Clothes of the Eighties, Clothes Beginning with J

The eighties saw a wider variety and quicker change in clothing styles than currently. That's why I thought this list would be fun for others to read and add to, so feel free to send me any suggestions. Years are approximated, since some fashions tended to last longer in some regions opposed to other regions.

This page currently edited by: Dagwood. Past editor: Banasy

Clothes beginning with: [Index] [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] [misc]
 
Name Sex What When Description
JAMS Male Clothing 198? Shorts, shorter than clam diggers, but longer than normal men's shorts, in bright colors.
Jack Pack Both A jacket which could turn into a bag around 1986 The Jack Pack was a bomber jacket that could be, by a few intricate twists and turns, magically transformed into a bag of some sorts - either a backpack or a drawstring purse.
Jacket Male Zip up Jacket 1980-1990 Very popular among all ages, and is these days used everywhere in fashion, another popular item in AUStralia, it was a zip up jacket with high collar, it had different colour stripes on each arm diagonally.
Jackets With Sleeves Rolled Up Male Clothes Early-mid 80's Jacket worn with sleeves rolled up to elbows, often with shirt sleeves rolled up over the top
James Male Flood black pants with white socks 1980's This was popular with Mod revivalists Scooter boys and Rude boys. A pair of drain pipe floods worm with white socks. It was important the white soxs stood out. This was also known as the Two Tone look. Made popular by the Ska group The SPECIALS
James Male Shag-head 1980-1990 Short hairstyle no gel. Not short enough to be considered skinhead. But shorter than average. A grown out brushcut.
Jams Both Shorts 1984-1988 Loud hawaiian print shorts that came just above the knee. Drawstring waist. I remember one summer, my mother gave my sister and I each $100 to get summer clothes. We agreed to buy as many Jams and tank tops as possible and go communal with our wardrobe. The look was a pair of Jams, and 1-2 tank tops in coordinating colors, with white keds (laces removed) and no socks. Another cool combo was a pair of Jams, same shoes and a college logo sweatshirt. This was the perfect outfit for patrolling the local park/basketball court on summer evenings.
Jams by Surfline M bright multi-colored boxer swim trunks 1985-1986 Brightly colored tropical-themed boxer style cotton swimming trucks with a drawstring. These were originally seen in beach movies of the 1960s and were revived in the mid-1980s. These cost around $25 each and spawned a slew of imitators, although the only ones that were anywhere near as cool as the trademark Jams were the Ocean Pacific trunks. Trunks weren't sold under the Jams by Surline label by the late 80s, but they ushered in the surfing influence on men's swimwear and summer casual wear that has never gone away, and banished Speedo and other bikini style swimsuits to the domain of Eurotrash and homosexuals. Since the days of Jams boxer style trunks are the choice of virtually all straight American males.
Japanese Sun Both Clothing 1982-1985 The Japanese Sun was a popular design on shirts (especially sleeveless muscle shirts). Was generally a New Wave/Rocker style. The Japanese sun design was usually accompanied by black Japanese lettering. Also was seen on headbands worn across the forehead.
Japanese/avant garde male/female dresses, shirts, jackets, pants early-mid 80's Inspired by Issey Miyake, Comme des Garcons. Dramatic cuts, large, shapeless, asymmetrical in drab or neutral colors, in innovative fabrics. Often worn with tights, flat shoes, spiky hair.
Jazz Shoes M/F Shoes Early 80's-1984 Often gray, made out of thin, supple leather with a very small, thin wooden heel. About 4 lace holes, with thin laces, and one seam running across the top to the side of the shoe. Coolest ones were usually made by Capezio, which was a major provider of lots of the 80's leotard, dance/health club wear. Jazz shoes were often coupled with Girbaud baggie pants.
Jazz shoes Female Shoes 198? ?
Jean Jacket Both Jean Jacket 1984-1988 An acid washed jean jacket (preferably with big shoulder pads and maybe suede fringe) with as many pins and buttons as you can possibly fit on it! Sunglass-shaped ones were very popular back then, as well as comercial ones such as "avoid the noid". Additionally, military-medalion-type pins were very very fashionable and sought after, and round, brightly-colored buttons with funny or insulting phrases on them. Buttons and pins were traded and gifted among friends. When finished, your jacket should be at least 5lbs. heavier than when you bought it! When picking the pins, think NEON!
Jean Jacket Male and Female Clothing 1985-89 Jacket made of jean material - dark and light colors - even white. In the late 80's, was popular to write on them (favorite musicians, other teenie expressions) Have emerged off and on since the 80's...
Jean jacket with fringe mostly female Jean jackets with leather fringe 89? Just a jean jacket that cut real tight at the bottom with fringe on the sleeves.
Jeans Both pants 198? Male of Female. They were also known as pinch-rolled, french-rolled, and cuffed. You pinched your jeans leg so the cuff was tight against your ankle. Then you folded the excess material on the jeans and rolled the cuff over. Then you rolled it again so it would stay. And you wore puffy socks. In my school, you didn't want people to see the pleated part of the jeans leg, so you did it along the side. I don't know if it was the same in other schools.
Jeans Purses Female Accessories mid 1980s Every school girl had one-a the purse was made completely out of jeans. Typically in a cresent shape and sometimes covered in patches or pockets.
Jeans With Holes in Them Male Clothes 1983-1985 Made popular by Bon Jovi, seems like everyone had jeans with holes worn/cut through the knees and thighs.
Jeans With Lots of Pockets Female Clothes 1985-89 These were the jeans that had pockets all over them - an early version of the now-popular "cargo pants." Often the pockets would be in a lighter or darker denim color. Sometimes the pockets had zippers. Some had velcro. Some were just open pockets.
