Michael Galinsky
Had I been shown this photo collection at the time of its taking I would have scoffed, even though I’d barely have been in my teens. Compositionally, these are some pretty lousy photos – blurry, too dark and often oddly cropped. But the content is pure 80s mall gold. It’s all there, baby. The huge, teased spiral perms, pinned jeans with socks over the top, white Nike high-tops, gobs of gold chains, cut-off neon tank tops and Guess? logos galore. There are all the hot stores, too – Sam Goody, Bally, Zales, Radio Shack. There’s even a woman in business suit with huge shoulder pads smoking (smoking!) in the mall. Love ’em or hate ’em, anyone familiar with malls in their heyday will get a blast of memories from looking through this collection. Holy nostalgia, batman!