1980s in fashion
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1980s fashion in popular culture incorporated distinct trends from different eras, including ancient Egypt, early 20th century English royalty, Victorian era buccaneers, and punk rockers from the 1970s. The most conservative, more masculine fashion look that was most indicative of the decade was the wide use of shoulder pads (similar to those worn in ice hockey, but perhaps not quite so large or protective). While in the 1970s the silhouette of fashion tended to be characterized by close fitting clothes on top with wider looser clothes on bottom, this trend completely reversed itself in the early 1980s as both men and women began to wear loose shirts and tight close fitting pants. Men wore power suits (which they sometimes jogged in to work since they were stiff when they were bought) as a result of the greater tendency for people to display their wealth. Brand names became increasingly important in this decade, making Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein household names. In the United States, Madonna was titled the "Material Girl" and many teenage girls looked to her for fashion statements. The popular movie Flashdance (1983) made ripped sweatshirts well-known in the general public. The television shows Dallas and Dynasty also had a similar impact.
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[edit] Early 1980s
[edit] New Romantics
TheNew Romantic was a New Wave and fashion movement that occurred primarily in British nightclubs. New romanticism emerged in the UK music scene in the early 80s as a direct backlash against the austerity of the punk movement. Where punk railed against life in Britain's council estates, the new romantics celebrated glamor and partied regularly at local nightclubs. The make-up was streaky and bold and used by future music artists including Duran Duran. The early designer of the romantic look was Vivienne Westwood who designed clothing specifically for bands, such as Adam & the Ants and later developed the "pirate look." The pirate look featured frilled "buccaneer" shirts often made of expensive fabrics. One element of this trend that went mainstream and remained popular for most of the decade were short shirt collars worn unfolded against the neck with the top one or two buttons unfastened. Except in the most conservative communities this became standard casual wear for both men and women. With the exception of business suits, to wear one's collar folded appeared awkward or stuffy. For men, the early 1980s can be described as post-hippie, post-disco and early glam, with an obvious influence of David Bowie androgyny emerging. Beards started to disappear but tans, open collars and jewelry started to emerge as popular fashion. At the beginning of the decade women's hairstyles were often about shoulder length and cut in layers to emphasize natural wave in straight hair. The Farrah Fawcett flip was a holdover from the 1970s that lasted several years into the new decade. Very short haircuts became a fashion for women around 1982 and remained popular for several years. Although people who wore the mainstream versions of these styles often described them as punk, they were more similar to male hairstyles from the New Romantic movement, which in turn were influenced by pompadour hairstyles of the 1950s.
In the early-to-mid 1980s, glasses with large, plastic frames were in fashion for both men and women.
Small metal framed eyeglasses made a return to fashion in 1984 and 1985, becoming the dominant style by the end of the decade.
Headbands became fashionable in 1982. The trend started in California and spread across the nation. Other associated trends were leg warmers and miniskirts. Leg warmers, which had long been staple gear for professional dancers during rehearsals, became a teen trend in 1982. Miniskirts returned for the first time since the 1960s. These styles became associated with the Valley Girl trend that was popular at the time, based on a popular song by Frank Zappa and Moon Unit Zappa. The other fads soon spent themselves, but miniskirts remained in style and became an option for women's business suits.
Underwear became a more important fashion accessory for both men and women. Women's looks tended to be in a wide array of pastel colors, with lacy trimmings. Camisoles with built in bras became popular for women. Men became more fashion conscious as well. Underwear was also colorful for men, and boxer shorts were "tapered," or styled after the side-vent running shorts, with a trimmer cut.
The Thriller look was inspired by Michael Jackson's record breaking album Thriller, teenagers would attempt to replicate the look of Jackson. Androgyny became a trend among popular music singers. Michael Jackson's high pitched voice was one example. Annie Lennox's short hair and mannish clothes and Boy George's feminine cosmetics were other high profile examples. Musical and film influences played a strong part in the dictation of fashion, these influences included those such as The Bangles, Tina Turner, Belinda Carlisle and Cyndi Lauper.
Shoulder pads, popularized perhaps by Linda Evans from the soap opera Dynasty, remained popular throughout the 1980s and even the first three years of the 1990s. The reason behind the sudden popularity of shoulderpads for women in the 1980s may be that women in the workplace were no longer unusual, and wanted to "power dress" to show that they were the equals of men at the office. Many women's outfits had velcro on the inside of the shoulder where various sized shoulderpads could be attached.
