2004 was the year Mary Donaldson married Frederick, Crown Prince of Denmark, Jennifer Hawkins won the Miss Universe contest and Brad Pitt was still married to Jennifer Aniston.
In terms of fashion, you might remember squeezing your feet into pointy-toe shoes, lusting after Sass & Bide’s sequin creations and copying anything Kate Moss wore. London fashion chain, Topshop sold out of silver and gold ballet flats in the summer of this year and locally, Chinese embroidered slippers were hugely popular.
Other fashionable celebrities of the mid-2000s were Oprah, Sophia Coppola and Cate Blanchett who all made Vanity Fair’s Best Dressed List.
Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie
On our TV screens we were watching The O.C, One Tree Hill and Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie in The Simple Life. Sadly that year, we also farewell Friends after a marathon 10 seasons and Sex and the City aired its final episode.
At the movies we were watching Mean Girls, Ocean’s Twelve, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Lost in Translation and Million Dollar Baby took out the Academy Award for Best Picture. 2004 was also the year of the sequel with Shrek 2, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Meet the Fockers, Blade: Trinity, Spider-Man 2, Alien vs. Predator, Kill Bill Vol. 2, Ocean’s Twelve, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason and Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed all being released.
The top 10 singles in Australia were:
1. “What About Me” Shannon Noll
2. “Left Outside Alone” Anastacia
3. “Black Betty” Spiderbait
4. “Milkshake” Kelis
5. “I Don’t Want You Back” Eamon
6. “Superstar” Jamelia
7. “My Immortal” Evanescene
8. “These Kids” Joel Turner
9. “Shut Up” The Black Eyed Peas
10. “Suga Suga” Baby Bash
Here’s what Mamamia publisher/editor Mia Freedman was wearing in 2004:
“Look, I really should have known it was time to get out of magazines when I started dressing like this. Here I am at a Cleo magazine party dressed in a Willow dress, Sass & Bide jacket and some hideously expensive turquoise cowboy boots from Miss Louise in Melbourne. The handbag is a vintage magazine clutch and was a present from an old girlfriend of my brother’s.
I was pretty happy with my look and I still own every one of those items today. Sadly, the handbag is the only thing currently in rotation. The rest is on ice.
In 2004 I was desperately trying to get pregnant and it wasn’t working. I was also desperate to get out of magazines and do something else. I only wish I could pop back in time and whisper in to my 2004 ear: “DO NOT GO INTO TV – BAD IDEA VERRRRRY BAD IDEA”. But hey, it all brought me to this point. So I’m happy with that.”
What were you wearing/doing in 2004?
 in 2004? on http://www.mamamia.com.au){kind=link}
Comments
102 Comments so far
Turquoise! Ofcourse I had a pair of high heel and flat shoes in that very versatile hue! And the start of the very low low rise jeans especially sass and bide. I had just had a baby so muffin top I was!!
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Oh man! I remember trucker hats!!
In 2004 I was 11, had just started yr 7, and had a pretty hard time with it all. Didn’t make friends very easily, suffered depression, started self-harming and starving myself.
Fashion wise? I’d just discovered the goth and punk subcultures that went with the music I was into. So a LOT of black, a lot of studs and spikes and chains and coloured hair oh my. A lot of band shirts…
I still have a lot of my band shirts from that time haha and wear them to bed.
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Ha! I was wearing Dresses over pants, accessorised with a cat eared headband, ah, to be in high school again!
http://www.boughtbybirdette.com
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I moved to Australia from the UK. Didn’t know a soul here, huge leap of faith…. and 7 years later am married with two Aussie kids. Best decision I ever made.
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myyy goodness.
I was 11 at the time. Just started high school, just got braces, mum owned a small photoshop and hired a part time school leaver who then became my best friend, academic tutor and life mentor. Parents got divorced, moved houses, depression kick in and didn’t leave for another few years.
It was a horrible year.
Fashion wise, it was mini demin skirts that look like cheerleader skirts, flared jeans…need I say more?
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I was in year 12 – the year of all my friends turning 18. I attended their parties most weekends dressed in mini skirts and…wait for it… Ugg Boots. Ughh. Yes I was just sick in my mouth a little! I blame Nicole Ritchie.
