BY LIZ JONES Comeback Queens: Keren Woodward (left) and Sara Dallin Batwing sleeves, Adam Ant, aerobics classes, leg warmers and Madonna are what I
think of when I look back to the early 1980s. And, of course, Bananarama. The frosted hair. The overlarge trousers held up with wide Bodymap belts. The dungarees. And the songs! Even today, when I hear the strains of ‘Robert De Niro’s Waiting’ or ‘Venus’, I’m reminded of an era when young girls didn’t aspire to have designer handbags, or tooth veneers to match those of Cheryl Cole. When the word Wag hadn’t even been invented. I think back to an era when three tomboys who seemed to be more in love with each other than with any mere boy ruled the world. At least, it seemed as though they did: more album sales than Girls Aloud, more hit singles than the Supremes. The shining moment came when the girls turned up early one morning in 1984 to, as Keren Woodward tells me now, ‘sing a couple of lines on some charity record. I didn’t know there would be cameras, so I turned up with my hair in a ponytail, an old grey jumper and a hangover’. The charity was Band Aid, the record of course was ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas’ It’s typical that Keren, Sara Dallin and original third band member Siobhan Fahey just rolled out of bed whereas, these days, can you imagine the hours in hair and make-up the likes of the aforementioned Girls Aloud would spend The decisions that would have to be made about the dresses, the shoes, the security Makeover: the girls show off their glamorous new look – which is radically different to their 1980s dungarees and big hair ‘We never thought of ourselves as a girl band. We dressed like blokes,’ says Keren. Sara, the other surviving band member (Siobhan was replaced by Jacquie O’Sullivan in 1988, but since 1991 it’s just been the two of them) chips in: ‘We were the only group in the 80s who didn’t have a style.’
The two women look very sober today: sleek hair, jeans, cardies. Not an arm warmer or Lurex top in sight. Have you reached the big milestone, I ask disingenuously, thinking they are the same age as me, which is 50. ‘God, no!’ shouts Sara, letting out one of her huge, cackly laughs. ‘We’re still in our late 40s.’