I enjoy looking through my file of stories from more than 20 years as a journalist. This week, I came across a double-page spread I did for the Sunday Herald Sun, ‘Hot in 2006’, published on January 1 of that year.
I had categories for people, fashion, and—my favourite from a retrospective perspective—gadgets. This year we would, I reported breathlessly, be able to buy the new-style Sony Walkman MP3 player in “summer’s hottest colour, purple”. I did qualify that colour choice in the fashion section, saying, “Purple shoes will be a nanna look by next year—unless you’re Madonna”. Pick of the technology was the Sony Ericsson W900i 3G Walkman phone that could store—wait for it—240 songs!
In the fashion section, I noted that everyone on trend was wearing instant bronzer with sparkly highlights: “In a couple of years we’ll say ‘so yesterday, so early 21st century’,” I remarked.
On the facing page, ‘People’, I commented that Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban were tipped to marry, and that Eric Bana was a favourite to win an Oscar for Munich. They did, but he didn’t, though I still reckon Eric is one of Australia’s best actors and an awfully good bloke, too. I interviewed him lots of times in the 1990s, and he was so down-to-earth and genuine. I remember one time I had to attend an entertainment industry function and shortly beforehand, I found that my house had been broken into. When he and his partner (now wife) Rebecca found this out at the function, they immediately insisted I come to stay at their place so I didn’t have to go home alone. I explained that my dad was on his way and would stay with me, but their concern was very touching.
But back to the trends of 2006. Interestingly, there is not one mention of an Apple product. Then again, this was before the iPhone came out. Instead, we were drooling over the T-Mobile Sidekick II with phenomenal 6Mb email account.
You can read some more for yourself…
Sunday Herald Sun, Jan 1, 2006
The Crayon Files 
I love those ‘time capsules,’ Caron. What a fabulous look at that particular time. I remember the Sony Walkman, and I remember that instant bronzer,too. Those sorts of articles bring back a lot of memories…
Thank you, Margot. I’m lucky that my husband actually put my 2000s articles into some folders so they are easy to view, and preserved well too.
2006 isn’t really that long ago, but when you see what was “hot” at the time, it could have been a lifetime ago.
I know! It seems like yesterday. I have uni students now who hardly remember a time before smart phones.
I know! I have a cousin whose daughter goes to art college here. Sometimes when we’re out together I’ll mention something from a time not that long ago and she looks at me blankly. She has no idea what I’m talking about. Talk about feeling ancient.
I know what you mean. I never presume people of 20 have heard of anything before about 2010. In Australia, they cut back on teaching history in school for years, so the now-young adults have very little background. I asked a student when he thought World War II might have been, and he said, “Um…1980s?” Then I think, it was so long ago…why would they have come across it? We were taught history at school, but mainly WWII on, so that would be the equivalent to 20-year-olds today being taught about the 1980s. I talked about something in the 1960s the other day, saying “when your parents were young adults”, and had to correct myself to “When your grandparents were young adults”!
lol. I don’t know, I often feel like we were better informed about “history” but we probably weren’t. Now that I think about it, when my grandmother would tell me stories about when bread cost 5 cents I’d look at her like she was crazy. Guess it’s all relative.
Hahah! Yes. I remember my great-grandma in the 1980s telling off her son, my great-uncle, aged over 60, for “listening to that dreadful cowboy music”. She was talking about his country music records from the 1940s!
And now we’re them
I must say, I don’t miss the sparkly bronzer:).
Agreed! What was that about? I even had a kind of sparkly, gooey product for my hair.
And don’t forget about the sparkly eyeshadow :-). Ugh.
I think sparkly eyeshadow is back…I saw some advertised just the other day!
Everything old becomes new again!