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2004 was a year full of ups and downs. It was my last year of nursing studiyng, so preparing for the exams, very stressfull and also pressure to finish and then find a job. my mum was diagnosed with acute leukemia, which was a huge impact in our family’s life. it was one of the most difficult times, as I needed to prepare for my exams, and at the same time help my dad to keep household and family life moving ( I have 3 younger siblings), so basically I replaced my mom.
fashion wise I thought I was really trendy, I felt pretty confident with my body and my wardrobe, I wore lots of skirts. when I finished studying I bought myself in spain a leather bag with literally my last couple of hunderd euros, as a present to myself for doing well. I still have the bag and use it regularly and love it to bits!
and yeah those pointy shoes-I still have some of them and actually wear them from time to time (great bright colors)….
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I was 33. Happily married for 6 years. Saying ‘I’m never having children’ and very content with that choice. No maternal urges whatsoever. Fast forward to today. Two children. Suburbs. Stay at home mum. Far out !!! still married to same lovely man. But I regularly look at my kids that I adore and feel complete shock that I had them, that they are mine and came out of my body. 2004 i was so blissfully unaware of so much.
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i was 16 and dressing… pretty much exactly like paris and nicky *the horrors*
sass and bide imitation knockoffs were musts for the school formal, though at the time i didnt know they were knockoffs…
love love loved mean girls and still do! thinking lindsay probs wishes she could go back to 2004 and try again :/
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I was 16 turning 17 and it was my last year of high school. I started the year in Germany and Austria on a two month exchange over my summer holidays and came home far more confident than when I left. I had a lot of fun with a great group of friends that I still hang out with. I had my heart broken for the first time, and ate a lot of chocolate that Easter because of it. I owned a few Paul Frank items and Sketcher ballet flats that my mum bought me in America. I was initially rejected from both of the uni halls of residence I applied to, but got in to one eventually – and the following year I had a fab time living there and won the annual scholarship at the hall for displaying the residence values of community, friendship and success! 2004 was a great year of hanging out in the common room, growing up, getting my full license and having a carefree life with hilarious friends.
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2003-2004 were some of the most difficult years of my life. By the end of 2004 I was wearing a gold band with “2004″ engraved on the inside as a reminder that that particular trauma would never be repeated. Funny how certain years get permanently etched, and change who we are. Clothing, I can’t remember.
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2003-2004 were like that for me too. I spent some time in hospital, lost my way, flunked out of some uni subjects, became a hermit basically. Not a good time, thank God it’s over!
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Have to agree 2004 was very difficult for me, very uncertain time and worse xmas of my life!
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I was heading off on a 3 year adventure. starting with 3 months in south east asia, then moving to london. travelling, partying and working only to fund the first two!
very hedonistic time of life that I can hardly believe was 8 years ago now….. (as I toddler wrangle while 6 months pregnant!)
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2004 was probably the best year of my life – it was the year which would have the biggest impact on my life – turn it from what it was in my twenties to what it is in my thirties.
I turned 30 which at the time was a bit stressful (aaarrgh I was getting old) but was the start of the best time of my life and it is my 30′s I would repeat if I had to do a decade all over again.
I met my now husband at the end of 2003, at the start of 2004 we were engaged (I didn’t waste any time!!) and married in September 2004.
I got pregnant on my honeymoon so by the end of 2004 I had just ended the first trimester of my first pregnancy.
2004 was the year I went from being a insecure 20′s woman who had just met the man of her dreams to a confident 30 year old who would have a gorgeous husband and 2 beautiful children. It was the transition from one stage of my life to the next and so is a year I will never forget for the rest of my life.
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I love your comment! As a 24 year old who is transitioning from single uni student /young professional to 25 (next month!) year old with a relationship heading towards marriage, your comment made me feel excited about the changes in my life. I’ve been feeling a bit sad lately at leaving behind my single in the city days for paired up in the middle of nowhere, but there is so much more to look forward to and your comment reminded me of this. Thankyou stranger!
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2004 was the best year of my life. Many fond memories involving copious volumes of alcohol and good friends (I was 19!), LOTS of pointy-toed shoes and boyfriend/slouch jeans.
I was in my second year of nursing study, left my boyfriend of 4 years (I call it a year of 4′s) in January for a handsome soldier whom I moved to Darwin for in May that year. Without parents to support me financially, I worked four jobs on top of study to make ends meet.
For the first time in my life I was completely alone, I hadn’t known loneliness (and deafening silence) until I learnt what it was to be the partner of a soldier. I learned the true meaning of friendship and community living in Darwin. I met many strong, self-sufficient women and families that profoundly changed my life and perspective. I met several honourable men who would later lose their lives in Afghanistan.
