Put On Some Neon

They’re baaaack! This could apply to so many things in my life right now: hot flashes, gone after a brief stint on HRT that ended badly; acne, though it never really left; and the worst… neon colors for spring and summer!

Having lived through a few fashion cycles, I never thought I’d see the day when they brought back these unflattering-to-any complexion, don’t-match-with-anything-not-even-itself, never-seen-in-nature, can’t-even-really-call-them-colors clothes. Back in the ’80s, when just about anything went together (or rather didn’t but you could still call it fashion), these hard-to-wear neon clothes first appeared. I loved them with all my 16-year-old heart could muster. I had a rubbery neon green dress and triple-strapped, pointy toed pumps I got on a trip to New York City that I thought looked amazing, and I wore the dress with a double wrapped neon pink belt. I had neon pink fishnets that I bought at Retail Slut on Melrose, and I wore them often.

When I first started seeing these hard-to-miss items in the stores this year, I was overtaken with a flood of nostalgia for the neon of my youth. I quickly snatched a neon green belt and purse and put them in my cart. The longer I walked around the store, the sillier I felt. Did I really need to participate in every single trend to feel hip and young? Did I have to prove to these young whipper snappers that I was once and still am a trendsetter, a “first responder” if you will?

Yes, yes I did!

I eventually put the purse back, but held tightly onto the belt as I picked out some Adult Clearasil before getting in line.