One of the reasons we wanted to focus on fashion on campus specifically was because of how unique our college is. Montevallo’s history and unique traditions like College Night set it apart. Researching what college students wore also gave us a familiar demographic to study. We could easily compare the fashion of college students from the 80s to what we see everyday around us.
Additionally, researching fashion on our campus gave us a look at what real people wore during the 80s. Perceptions of the way things were in the past are often altered by time. A search of 1980s fashion may bring up giant permed hair and neon legwarmers. But did everyone in the 80s actually look like this? We thought it very important to avoid stereotyping the 80s before we went into our research. Instead, we wanted a true picture of the decade.
Women’s fashion on campus had a lot of variety. With classes, clubs, sororities, and just hanging out outside, students’ wardrobes had to accommodate all these different activities. Many dresses and some formal wear made it into the yearbooks, but most of the time female students selected jeans or shorts for everyday. As we will discuss more later, plaid patterns were extremely popular.
Women’s fashion at Montevallo can be divided into two broad categories: casual wear and class wear. As our interviewee, Susan Lee, mentioned, the idea was that people would be dressed up for class. That may or not have been true in practice. In more dress-y class appropriate wear, girls tended to wear knee length skirts and dresses. However most students loved their more casual wear of jeans, t-shirts, and shorts. With the recent popularity of high-waisted pants, it becomes even more difficult to tell the 80s and 2018 apart. So while the more formal dresses and skirts look more different from modern day, the casual is remarkably close to modern day. Women liked to wear button-up shirts, over-sized t-shirts, and other comfortable clothing that still expressed their personality.
Below we have captured an overview of women’s fashion from 1980 to 1989.
(Image used by permission of the Annie Crawford Milner Archives and Special Collections)
Over-sized and brightly colored sweaters were very popular. One problem we did run into in our research was many of the photos were black and white, leaving us guessing at the actual color of some the clothes.
(Image used by permission of the Annie Crawford Milner Archives and Special Collections)
The woman in this picture is wearing the most popular print of the 80s, plaid. While we did not find many more camouflage paints, the large, slouchy fit was major a trend.
(Image used by permission of the Annie Crawford Milner Archives and Special Collections)
(Image used by permission of the Annie Crawford Milner Archives and Special Collections)
High waisted or “mom jeans” have recently over taken the Montevallo campus, and here we get to see the originals.
(Image used by permission of the Annie Crawford Milner Archives and Special Collections)
(Image used by permission of the Annie Crawford Milner Archives and Special Collections)
What’s the weather like today? Is it skirt weather, shorts weather, hoodie weather? Who knows, it’s Alabama!
(Image used by permission of the Annie Crawford Milner Archives and Special Collections)
Students dressed up to head to class, or more likely to the cafeteria where this walkway leads.
(Image used by permission of the Annie Crawford Milner Archives and Special Collections)
(Image used by permission of the Annie Crawford Milner Archives and Special Collections)
Plaid and stripes were in. What happened to all the other patterns and prints at Montevallo? Apparently they got expelled, because they simply did not exist.
(Image used by permission of the Annie Crawford Milner Archives and Special Collections)
T-shirts and jeans are still the best for playing with furry friends.
(Image used by permission of the Annie Crawford Milner Archives and Special Collections)
Skirts with a seam or split in the front were common.
(Image used by permission of the Annie Crawford Milner Archives and Special Collections)
(Image used by permission of the Annie Crawford Milner Archives and Special Collections)
The sorority squat may not be a thing yet, but members still had a roughly cohesive uniform for photos. As mentioned earlier, nearly all skirts were the same length.
Two students cleaning up the bricks. High-wasted Bermuda shorts may be out of style in 2018, but oversize shirts are still popular for work or everyday wear.
Athletic shorts were a thing in the 80s! Currently very popular to the point of ubiquity, here they are in 1982 being modeled on one of our lovely campus signs.
(1.) Montage. 1980-1989. The Annie Crawford Milner Archives and Special Collections, Oliver C. Carmichael Library, University of Montevallo, Montevallo, Alabama. Accessed April 05, 2018. https://archive.org/search.php?query=subject%3A%22University+of+Montevallo+yearbooks%22&and[]=subject%3A%22University+of+Montevallo+yearbooks%22&and[]=year%3A%221989%22&and[]=year%3A%221988%22&and[]=year%3A%221987%22&and[]=year%3A%221986%22&and[]=year%3A%221985%22&and[]=year%3A%221984%22&and[]=year%3A%221983%22&and[]=year%3A%221982%22&and[]=year%3A%221981%22&and[]=year%3A%221980%22
(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.) Student Life Photos. 1980s. The Annie Crawford Milner Archives and Special Collections, Oliver C. Carmichael Library, University of Montevallo, Montevallo, Alabama.
(2.) Student Life Photos. 1980s. The Annie Crawford Milner Archives and Special Collections, Oliver C. Carmichael Library, University of Montevallo, Montevallo, Alabama.
(3.) Student Life Photos. 1980s. The Annie Crawford Milner Archives and Special Collections, Oliver C. Carmichael Library, University of Montevallo, Montevallo, Alabama.
(4.) Student Life Photos. 1980s. The Annie Crawford Milner Archives and Special Collections, Oliver C. Carmichael Library, University of Montevallo, Montevallo, Alabama.
(5.) Student Life Photos. 1980s. The Annie Crawford Milner Archives and Special Collections, Oliver C. Carmichael Library, University of Montevallo, Montevallo, Alabama.
(6.) Student Life Photos. 1980s. The Annie Crawford Milner Archives and Special Collections, Oliver C. Carmichael Library, University of Montevallo, Montevallo, Alabama.
(7.) Student Life Photos. 1980s. The Annie Crawford Milner Archives and Special Collections, Oliver C. Carmichael Library, University of Montevallo, Montevallo, Alabama.
(8.) Montage. 1980. 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/montage391980stud#page/126/mode/2up.
(9.) Student Life Photos. 1980s. The Annie Crawford Milner Archives and Special Collections, Oliver C. Carmichael Library, University of Montevallo, Montevallo, Alabama.
(10.) Student Life Photos. 1980s. The Annie Crawford Milner Archives and Special Collections, Oliver C. Carmichael Library, University of Montevallo, Montevallo, Alabama.
(11.) Student Life Photos. 1980s. The Annie Crawford Milner Archives and Special Collections, Oliver C. Carmichael Library, University of Montevallo, Montevallo, Alabama.
(12.) Student Life Photos. 1980s. The Annie Crawford Milner Archives and Special Collections, Oliver C. Carmichael Library, University of Montevallo, Montevallo, Alabama.
(13.) Student Life Photos. 1980s. The Annie Crawford Milner Archives and Special Collections, Oliver C. Carmichael Library, University of Montevallo, Montevallo, Alabama.
(14.) Student Life Photos. 1980s. The Annie Crawford Milner Archives and Special Collections, Oliver C. Carmichael Library, University of Montevallo, Montevallo, Alabama.
(15.) Montage. 1988. 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/montage471988stud#page/26/mode/2up.
(16.) Montage. 1982. 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/montage411982stud#page/34/mode/2up.