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Style

Scenes of mall madness ’89

More than two decades ago, photographer Michael Galinsky captured the big hair, bad clothes and overall bodaciousness at malls around the country.

/ 25 PHOTOS

'Malls Across America'

Don't pretend you didn't spend every weekend at the mall in your younger years! After all, what's more of a hallmark of youth culture than shopping-center adventures? Photographer and filmmaker Michael Galinsky was 20 years old in 1989 when he and a friend decided to spend six weeks driving across the country, capturing images of mall life. They started in New York and ended in North Carolina.

“At the time, the mall was the new public space, the new community center where people would interact,” Galinsky told TODAY.com. He had no idea what those pictures would mean two decades later. “This was pre-Internet, pre-cellphone, there was smoking in malls, it was before the Gulf War. It was this weird moment in time where things were getting ready to change,” he said. “Sometimes when you’re taking pictures, you don’t know what is or is not going to be there 20 years later. .

Click through to see some totally radical images.

Mickey meets midriff

In the gaze of Swayze

Hangin' tough

Let no sock go unscrunched

Chillin'

Doin' the `do

Mullets and mall rats

Quality family time

Cigarette break

Giving the ladies a thrill in a neon tank

All-American

A moment of reflection and big hair

Game time

I was a teenage mall goth

It's all about the acid wash

Displaying the style versatility of denim overalls

Nice shades

Multitasking

High hair and high tops

Bigger was better

Tease that mullet!

A touch of class

Lost relic: The cassette tape

Flying the flannel

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