1. 1. Pedal pushers
2. 2. Pastel-coloured jackets with sleeves pushed up to the elbow
3. 3. Ally Sheedy in The Breakfast Club
4. 4. Olivia Newton-John in the music video for Twist of Fate (wearing a pastel-coloured suit, yes with the sleeves etc)
5. 5. 80s music - remember Strawberry Switchblade? Bananarama? Tracy Chapman? Suzanne Vega? Yazoo? OMD? Altered Images? Cyndi Lauper? Fun Boy 3? I could go on - in fact I think I will.

The biggies like Spandau Ballet, Duran Duran, Culture Club, Simple Minds, Wham,The Smiths I was never really into - preferring the 'blaze brightly, die quickly' charms of bands like A Flock of Seagulls, Alphaville, Martha and the Muffins, Kim Carnes, the Tom Tom Club, Men Without Hats, Don Henley, Big Audio Dynamite and Tanita Tikaram.

Even writing the names plunges me right back into the days of shy Lady Di, The Cosby Show, headbands, neon ankle socks, ET, Jackie annuals, The Cure, stone-washed denim, the Care Bears, MC Hammer, Dirty Dancing, Pac-Man, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the words 'What you talkin' ‘bout Willis?'

Now Princess Diana is plastered all over street billboards again, as the film Diana goes on general release – watch a trailer and read the review here. And an exhibition called Club to Catwalk – London Fashion in the 1980s – is running at the V&A until February 14 2014. Showcasing the work of designers like Katharine Hamnett – remember the big ‘Choose Life’ t-shirts on the Wham boys on Top of the Pops – and John Galliano; read more here. 

But that wasn’t my ‘80s – mine was discovering music for the first time, having my first summer job and buying some of the aforementioned pastel-coloured fashion, growing up and going to college. I cried my heart out for the last two months of my course, right on the cusp of the ‘90s, convinced that life would never again be as good. And, do you know what, sometimes I think I was right.

25 reasons everything was better in the '80s

You can indulge the ‘80s love to your heart’s desire on Pinterest – my particular favourites are these boards on '80s fashion, '80s music and '80s music videos.