Ask Angie: What is it you like about 80s style? - YouLookFab Forum

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Ask Angie: What is it you like about 80s style?

April

Veteran

In rosee's thread , I was reminded that you count the 80s as one of your favorite fashion eras.

I have recently been watching old episodes of "thirtysomething" and I have to say, the true 80s style looks pretty awful. High-waisted, light-wash, tapered jeans with tucked-in, shoulder-padded, buttoned-to-the-top, rayon blouses. Enormous chunky sweaters with Bill Cosby patterns. Winter coats with shoulders out to THERE.

I know there's a difference between what people were actually wearing and what later becomes identified as the style of an era -- so help me understand what elements of this era you find inspiring?

General

29 replies

Latest reply was from nancylee

Debora

Veteran

Hi April, I'm *waving* at you! I remember that show! I'll be curious to hear what Angie has to say. I took out some of my old photo albums yesterday after reading the blog post on sunray pleating and was shocked how big I wore my clothes back then. You are right, the shoulders were huge!

Queen Mum

Veteran

April.. that's pretty much what I remember wearing

cloud9

Veteran

BIG is right, recently I found an old jacket from the 80s and it fit me *perfectly* now.. 20+ years later & 20+ lbs later.. LOL.

Beth

Veteran

Ah yes, the jeans that doubled as a bra-band (on the short-waisted at least), the clothes that swallowed me whole, and shoulder pads that looked like car bumpers. Had to have *something* to balance out the hair.

But we were cool!

krishnidoux

Veteran

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InNdEWXWtsA

"Hey! Everybody gotta wear clothes. And if you don't, you get arrested." Well in this case maybe you get arrested for wearing these clothes!

April

Veteran

I recall how big we wore everything and how many shoulder pads I had floating around in my dresser (remember how they used to come attached with velcro so you could pull them out before sending the clothes to the drycleaners?)

And yes, the big hair, proceeding directly from the invention of hair mousse, which hit the market in the 80s.

Yikes.

Mo

(website)

Veteran

ah, mousse . . . For me it was the colors as much as the shapes that made the 80's icky. Acid wash is just gross looking. Why did we love it so? I will admit to the ponytail off to the side on top of my head, too. And with all the hair I have, that was quite a feat. Talk about a sore neck . . .

nancylee

Veteran

I, too, struggle to remember any positive fashion trends from the 80's. Shoulder pads, acid-wash jeans, big shapeless sweaters over leggings, military bedazzled jackets (like Michael Jackson's in Thriller). Ugh! When I think of that decade I want to run away screaming. My hairstyle then was a crimped Egyptian pyramid of hair...just awful!

I'm hoping Angie will enlighten us on what we missed! Clearly, there was something there to like or she wouldn't be such a fan.

catgirl

Veteran

I will chime in here and say I don't find much appealing about 80s wear, nor did I then, although of course I wore it (a revolting neon pink and grey drop waist dress comes to mind). Also, there were multiple trends in my town (punky Ramones style, Madonna, preppy/Laura Ashley, etc.)

However, I did like the following 80s trends:

cropped tops
Dr. Martens/combat boots
Uh, can't think of anything else...

ETA: This is kind of fun, although "psyche!" is spelled wrong.

http://www.liketotally80s.com/grew-up-in-80s.html

MsMary

Veteran

Well, I have naturally big hair, and I am an inverted triangle so I am naturally smaller on the bottom than on the top, so the 80s fashions, unfortunate as they were, were a good fit with my, uh, natural attributes. :p

catgirl

Veteran

Mary, you are right - the 80s was the decade of the IT! Sadly.

Gaylene

Veteran

OK, my first reaction was, having been in my 30s during that time, I must have had SOME fashionable moments. But, after looking through my photo albums and checking some popular 80s shows, I've got to admit that I'm cringing.

The only redeeming qualities that I can see from the 80s are interesting blouses, wedge heels, and an unabashed use of color. The rest-- huge hair, massive shoulder pads, headbands and legwarmers, embellished sweaters, enormous fake jewelry, blue eyeshadow-- looks pretty awful. Just Google "Diana 80s fashion" to see how even a fashion icon had trouble making those clothes look good.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

OK, I'll chime in with a few things from the 80s that I like:

- cute flats and kitten heels, and pointy toed shoes in fun colors
- jewel tones and brights (not neon)
- *some* of the graphic color blocked looks, graphic black and white
- some punk influences - black leather, studs and zippers
- cropped jackets

I wore a lot of royal blue and black combos back then, and I still love that color scheme.

Beth

Veteran

I will have to say that there is one thing that redeems the entire decade for me and that is...skinny jeans.

Yes, yes, they had a stratospheric rise and we had to flop flat on the bed to zip up our much loved Guess versions, but oh how I loved skinny jeans then *and* now. No other silhouette comes close.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

The 80's is an era full of extremely good lines - as a direct rebellion to the hippy boho style of the 70's. The 80's took the glam part of the 70's to another level. It's when things suddenly became truly modern. Waist definition, knee lengths, tapered trousers, colour blocking, layering, power suits and above all, dressing up! - are to name but a few of the decades killer highlights.

When Kendall Farr and I spoke about this over the phone - we were in 100% agreement over what a great influence the 80's has had on fashion. It is also as she puts it "her decade of choice".

Granted the hair and make - up of this decade was disastrous

I was between the ages of 10 and 20 in this decade and the fashion rocked my world because I was a very impressionable teen.

Then grunge came along and everybody started to dress down again. And I started sobbing.