[edit] Mid 1980s
Pastel colors dominated fashions of the early 1980s. This shifted to more somber and muted tones in 1984. The trend toward moody shades remained dominant for the rest of the decade, with notable exceptions. In 1987 day-glo colors became popular for beach and party wear. The mid-1980s also saw revivals of Hawaiian shirts and tie dyed shirts. Unlike the original 1960s tie dyes, 1980s fashions were usually printed fabrics designed to resemble the tie dye process, rather than homemade tie dying. Opulent shades such as royal blue became fashionable late in the decade.
The Dynasty television show, watched by over 250 million viewers around the world in the 1980s, influenced the fashion styles in mainstream America. The show, targeted towards females, influenced women to wear jewelry often to show one's economic status. Synthetic fabrics went out of style in the 1980s. Wool, cotton, and silk returned to popularity for their perceived quality.
In the late 1980s, glasses with tortoise-shell coloring became popular. These were smaller and rounder than the type that was popular earlier in the decade. In 1983 a youth fashion emerged in cotton clothes with Japanese calligraphy prints in black, white, and red. Westerners usually had no idea what these clothes said and wore them for esthetics only. Also in 1983, the film Flashdance popularized tops for women that exposed one bare shoulder. A related style for women was to cinch an untucked shirt with a large belt. The exposed shoulder look was strictly casual but business and semiformal attire adopted the cinched shirt look to expensive fabrics.
Frizzy hair was cemented as a common fashion style and was complemented by the attire of the times. "Banana" clips were another favorite. Young women wore wild earrings, often long or of peculiar design. Shoulder length earrings often contrasted with hair that was chin length or shorter. Gloves, sometimes lace and/or fingerless were popularized by Madonna, as well as fishnet stockings and layers of beaded necklaces. Another club fashion for women was lingerie as outerwear. Prior to the mid-1980s it had been taboo to show a slip or a visible bra strap in public. A visible undergarment had been a sign of social ineptness. In the new fad's most extreme forms, young women would forego conventional outer-garments for expensive bustiers with lacy slips and several large crucifixes. This was both an assertion of sexual freedom and a conscious rejection of prevailing androgynous fashions.
Converse shoes were popular in the first half of the 1980s. Air Jordan basketball shoes made their debut in 1985. Athletic shoes had been worn as casual wear before, but for the first time they became a high priced fashion item. The National Basketball Association banned these shoes from games when they first debuted, which increased their cachet. Soon other manufacturers introduced premium athletic shoes. Adidas sneakers took the decade by storm, popular amongst teenagers and young men. The Adidas sneaker was popularized by the Run DMC song My Adidas. Nike had a similar share of the market coming out with Air Max and similar type shoes. High-tops, especially of white or black leather, became popular.
Meanwhile women's fashion and business shoes returned to styles that had been popular in the 1950s and early 1960s with pointed toes and spiked heels. Some stores stocked canvas covered fashion shoes in white and dyed them to the customer's preferred color. While the most popular shoes amongst young women were bright colored high heels, a trend started to emerge which saw 'Jellies' - colorful, translucent plastic flats - become popular.
Men's business attire saw a return of pinstripes for the first time in decades. The new pinstripes were narrower and subtler than 1930s and 1940s suits. Three piece suits gradually went out of fashion and lapels on suits became very narrow. While vests in the 1970s had commonly been worn high with six or five buttons, those made in the early 1980s often had only four buttons and were made to be worn low. Neckties also became narrower in the 1980s. Button down collars made a return, both for business and casual wear. The 1980s saw the return of conservative colors to men's clothing and the colorful suits of the 1970s quickly began to be seen as flamboyant. The growing popularity of the Miami Vice television series saw men wearing casual t-shirts underneath expensive suit jackets.
Sales of Ray Ban 'Aviator' sunglasses jumped 40%, following the release of the 1986 film Top Gun, they were worn predominantly by Maverick, played by Tom Cruise and Iceman, played by Val Kilmer.
Both sexes were wearing stylish undergarments, such as those modeled by celebrities and on television. Women began to favor satin fabrics for lingerie, and the Jockey company, long known for its men's line, began manufacturing lace-trimmed, French-cut styles aimed at more conservative women. The teddy, or all-in-one camisole and tap pants, was often worn on television, by stars such as Cybill Shephard in Moonlighting, and was very popular as a more modest garment that nearly eliminated the need for a slip. Bright jewel tones to match the silk charmeuse and satin blouses shown on Dallas and Dynasty were the rage. With baseball star Jim Palmer the new Jockey pitchman, focus on skimpy bikinis and bold prints worn by the athlete in print ads became popular. Fashion underwear was influenced by Michael J. Fox's lilac Calvin Klein briefs in "Back to the Future," and Oakland Raiders star Howie Long in colorful Hanes bikini and colored brief ads. Colored, patterned, and figured men's bikinis or low-rise briefs, for the trim pant silhouettes, were available and widely popular with men of all ages.
