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Create a Kim Wilde 80s Costume

Items for a Kim Wilde 80s Costume
Kim Wilde wearing a black and red striped top
Kim Wilde Poster
During her early pop career, Kim Wilde became renowned for wearing stripy tops. You can see Kim wearing this Dennis the Menace style black and red top in a live performance of View From A Bridge in 1982. She also wore a black and white striped, sleeveless top in the video for her debut single Kids in America. Apparently, Kim borrowed the top from a friend who had bought it in a charity shop.

Kim WIlde in a blue and black stripy top
Kim Wilde Kids in America Gold Disc Display
This is a rare image of Kim in a blue and white striped top. If you look carefully it's a mirror image of the poster at the top of the page. My belief is that she didn't actually wear a blue and white top and the colouring was altered for creating this gold disc display.

Creating a Kim Wilde costume for events such as 80s Rewind or an 80s costume party should be a pretty easy affair. For the top you need to look for something that is cut quite high across the neckline. A search on google presented me with tops that were all cut too low around the neck, but I managed to find these tops at Amazon.co.uk...

Striped Jumper for Adults
Striped Adult Jumper

This low-cost fancy dress jumper can be tucked into a pair of tight, black jeans.
Black and Red striped shirt
Black and Red Striped Men's T-shirt
Finding a suitable top for Women proved to be impossible, but I managed to find this one for Men which will be okay for fancy dress purposes, and it has the high neckline that Kim's top had.

It's interesting that during my search I soon discovered that this design is associated with bad people including Dennis The Menace and Freddy Kreuger!

Now, to ensure you don't get confused for either of those two, and to cover the fact that this is a short-sleeved tee and not a long-sleeved one that Kim wore, you could wear a black blazer over the top just as Kim did in her Kids in America video and some promotional photos.

Kim Wilde Smash Hits poster

Black and White Striped Tee Shirt
Black and White Striped Tee
It proved to be very difficult to find a top that didn't feature a plunging neckline. This top by Rock Star Academy is good value and the striping is the ideal thickness. It's a men's tee but would be fine for fancy dress purposes.

As I previously mentioned. the black and white top that Kim actually wore during the 1980s was actually a shiny tank top and with a high neckline, but finding an exact replica has been impossible.
Unisex Black and White Horizontal Striped T-shirt
Blush Avenue Unisex Striped T-shirt

The best option I could find was this unisex tee which is available for quite a low price, making it ideal for dress-up purposes.

Kim Wilde Kids in America video screenshot
Kids in America video screenshot

Women's Open Black Blazer
Women's Open Black Blazer Jacket

For the blazer you need something that is tailored and has an open design and in plain black. This jacket by LuShmily is ideal and available for a very reasonable price, too. Should this item become unavailable, then you may like the jacket below...


& 
New Romantic Wig
Although there are no wigs available that are specifically for creating a Kim Wilde look, this new romantic wig looks pretty close to Kim's hair style, and you could always ruffle-up the top of it for a more authentic look. Some comments suggest the wig is a little tight for a man's head which suggests that it's probably ideal for the average woman's head.

Just add a pair of tight black skinny jeans to complete your look.

So there you have it, all the items you need to create an eighties style Kim Wilde costume.

You can see many more 1980s costume ideas for ladies at my website SimplyEighties.com.

You can also read about Kim Wilde in the 80s and watch videos at my website.

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