By my 20th birthday in September that year I was engaged to the love of my life (now husband) and planning my wedding.
2004 was a year of great change; I began to understand and appreciate the sacrifices, love and guidance from my parents to prepare me for the realities of the world.
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I met and fell in love with my now-husband.
I spent the year (when I wasn’t in uniform, so about two weeks lol) in cheap jeans, a polo shirt and his big grey hoodie. And my awesome puma speed-cat sneakers. So comfy!
http://the-accidental-housewife.blogspot.com.au/
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I turned 20 at the start of that year and I was a university student and loving life. I was still living at home. I had a big falling-out with an old friend. I fell in love only to get my heart broken a year later HOWEVER through that dick that broke my heart I met my now best-friend. I was planning a six-week trip overseas for January 2005. I was going out clubbing way too often and wearing tiny outfits that I wouldn’t have the guts (or the figure!) to pull off anymore. Like many others, I lived in my sass and bide and bettina liano jeans. Unfortunately they all wore out although even if they didn’t I doubt they’d fit as they were a size 8 (which I’m not anymore)!
I realise just how much time has passed when I think about my uni crowd and realise that most of them are married now! 2004 sometimes feels like a million years ago and sometimes feels like only yesterday……..
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Ugh. It took me a while to remember 2004 but, after counting backwards from something I do remember, I realise why 2002-2004 is very fuzzy in my mind. (I turned 36 that year.)
In late 2003, my then-partner moved back in after a year, saying he wanted to give it another try, and I wanted to believe him. But by March 04 I was certain he was seeing someone else – yes some snooping was involved, but only to confirm what I was pretty sure of. I often asked (accused, had arguments) about it, but he constantly denied it and called me crazy. After a while I wondered if he might be right. Mid-year he finally admitted that he was seeing someone else. He didn’t admit that he was already engaged to her; that came when a friend of his who I knew slightly asked me if I was travelling to the wedding in Fiji. By this time we were just flatmates (we had a mortgage together) – neither of us are the yelling/arguing types, so it worked ok.
So in the second half of the year I was living almost alone, as he was spending almost all his time at her place. A colleague I got on well with knew my situation and was flirting with me one Friday night at the pub. I flirted back and in the next couple of days we arranged a rendezvous at his place one night. He was not my type as far as dating went, we’d have driven each other up the wall in no time, but as a “getting back on the horse that threw me” ego-boost, it was a great success.
Newly infused with a little sexual self-confidence, I started noticing attractive people. At a formal function late in the year I suddenly realised that it wasn’t just the slinky dresses I liked, it was the bodies barely contained by them. I spent the next 6 months or so getting settled in my own mind with my bisexuality, came out to a friend spending a year overseas, and in late 2005 we came out to our friends as a couple. (That relationship lasted about 4 months.)
Oh yeah – in the middle of all this I gave up gluten. I was So Tired All The Time but my thyroid test was negative and a stupid locum doctor said to get more sleep (it was all ever did!) I read something about gluten intolerance, thought that maybe it’s worth trying if only to eliminate it as a possibility, but 3 days later I felt better than I had in months.
Somehow I survived 2004.
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Hey Mia, I love that Willow dress! Time to put it back in rotation!
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I was hugely pregnant with my fist child who was 59 cm when she was born! So I lived in a white pair of linen maternity pants that tied just under my belly… crack cleavage featured heavily and band-aids on my protruding belly button…
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This is the year my now husband and i moved in together. He particularly liked that I didn’t own any ridiculously pointy shoes.
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I remember this photo of you when it was published in Cosmo and I recall thinking ‘what the fuck is this woman wearing’ seriously Mia your a classic so treasure that xxx
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I was pregnant after a horrific couple of years of obstetric disasters. Lived in my Citizens of Humanity boot leg maternity jeans, and lots of Vixen silk sarongs over wide pants, with tight matching wrap around tops. A very comfortable pair of cowboy boots, and some flat shoes from Miss Louise…Took a year off after my daughter was born to escape the work world for a while, which I just loved…
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I was living in Brisbane and was in my 1st year of tafe studying for something that got me no where.
I thought it was cool to wear the sass & bide top that was hugely popular and made into so many fakes along the way.
I just met someone who would later become one of my closest friends.
It’s funny when we dragged out some old photos of us recently and skinny we were and for him, how far he had come since those days.
Also my now ex boyfriends jeans were more fashionable on me than on him.