At the beginning of the decade digital watches with metal bands were the dominant fashion. They remained popular but lost some of their status in later years. Newer digital watches with built-in calculators and primitive data organizers were strictly for gadget geeks. Adult professionals returned to dial watches by mid-decade. Leather straps returned as an option. By late in the decade some watch faces had returned to Roman numerals. In contrast, one ultramodern status symbol was the Movado museum watch. It featured a sleek design with a single large dot at twelve o'clock. Teen culture preferred vibrant plastic Swatch watches. These first appeared in Europe and reached North America by the middle of the decade. Young people would often wear two or three of these watches on the same arm.
[edit] Late 1980s
Acid-washed jeans and denim jackets had now become popular with both sexes. Acid washing is the process of chemically bleaching the denim, breaking down the fiber of material and forcing the dye to fade, thus leaving undertones of the original dye evidenced by pale white streaks or spots on the material. This became associated with the heavy metal trend (called "hair metal" in later decades for the large frizzy coiffures worn by both male and female enthusiasts).
One popular look for men in the late 1980s was Hawaiian shirts. Often they would be complemented with sport coats with stitched looks. They were often gray and white, and were worn for both casual and business settings. When worn in the business setting, they were often worn without a tie.
Leather jackets popularized by Michael Jackson and films like The Lost Boys, often studded and left undone to create a messier look. Oversized, slouch shouldered faded leather jackets with puffy sleeves from Europe caught on. Gloves, sometimes fingerless, would also accompany the jacket. Late in the decade plain brown aviator jackets made a comeback, styled after World War II fighter pilot jackets. Already popular aviators were joined by other forms of sunglasses. It was not unusual for sunglasses or shades as they were known, to be worn at night.
Earrings became a mainstream fashion for male teenagers. Teen culture held that to pierce the left ear was acceptable for a heterosexual male. A right ear piercing indicated homosexuality. Adults who did not understand the fad worried about how this would affect young men's job prospects as they reached adulthood. Ear piercings left a scar even if they closed from disuse. Increasingly short hair fashions for men meant that there was no way to conceal the mark, which remained taboo among older generations.
Ensembles featuring the colors of Africa, green yellow and red, become wildly unpopular among African Americans mainly named kente cloth. In the urban hip-hop communities however, sneakers usually worn unlaced, tons of gold jewelry and headwraps donned the young of the eighties.
Severely bleached and ripped jeans, either manufactured purposely or done by hand, become a popular fashion trend, being a main component of glam metal music acts such as Poison. Although gay men have often been thought of as trendsetters in the fashion world, elements of gay fashion exploded into the mainstream in the 1980s. The outdoor look, such as the wearing of huge hiking boots, jeans and flannel shirts in the city caught on, drag styles for men and butch styles for women spread into straight society. Tattooing and piercing began to enter the mainstream.
[edit] Hairstyles
Big and eccentric hair styles were popularized by film and music stars in particular amongst teenagers. There was generally an excessive amount of mousse used in styling an individual's hair which resulted in a desired shiny look and greater volume, some mousse even contained glitter. The mullet existed in several different styles, all characterized by hair short on the sides and long in the back. Mullets were popular in suburban and rural areas among working class men. This contrasted with a conservative look favored by business professionals, with neatly groomed short hair for men and sleekly straight hair for women. White collar men's haircuts were often shaved at the nape of the neck to create an artificially even hairline. Women's hairstyles became increasingly long in the latter part of the decade and blunt cuts dominated. Unlike 1970s blunt cuts, which were often longest at the spine, late 1980s long hair reached an equal length across the back. During the middle and late 1980s it was unfashionable to part either men's or women's hair.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- John Peacock, The 1980s, ISBN 0-500-28076-2 (October 1, 1998)
- Tom Tierney, Great Fashion Designs of the Eighties, ISBN 0-486-40074-3 (Mar 18, 1998)
- Catherine McDermott, Made in Britain: Tradition and Style in Contemporary British Fashion, ISBN 1-84000-545-9 (May 9, 2002)
- Christopher Breward, Fashion, ISBN 0-19-284030-4 (Jun 1, 2003)
[edit] External links
- New Romantics 1980s Fashion History
- Nostalgia Central - Fashion in the 1980s
- Museum of 1980s sports and leisurewear
| Preceded by: 1970s |
History of Western Fashion 1980s |
Followed by: 1990s |
