 Gimme Decade

 Yuppie: young, urban professional

 Whoever dies with most toys, wins
 Greed is good- Gordon Gecko
 President Reagan; Trickle Down Effect; Shop
till you drop
• New Romantic Look: short shirt collars, unfolded
• Fuchsia pinks, sea greens, purples, royal blue and red
shimmered in silk and polyester foulard copies
• batwing sleeves
• cowl collars
• Tights and pantyhose
• Acid wash jeans, tight fit at ankles (bell-bottoms-nerd)
• Finger-less gloves
• Loose shirts, tight-fitting pants
• Mini skirts
• Leg warmers
• skimpy bikinis and bold prints
• Couture: designers
• Power Dressing: Donna Karan, “queen of
seventh avenue”: dress for success
• Shoulder pads
• Puffballs/poufs
• Yves St. Laurent, Karl Lagerfield (in-your-face
Chanel), Lacroix (elaborate gowns), Valentino,
Versace, Gucci, LV
• Logomania: luxury goods- investment; Beastie
Boys- car logos
• The US“Preppy ”/ British “Sloane Ranger” look:
aristocrats; distinguish themselves from the
yuppies
• Rigid rules
• Don’t appear sexy
• Knee length corduroy skirt
• button-down Oxford cloth shirt, cuffed khakis,
polo shirts with designer logos
• Feminine Lilly Pulitzer Dress
• Lady Diana Spencer: most famous Sloane
 The Fitness Craze
 Skin-tight fabrics: spandex, lycra
 Leggings, cycling shorts, parachute pants,
sweats, “rah-rah” or cheerleaders-style skirts,
shoulder padded tops
 CURVES, CURVES and MORE CURVES
 Giorgio Armani, Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren:
minimalism: horror of “gimmicky,
overdesigned clothes”
Cult Dressing

 Vivienne Westwood, Malcolm McClaren

 World’ End: Pirates collection
 Promoted by Adam and the Ants
 Colorful, theatrical, androgynous: New
Romantic
 Duran Duran, Boy George
“ It’s all a mad mix, everything is off balance-
skirts have fronts rolled up, shirts are worn as
skirts, waistcoats have rumpled fronts and
halter necks-in colors such as dried blood. I mix
shapes, mix proportions. I put long over short,
short over long, and break every possible rule.”

-John Galliano
Galliano’s “Les Incroyables” St. Martin’s Galliano’s “Lucid Game,” 1985-6
degree show, 1984
 Jean-Paul Gaultier: enfant terrible of French
Fashion.
 Gender-bending: “God Created Man”
 Le Dadaism: 1st corset
 High heels, suspender belts, bullet
bras
 Madonna: “Blonde Ambition” tour
• Madonna: post-Punk meets the girly, New
Romantic sensibility: celebrated glamour
• Desperately Seeking Susan: armloads of fake
jewelry, fishnets, fingerless gloves, blood red lips,
messy hair, belly button
• Exaggerated cone bra and corsets, lingerie as outer
wear
• Fishnet stockings, beaded necklaces
• 1986: recreation of Marilyn Monroe in “Material
Girl”
• sexual freedom; rejection of prevailing androgynous
fashions

Crucifixes are sexy because there’s a naked man on them”

 American designer Stephen Sprouse: Andy
Warhol’s Pop Art
 Japanese designer Rei Kawakubo: Comme
des Garcons: black:anti-fashion: nuclear bag
ladies: antidote to the frivolous, high
maintenance status dresser
Cult Culture

• MTV: New Romantic Look

• Boy George: Culture Club: dressed like a
geisha girl, sang like a soul man
• Annie Lennox shaved her head and dressed in
pinstriped suits
• Gay culture defined music and fashion
• AIDS
• Princess Diana and Elizabeth Taylor raised
awareness
“Everybody’s looking for something” Boy George, Culture Club
Annie Lennox
 1980’s:MEN’S COSTUME

•Early 1980s as men began to wear loose shirts and tight

close fitting pants
•Brand names became increasingly important in this
decade, making Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein household
names
•Explosion of colorful styles in men's clothing
•Popular look for men in the late 1980s was Hawaiian
shirts
•Thriller look was inspired by Michael Jackson's record
breaking album Thriller
•Leather jackets popularized by Michael Jackson and films
like The Lost Boys
•Oversized, slouch shouldered faded leather jackets with puffy
sleeves from europe caught on
•In the decade plain brown aviator jackets made a comeback
late eighties, acid-washed jeans and denim jackets had
become popular
•Severely bleached and ripped jeans, either manufactured
purposely or done by hand, become a popular fashion trend
•The outdoor look, such as the wearing of huge hiking boots,
jeans and flannel shirts in the city caught on, drag styles for men
•The blazers, shades, loafers without socks, and 5 o'clock
shadows are some of the best examples of men's fashions
from the 1980s
•No man of the 80s would be complete without the holy grail of
80s men's clothing: Parachute pants.
 HAIR STYLES

EARLY 80’s : THE NEW ROMANTIC FASHION

• LONG HAIRS
•STRANGE ANGLES
•USE OF METAL, PLASTIC AND MOUSSE
•EXPERIMENTED WITH HAIR COLOURS AND CUTS
•SLICKED BOB WAS IN FASHION
•FEATHERED HAIRS
•SIDE PONYTAIL
 MID 80’s

•MORE EMPHASIS TO VOLUME

LATE 80’s

• RETRO STYLE COMES BACK

1. COULD HAVE SHORT HAIR, BUT SHOULD BE BLEACHED, DYED OF
BRIGHT COLOUR OR SPIKED

FLICKS WERE VERY MUCH IN FASHION

MOUSSE WITH GLITTER OR OTHER SPARKLE IN FASHION

 accessories

women men
•Clock necklaces
•Plastic charms •Rubber bands
•Hoop earings •Rhinestone glove
•High tops •Brimmed hats
•Saftey pins •High tops
•Beads bracelet
•Rubber bracelets
 MAKE UP

•Dark eyes
•Dramatic makeup
•Many layers of eyeliners
•Eye shadows in bright colors as green, blue, and purple
•Mica used for the “extra” shimmer
 Fashion icons of the 80’s

Madonna
Princess Diana, who sported her own version of the Purdy Haircut
Cyndi Lauper who always put her personal spin on the punk look