Even as an honorary canuck whose parents sentenced me to boarding school in Brockville, Ont., I was subject to "Earth shoes," which I despised with a burning passion and remember with a vaguely nausea-inducing horror.

Another clothing item from that period was a plum-colored corduroy jacket with leather patches on the sleeves that was bought as part of a set with a cream shirt and a plum tie with bits of off-white fluff protruding from the weave. Nothing but the shirt could be worn with anything else, and it instilled in me a horror of coordinated ensembles that has served me well throughout my adult life.

Perhaps the most hilarious piece ever to scar me permanently was a v-neck sweater in shit-brindle (the color you get if you mix together all the odd half cans of paint you have sitting around in your garage), the label of which read "100% virgin acrylic."

The pain, the suffering... I have to say the entire "Miami Vice" look of the 1980's. It's great if you're in Somewhere quasi-tropical... horrific in Vermont.

"Casual Friday's" have not only ruined modern style for most (we alone are the torch berrers) but it's also ruined fashion. What lead to slacking the rules for attire at work has translated to everyone dressing as if they can't deside if they want to work out at the gym or the garden! Crock Shoes are proof. They were only supposed to be used for working in the garden and now they have gone main-stream. Next? Bring your trowel and compost to work day.