The 1980s – From The 1980s to 2018: Fashion at the University of Montevallo

Fashion of the 1980s at Montevallo

We chose the 80s because it sounded like a fun decade, and we expected lots of fun and wild fashion. Neither of us were very familiar with the decade before this class, but we wanted to see what real people looked like during this time. We also wanted to see what fashion ideals had changed from the 80s to now, if any at all, and specifically on our campus. Our campus is unique in many ways, and the fact that fashion has mostly stayed the same was a bit of a surprise. However, once we really thought about why that might be, we saw that it wasn’t really much of a shock.

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We interviewed a Montevallo Alumni to get her perspective on fashion at the university.

An Alumni Perspective

We divided our discoveries about the 80s into several categories.

Categories of 1980s Fashion

We also talk about a unique tradition at our college that influenced campus fashion.

College Night

Most of our images for the 80s came from the school yearbook. They provided us with a wealth of examples of student attire for different events.

1987 – The only yearbook page to mention fashion specifically

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The enlarged version of the yearbook description.

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According to the yearbook editors, plaid was fading, though we still found numerous examples of it in every yearbook from 1980 to 1989. As we will discuss later, this article supports our argument that Montevallo students just love being comfortable. While sweat suits may have gone out, sweat pants are still all the rage.

Some Things are Still the Same

One of our favorite discoveries is a photo of two students hanging out in the King Family Graveyard located on campus. The outfits and the pose itself are enough to make it memorable. The mullets, the tucked in plaid shirt-worn over another shirt, the sweatshirt and rolled up jeans make these looks a statement. But even more important is that students today regularly go to the King Family Graveyard, either to look for ghosts or take photos. And, well, these guys seem to be doing both. So apparently some activities do stay the same, whether in 1980 or 2018.

(Image used by permission of the Annie Crawford Milner Archives and Special Collections)

(2.) “What Will You Become?” The University of Montevallo. Accessed April 05, 2018. https://www.montevallo.edu/.

(3.) Student Life Photos. 1980s. The Annie Crawford Milner Archives and Special Collections, Oliver C. Carmichael Library, University of Montevallo, Montevallo, Alabama.

Image Citations

(1.) Montage. 1987. The Annie Crawford Milner Archives and Special Collections, Oliver C. Carmichael Library, University of Montevallo, Montevallo, Alabama. Accessed April 05, 2018. https://archive.org/stream/montage461987stud#page/10/mode/2up.

(2.) Student Life Photos. 1980s. The Annie Crawford Milner Archives and Special Collections, Oliver C. Carmichael Library, University of Montevallo, Montevallo, Alabama.