Top 5 80s Items That Should Make a Comeback

Reader Suzanne Kruse is longing for the retro stuff of her childhood.

By Venus Zine Readers
Published: June 7th, 2010 | 12:00am

1. Mix Tapes

I miss those days where you could spend an entire afternoon sifting through your favorite cassettes to piece together the best mix tape ever —deciding which songs went in what order, and on which side of the tape. It was almost an art form to get the timing right between pressing "pause" and "record" for an optimal between-song break—never mind making sure you have enough space (but not too much!) at the end of the tape so as not to cut off the last song. PCs and iTunes have made the playlist-making process easy; perhaps so easy that some of the romance of the process has been lost.

2. Ghetto Blasters

On that same note, was there anything cooler (or more fun) than walking around with a large radio cassette player on your shoulder, blaring your favorite tunes? (Of course it was just assumed that passersby had the same rad taste in music.)

3. Friendship Bracelets

Back in the day, you could have an entire wrist full of colorful bracelets, handmade by all of your pals, to show off how popular you are—rather than an online page listing hundreds of “friends” (i.e. a bunch of people you haven’t spoken to in 10 years). If you're feeling retro like me, click on over to etsy, where several modern-day versions are on sale, like the colorful options offered here.

4. The Smurfs

Saturday-morning cartoons just weren’t the same once The Smurfs went away. They were so cool they even had their own Smurf-vocabulary, and the vast variety of collectible figurines from the series remain popular even today—I still have my Papa Smurf and Smurfette! I just hope next year's film version doesn't disappoint. If nothing else, there's an interesting bunch signed on to voice the characters, including Katy Perry, Hank Azaria, Neil Patrick Harris, B.J. Novak, and Fred Armisen.

5. High-Top Sneakers

Multi-colored neon laces, a thick tongue, and perhaps even a Velcro strip with some extra padding at the top ... high-tops were the perfect blend of function and fashion. They made the best accessory for the era's uniform of ripped jeans and a faded hair-band tee. So I'm happy to see that they're indeed making a comeback. A couple available-now favorites: this appropriately bright and bold pair from Nike and berry-hued, classic kicks from Frye.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Suzanne Kruse is a jewelery maker, picture taker, and cupcake baker from British Columbia, Canada.