The Ally McBeal Era

Sometimes, when I need a good laugh (or 20), I go a private place on “the FB” (that’s Facebook for those of you who don’t have an early 20-something around to keep you hip to lingo) that houses many embarrassing photos of my childhood friends.

Thankfully, the photos are not visible to anyone who could bribe us with them.  The true mark of a friend is their ability to be loyal, and lucky for us, we all know far too much about each other to even consider the alternative.  (Because no matter how old I get, if my mom found out some of the things I did back then, I’d still get grounded.)

The photos contain your typical embarrassing elementary, middle and high school moments – things like – shorts that came down to our knees, bubble suits, bow belts, braces, teased bangs, acne and skorts (I’ve never understood them, and I never will – but I rocked ’em circa 1994-1997).  One thing, though, struck me as unusual, and I had to ask my friend Anna Beth just what in the H-E-Double Hockey Sticks we were thinking.  Allow me to present the style choice in question:

I have, of course, blurred the faces of my innocent friends above.  (The small one in the middle would be me.)  Take a long look, folks.  Whilst we look to be 45 and headed to some sort of business luncheon in clothes we found at Goodwill, we were, in fact, at our class ring ceremony during our Junior year in high school.  And, sadly, this wasn’t the only time we wore suit-like outfits to school.  In a few of the photos, we look as if we were about to swing by a corporate interview after work.

It wasn’t until my conversation last week with Anna Beth that I received clarity.  Without missing a beat, she said, “Mandi, it was the Ally McBeal era.”  Aaaaaaaah.  Indeed it was.  Lucky us.

Tags: ally mcbeal, bad fashion, embarrassing photos, high school, what were we thinking?