Jeans with Coloured Behinds Both Clothes 88 / 89 Black jeans with coloured panels down back of the jeans that went about half way down the leg, usually green or red.
Jeans with Darker/Lighter Crotch Both Jeans 1986 Jeans with a darker/lighter crotch. Like a triangle going from the bottom and widening up to the waistband. Can be seen in the '86 video "The Edge Of Heaven" by Wham!
Jeans with Multiple Folded-Down Pockets Female Pants 1983-1985 These were tapered-leg jeans with fold-down pockets at both the knees and the waist which could be folded up and held in place with snaps. The pockets were almost always lined with cotton sheeting for contrast (either white or a lighter blue in colour.)More popular with "burnouts" than with preps.
Jeans with stirrups Female Clothing mid-late 80s Jeans with elastic bands that went under the feet so that the jeans would not ride up out of boots..
Jeans- open on side of leg w/ criss-cross female clothing 1988-1989 Often acid-washed with a bow at one's Achilles tendon, these were worn by women, offering a somewhat risque effect due to the exposed leg, yet modesty was kept in check by the denim criss-crosses that ran all the way up the exposed area.
Jelly Bracelets (Special) Female Jewelry 1980s There were regular jelly bracelets, but then there were glow in the dark, ones filled with water and glitter, and my old favorite, the ones with the words on the outside. They were primarily collected from those store gum machines for 25 cents.
Jelly Jacket Both Clothes 1980 onwards See through plastic raincoat which came in many different bright colours and tended to have large thick rope cord through the bottom of the jacket and cord through the hood. Very popular in the early 80's and still around today
Jelly Purses Female Accessories 1984-1987 Plastic bags ranging in size from tiny to tote bag size. All different colors.
Jelly Shoes Female Shoes 1985-6 Plastic shoes that looked like they were weaved
Jelly bracelets Female Accessories 198? A soft, flexible bracelet, usually worn on the arms, in numerous quantities.
Jen Female Multiple ear piercings 1985+ When I was in Sixth grade in 1985, all the girls had their ears pierced at least 2 or 3 times. You would wear a big earring in the first hole, a dangle in the second, and a stud in the third. The cool thing was, none of the earrings had to match. You could wear 6 (or more) different earrings at one time. The crazier the combo of earrings the cooler you were.
Jennifer 80's Woman FancyAss Clean front & Bumm Denim Jeans start of the 80's or sooner to mid 90's I was only 13 in 1986, and I saw that my Mom always wore them. So one day I decided to try them and my Mom and I were only 3 sizes apart at the time, but she was smaller. They were very very comfy so that's all I'd buy was FancyAss Jeans. And when I found out the company that made them went out of business, well lets just say I've never found a nice comfy fit anywhere close to the FancyAss Jeans and they always held up under the tight pressure.
Jeri Curls Both Hair 1980- Hairstyles worn by mostly African Americans. It required getting your hair "processed." In essence, it is a cold wave process. Sometimes curlers are used and you must wear a shower cap while you have the curlers in. You get an over-all curly style, which you must keep moisturized by using a "curl activator." The curl activator was sprayed on the hair. It smelled and soiled the back of your neck and shirt collar. It was a horrible time in the history of black hair care. Some people still wear this style, believe it or not.
Jerry rippers F ripped tshirt mid 80's A very bright colored tshirt that started as a small brand called jerry rippers, wich lots of teenages girls wore with a tight pare of dance pants and leg warmers. .. what were we thinking?
Jesus Ring, Initial rings F jewelry, gold rings 85-87 Gold rings with your initials and gold rings with Jesus's face on them were very popular in Louisiana when I was in 8th-10th grade or so.
Jheri curls Female Hair 198? ?
Jimmy Z shirts male clothing 1989? Basically white or light grey or light brown shirts with the Jimmy Z logo on it, including the zebra painted stationwagon.
Jimmy'z Both Shorts and Berets mid to late 80's The velcro waistband. The sack-looking beret. Cool stuff. BTW, there is an apostrophe after "Jimmy", hence it is pronounced "Jimmeez" and not "Jimmy Zee."
Joann Martin female Commander Salamander 1982-1986 Commander Salamander was a British catalog that sold a number of items: notably, graffiti patterned stretch pants.
Jordache Purses Female Accessories 1982-1984 Small, crescent-shaped purse made out of a cheap, lightweight vinyl that had a flannel-like backing. About 8" long. Came in dozens of colors, including turquoise, bright red, hot pink and metallics. Had a shoulder strap made out of a nylon or satin cord. Cost about $3 and had the Jordache horse-head logo printed on it in a contrasting color.
Jordache jeans Female Clothing 1980 These were designer jeans, as opposed to plain old jeans. They had the name of the designer embroidered on the pocket. Jordache had a double w kind of thing in white or yellow (to stand out against the dark blue), Gloria Vanderbilt had a swan. Calvin Kleins known as "Calvins" were popularized by Brooke Shields in a set of risque (for the times) ads depicting her in her "Calvins" and an unbuttoned shirt.
Jordache purses Female Accessories 198? ?
Jox Sneakers M/F Shoes 80s These were sneakers that had two stripes comming from the back and one crossing from to the top or something like that.
Jumpsuit Female Clothing 1983 Jumpsuits ran the gamut from super casual cotton sweats to ultra sophisticated black georgette. No matter which style you chose, a VERY wide belt was essential to finish the look. My own sweat jumpsuit was pink and blue (baby colors...a la "Joe Jackson's song "Steppin' Out") with GIANT pink buttons and off the shoulder styling (A la "Flashdance"). I'd wear a wide, tightly-woven pink cotton belt and very lacy socks with bubble-gum pink plastic sneakers.


Clothes beginning with: [Index] [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z] [misc]

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