Aziraphale

Veteran

Usually when you mention 80s fashion, people groan. I see Angie's point about the good aspects of 80s clothing (clean lines, fitted clothing, etc), but the first images that pop into my mind when you mention the 80s involve huge, outrageous hairstyles (on men AND women) and linebacker shoulder pads. Not good. I suspect it's the first thing other people think of too, which accounts for all the groaning.

rosee

Veteran

I remember some fun things from the 80s -- some of which I might still wear, some I'll just fondly reminisce about. Skinny jeans were big, preppy button shirts, oversize wool curling sweaters (my dad's), brooches worn at the neck /collar, Also oversize paisley shirts were fun (won't wear them now). Ralph Lauren and Izod polos with Levis 501s.
I don't have any of them now b/c I'm a half-size bigger but I liked my shoes then too: loafers and flats, kitten heels, Vans and Converse sneakers, ankle boots and, in the late 80s /early 90s Doc Martens boots. I couldn't afford them yet but Fluevog developed a name for himself in the 80s too.
My hair was pretty subtle for the 80s, bigger than now but not extreme. I also wore preppy bobs. I was influenced by 50s /60s make-up so black eyeliner done slightly doe-eye with mauve or shimmery pink lipsticks.

anne

Veteran

The only thing I remember with pleasure was my elastic waist skirts. You know that ones - a big thick band of black elastic joined on to the skirt. I ran one up with black and white polka dots for a black and white school social. I like the way they gave my rather curveless body ( I was a late developer and never got hugely curvy anyway) some waist definition.

RandomThoughts (Andrea)

Veteran

Here's what I DO like about the 80's:

Moto jackets
Big stompy combat boots
black leather
studded belts
zippers
Cons/hi-tops
stacks of bangles/bracelets
DIY everything
Punkrock!

Yes, I rocked a truly hardcore mohawk.

Here's what I didn't like:
Neon colors
cut outs
Poofy hair (as opposed to my extremely inorganic spiked up 'hawk)
high waists
penny loafers
pleated jeans/trousers
feathered hair
the makeup
high water pants
headbands
INSANE shoulderpads

Angie, I apologize. I was also a TOTAL grunge lover - I was in college in NYC when grunge hit the scene and I was totally into the music and all that. Of course, I was a rebel without a cause. Still can't quite kick that tendency. I get to wear my studded leather again and my stompy boots are back. Hooray!

PS - were it not for the music scene, it would never have occurred to me to move to Seattle upon graduation. So happy I did! I love it here.

Ginkgo

Veteran

My memories of the 80's aren't so bad, maybe because I was already out of high school and working. My dresses were usually slender sheaths worn with wide belts, with only thin shoulder pads. I also wore pencil skirts, with a simple silk top or a dressy blouse. Jewel colors were popular for tops, worn with black pants or skirts. My mother was an excellent seamstress and made a lot of my clothes so I avoided the worst of the huge shoulder pads, though in the late 80's I bought a suit that had outrageously big shoulder pads and within a year or so it was looking pretty dated. Everyone at my company dressed up, hard to believe that a few years later we were coming to work in jeans, down jackets, and athletic shoes.

Until I started reading YLF a few months ago, I had not even heard anyone use the word "blouse" for years. Thought both the word and the article of clothing were completely dead -- my niece even laughed at her mother a few years ago for referring to a shirt as a blouse.

April

Veteran

Okay, I'm getting it. Just as the current day shouldn't be judged by the fact that so many people wander around in hoodies and pants with a word across the seat, the 80s had more to them than shoulder pads and hair mousse. I hadn't even thought about it being a dressier decade.

One thing I had in the 80s that was fabulous: belts. I remember one that had a couple of fake clocks attached to it (flat, like pendants on a necklace -- not like alarm clocks) and one that had dozens and dozens of silver metal rings encircling black leather.

nancylee

Veteran

Thanks for pointing out the bright side of the 80's for us, Angie. If only we'd had YLF back then to help us navigate and understand the trends!

Patty

Veteran

Ok--now I remember why I stuck to jeans and t-shirts!!!

Spoiler Alert:

Thirty Something- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092492/ --They killed Gary??!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

April

Veteran

Patty, that was one of the great bait-and-switch tragedies of television history. The looming question was whether Nancy's cancer would be in remission, and while the audience was adjusting to the outcome of that question, a completely different terrible thing happened.

Kind of like real life.

Patty

Veteran

We were right into the show--the writing was outstanding--sure missed it after it was over!!! My man and I would talk about the shows for days after we saw them! Thanks for reminding me about it April!!!
Even now when ever we see David Clennon in other shows we still call out--MILES!!!! LOL

anne

Veteran

We had a big collection of shoulder pads in our laundry because no women in my family needed extra padding and they came in- everything_ - so we took them out

MsMary

Veteran

I was the biggest "thirtysomething" fan ever. My son is the same age as Michael and Hope's baby on the show, and it was Must See TV for me every week.

But... I recently got the old episodes from Netflix, and to my horror I found it doesn't really hold up, at least to me. All that whining and navel-gazing...

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Great, April. So with you on the belts!

Andrea, yes! Those are meaningful 80's style additions. British Punkrock officially started in the late 70's I think. I LOVE PUNK STYLE. And believe it r not, I am a major grunge music/hard rock fan (good thing I live in Seattle), and even wore plaid shirts with black lace. Chanel girls can like aspects of grunge too

I remember loving the music of "thirty something", and I can hear it in my head now. The show, not so much. Very whiny :(. I'm sure I watch shows that don't tickle your fancy either!

nancylee

Veteran

I remember thirtysomething! Even though I was twentysomething at the time I watched it religiously, which made me seriously apprehensive about my approaching thirties....so much angst!