is a blogger for The Huffington Post and her own blog, Once Upon a Product, is where she writes about important things like beauty products, music, her obsession with Mick Jagger and of course...the 80s.

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3 Comments

  1. I worked at “The Limited” in high school class of 89 and enjoyed my employee discount. I was more Forenza than Outback Red. I only wore my Forenza Sweater backwards and my favorite one was aquamarine. Bitchin’ I had forgotten about my Zena jeans! How about the Swatch watch? we rocked the original skinny jeans.

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  2. Love this site….to quote a line from “Pretty in Pink”…..”I could overdose on nostalgia…!”
    A friend and I were more Forenza-we called a certain army of girls in our school “the Outback Amys/Amies/Amiees/Amis/Amees”
    I am tall-and the Outback Red khackies only looked adoreable and slouchy- like on short girls…..sigh.
    I had a Liz Claiborne purse too-it was tiny and round-about the size of a cd….good luck fitting a tampon or pencil in there without busting the zipper over it!!
    Wish Hollywood would study this site….seems they never get it quite right….closest I have seen is “Ping Pong Summer” with Susan Sarandon….my favorite part is when the main character buys a new tape,opens it,and inhales that awesome smell!!!!Remember???Keep on keeping our decade alive!

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