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2004 was sort of a… nothing year. I don’t have any specific memories from that year. 2003 was when we bought our house and got engaged, 2005 we got married, so 2004 was just all in-between.
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Also for the record I really like those turquoise cowboy boots!
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I was in my second year of uni and totally into the Chinese slippers! I was also desperate to finish my comms degree so I could afford Sass & Bide (at that stage all I could afford was their jeans). I was living on toast and cheap beers living in college and having an absolute ball.
I remember going to the pub to watch both final episodes of friends and SATC. Life was grand, no stressing over mortgages or infertility, wish I could be back there!
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Hey Mia
I reckon you should drag that Willow dress out. I would wear it!!
BTW how the hell can anyone play tennis in that black get up?
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I was 14 and just starting to like high school. Possibly the worst year of fashion I ever wore. Dyed my hair bright red had acne and braces. thought anything that was billabong was instantly cool….
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Was a kindergarten teacher (different career to now). Turned 26. A gym junkie (still like gym/exercise but not as hard core!) Completed a cert 3 in fitness. Living in different area to now…Had been married a year and towards the end of year also went baby crazy and desperately tried to get pregnant…love these what were you doing posts..good to jog the ole memory..
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2004… I got married!
Went on a lovely honeymoon to a swisho place in Thailand (a real treat after all my years of backpacking)
Travelled to North America later that year for my sister’s wedding
My dad was cancer-free
T’was a busy, exciting year.
Looking at that gallery I can’t believe how old the fashion looks! Do you know what? Before we got married I bought this gorgeous black sundress and wore it several times on our honeymoon. This past NYE we had a 40th party to go to and I dragged out that old dress and haven’t had so many compliments on my clothes in years! It was obviously a wise-choice buy!
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2004 was my fun/single/party year, I was in yr 11. My highschool boyfriend of 2 years broke up with me end of 2003, so I went a little crazy partying and having fun with various boys before I got together with my current boyfriend at the end of the year. Was definitely my BEST year of highschool/life, SO MUCH FUN!!! Somedays I wish I could time warp back. Dont really recall what I was wearing tho, nothing too extreme I dont think!
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Fell pregnant with the baby I was told I was never had, then nearly lost him when he was born at 32 weeks, it was those hard times and watching another prem pass that really changed my perspective on life and tough me that there are always more important things in life than petty worries, it was the year I learnt how very fortunate and blessed I am.
I watched the final series of Dawsons Creek, spent the second half of the year living in my new mum uniform – a bonds tracksuit, and it was the year my husband proposed an amazing year.
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You might appreciate this then…
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and this…
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I have no idea no this is Nicky but I appreciate it! (evennif it’s not PC to admit it)
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It’s Joshua Jackson who played Pacey in Dawson’s Creek.
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Caption: ‘You don’t understand, everybody stayed famous except ME! And it was MY goddamn creek!’
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Lolololololol!!!!! God I LOVED that show!!!
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Lots happened in 2004 for me and I have wonderful memories. I turned 22, my now hubby and I started going out, bought our first house and I started a new job which I was at for 4 yrs before I had kids. Gripp jeans were big for me then, with a decent flare on them. I also had an awesome white leather jacket, sort of motocross style, my god I loved it. It cost $200 from Sportsgirl and I got my first credit card so I could buy it because I couldn’t save a cent. Lucky I married an accountant. Good times!
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Me too on the grip jeans! Loved them.
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Aaahhhhh! 2004 was one of the best years of my life! Married in beautiful Port Douglas, followed by our honeymoon – and my first trip – to Italy via Hong Kong and London.
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I was in yr 11 and totally had a supre rip off of one of those sass & bide dresses!
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Ahhh. I was fresh out of uni, Bachelor of Education in one hand, ‘To Sir with Love’ ideologies in the other…. Well that was short lived!! If only I had a little voice in my head screaming “RUN – RUN FOR THE HILLS WOMAN AND DON’T LOOK BACK.”
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Ahh, 2004. The year I moved to Alice Springs, and haven’t looked back.
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2004 was a huge year for me. Got engaged right at the beginning, got married and then by the end of the year was pregnant with our first child…so really it was the first year of the next chapter of my life. Loved every minute of it.
Oh, and Mia, in one of those shots the lighting must be a bit bad or something because you look decidedly smurf like.
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Oh 2004, the year I moved from the country to Adelaide for journalism at uni.
The year I began to hit the city.
I had this pink striped ‘rah rah’ skirt that I now look at and think it’s ridiculously tiny with a matching pink boob tube.
