James Rabe Almost Perfectly Recreates 1987 Stewartville Dance Outfit for 2016 80’s Party

Almost a week ago now was the Gala of the Decades for the Gift of Life Transplant House. It was a blast (see all the pictures here). And tho I didn't know it when I was putting together the outfit, it was almost exactly what I wore to a Stewartville HS dance back in 1987! Check it out...

So, here's what I wore on Saturday, August 27, 2016. Black checked jacket, black pants, white shirt, red tie.

I totally lucked out finding the outfit because I didn't start looking until Saturday the 27th at 11am!

What was I thinking? I figured thrift stores would be filled with 80's stuff. And you know what? I was wrong!

The jacket was from Kohl's for like, $20 (always shop clearance racks!). The shirt and pants I already owned, the red tie and Stacy Adams shoes were at Goodwill.

I also picked up a reallllly ugly sport coat at Savers, but while it was ugly in that "monkey throwing paint at canvas" way, it wasn't as 80's as I wanted. I also found a black cummerbund, but ended up not needing it (if I'd found an 80's wing-tip tuxedo shirt, I'd have gone in an entirely different, but oh so 80's direction).

So, that was the outfit. Not neon like so many 80's throwback stuff you see, but really how I dressed in the 80's. Was I really that dressy? Yes. Yes I was.

But back to Saturday and how I dressed almost exactly like I did at a 1987 Stewartville High School Dance.

Black checked jacket, black pants, white shirt, red tie. Check, check. and check...

See? The checks were a little bit bigger, and the pants has some stripes, and OK, I didn't wear suspenders last Saturday night, but still...whoa!

A very special thank you to Julie Hammond Kropp for sending me these pictures.

ps - i was totally giving the pooty-eyes in the first one. Sheesh!