I still own both of these things. I doubt I’ve worn them since 2004.
I’m a clothes hoarder
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I was pregnant for half of 2004 and spent the rest of the year trying to lose the weight I put on (which was a considerable amount).
The only fashion I remember are pyjamas and tracksuit pants, so it wasnt one of my best years for sartorial statements.
I dont remember much of the year other than I was big and uncomfortable for half of it and tired for the rest of it.
I do have a vague recollection of watching the Olympics while doing middle of the night feeds and I didnt listen to music other than the Wiggles and Hi 5.
The only highlight was giving birth to my beautiful baby boy.
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Oh yes! Me too! I remember watching the olympics during night feeds and feeling mildly smug that I saw things live at stupid o’clock whilst everyone saw the highlights and repeats at normal hours!
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I was at uni, and had just returned from a year of traveling and was so sick of every piece of clothing I owned.
I remember wearing my wide leg, dark denim Sass & Bide jeans practically every day, which I paired with etnies sneakers and (as whippersnapper reminded me below) a tight Paul Frank singlet. I also wore a pink cowboy hat to Melbourne Cup *shudders*.
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Oh Etnies yes. HOT!
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Oh, my rabbit boy Sass & Bide jeans. Still in my wardrobe. I was 20 so they are super-tiny but who knows I might just go and squeeze them on for fun. I bought them on my first trip to Melbourne with some girlfriends. I also bought, wait for it…some Etnies.
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I moved home from London and finally ‘settled’ down (apparently)
Got my own place – I remember moving into this 2 bed apartment with not much more than my backpack and a few 21st presents and thought to myself how will i ever own enough stuff to fill this flat? Scary thought having had all my worldly possessions fit into a cab!
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I was 17 and I started a part-time job at an accessories shop called Glitter. It was the best and my former boss has become a very good friend and mentor. I honestly can’t remember what I was wearing but it would have been H&M and nothing fancy:)
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I had only recently started my high school teaching career. I was so into trucker caps and baggy caros. We did a dance to “Yeah” by Usher at the Cairns Show. Wearing baggy cargos and trucker caps!
I had the most divine brown and gold strappty stilletoes.
I had about 5 pairs of pointy toes shoes including a baby pink pair that matched my favourite white and pink linen top.
I had loads of A-line skirts but no jackets. Way too hot in Far North Queensland!
Spent lots of time at Port Douglas and Cairns, nightclubbing in very tight pants that covered both ends of my ass crack – unlike some of the ferals out and about now!
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I was 24.
Bought my first property (2br unit) and moved out of home.
Went on my first european holiday (contiki) and had my tonsils removed…
Quite an eventful year come to think of it
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I was undergoing gruelling aggressive chemotherapy – and so I don’t really remember wearing anything of note … except my Pixie Skase wig!
True! – the wig people matched it strand by strand with my hair before it all fell out. I loved that wig. It took ages for me to style my real hair “just so” (before baldness) and of course it never lasted long.
But the wig stayed “groomed” if you can call it that.
I suppose Pixie Skase loved her big hair at the time, too….
Plus – big plus – it was winter, and the wig kept my head warm!
The comments to this post have me wondering … what is the age range of Mamamia-ers? Not that it matters in the slightest in the big scheme of things, I was just wondering how old the “oldest” is, and the youngest.
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2004 was year 12 for me. So i spent my time not studying, having fun in english, not getting into trouble for smoking in uniform because technically i was in a friends backyard and being naughty!
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I was in Year 11. Had short, blonde hair (yuck) and wore floral, pretty stuff.
Was chubbier due to the canteen sausage rolls. 
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2004 was a big year. I turned 29, my hubby and I got engaged, moved house twice and went on an awesome 3 week holiday to the Northern Territory! I cannot for the life of me remember what I wore, what music I listened to or the TV shows I watched, they mustn’t have been particularly memorable! I do remember lots of lovely dinners and lunches with my beautiful girlfriends though and these are the memories I cherish now that I live hundreds of kms away from them in another State and we are all busy with husbands and children. Miss my girls xx
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I was still fairly new to child health and starting to go through the first of many dismal interviews for a permanent position. Our house burned down that year, so the second half of the year was pretty overwhelmed by the repurcussions of that. Also, all of my clothes got burned. I’d just bought some cargo pants with satin pockets that were very coolant a gorgeous Chinese style tunic. I had to buy a whole new wardrobe and pink and black were very in that year.
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