Fashion of the 1980s was characterized by a rejection of psychedelic colored, ornate fashions of the 1970s. Punk fashion began as a reaction against both the hippie movement of the past decades and the materialist values of the current decade.Lauraine Leblanc. Pretty in Punk: Girls' Gender Resistance in a Boys' Subculture. Rutgers University Press, 1999. P. 52 The first half of the decade was relatively tame in comparison to the second half, which was when apparel became very bright and vivid in appearance.
One of the features of fashion in the second half of the 1980s was the interest in alternative forms. In the 1980s, alternative trends became widespread.Mendes V. de La Hay A. 20th Century Fashion. London: Thames and Hudson, 1999. This phenomenon has been associated with such phenomena as street style, punk and post-punk.Osgerby B. Fashion and Subculture: A History of Style. Oxford: Berg Publishers, 2010.
During the 1980s, shoulder pads, which also inspired "power dressing," became common among the growing number of career-driven women.
The women's shoe that typified the decade was the closed pump with a sharply tapered or pointed toe, first revived at the end of the seventies. These were similar to pumps worn during the second half of the 1950s and came in a variety of heel heights and tapered heel shapes, cone-shaped to spike to stiletto, almost always underslung. One of the ways to update an older outfit during the 1980s was to wear it with a pair of eighties pumps.
Hair in the 1980s was typically big, curly, bouffant and heavily styled. Television shows such as Dynasty helped popularize the high volume bouffant and glamorous image associated with it. Women in the 1980s wore bright, heavy makeup. Everyday fashion in the 1980s consisted of light-colored lips, dark and thick eyelashes, and pink or red rouge (otherwise known as blush).
Some of the top fashion models of the 1980s were Brooke Shields, Christie Brinkley, Inès de La Fressange, Jerry Hall, Elle MacPherson, Isabella Rossellini, Carol Alt, Gia Carangi, Paulina Porizkova, Kim Alexis, Kelly Emberg, Janice Dickinson, Kelly LeBrock, Joan Severance, Yasmin Le Bon, Renée Simonsen and Tatjana Patitz.
Women's fashion Early 1980s (1980–1983)
Minimalism
The early 1980s witnessed a backlash against the brightly colored disco fashions of the late 1970s in favor of a minimalist approach to fashion, with less emphasis on accessories. In the US and Europe, practicality was considered just as much as aesthetics. In the UK and America, clothing colors were subdued, quiet and basic; varying shades of brown, tan, cream, and orange were common. Fashionable clothing in the early 1980s included unisex and gender-specific attire. Widespread fashions for women in the early 1980s included sweaters (including turtleneck, crew neck, and v-neck varieties); fur-lined puffer jackets; tunics; faux-fur coats; velvet blazers; trench coats (made in both fake and real leather); crop tops; tube tops; knee-length skirts (of no prescribed length, as designers opted for choice); loose, flowy, knee-length dresses (with high-cut and low-cut necklines, varying sleeve lengths, and made in a variety of fabrics including cotton, silk, satin, and polyester); high-waisted loose pants; embroidered jeans; leather pants; and designer jeans, though jeans were not as widely worn as during the 1970s. Women's pants of the 1980s were, in general, worn with long inseams, and by 1982 the flared jeans of the 70s had gone out of fashion in favor of straight leg trousers. Continuing a trend begun during the late 1970s, cropped pants and revivals of 1950s and early '60s styles like pedal-pushers and Capri pants were popular. 1981 saw a brief fall vogue for knickers. From 1980 until 1983, popular women's accessories included thin belts, knee-high boots with thick kitten heels, sneakers, jelly shoes (a new trend at the time), () mules, round-toed shoes and boots, jelly bracelets (inspired by Madonna in 1983), shoes with thick heels, small, thin necklaces (with a variety of materials, such as gold and pearls), and small watches.
Aerobics craze The fitness craze of the 1970s continued into the early 1980s. General women's street-wear worn in the early 1980s included ripped sweatshirts, tights, sweatpants, and tracksuits (especially ones made in velour). Athletic accessories were a massive trend in the early 1980s, and their popularity was largely boosted by the aerobics craze. This included leg warmers, wide belts, elastic headbands, and athletic shoes known as 'sneakers' in the US or 'trainers' in the UK.
Increased Formality Continuing a trend begun by designers in 1978,Multiple sources: the early 1980s also saw a return to pre-sixties ideas of formality,Multiple sources: with coordinated suits, occasion dressing like forties-fifties-revival cocktail dresses and evening dresses, and even a revival of hats and gloves,Multiple sources: though neither was required for women as they had once been. This was just one trend among many of the era. Along with this went an increased prevalence of black being worn, a trend that can be traced both to high-fashion designers and to late seventies punk fashions and their successors.
Professional fashion In the 1970s, more women were joining the work force, so, by the early 1980s, working women were no longer considered unusual. As a way to proclaim themselves as equals in the job market, women started to dress more seriously at work. Popular clothes for women in the job market include knee-length skirts, wide-legged slacks, a matching blazer, and a blouse of a different color. Kitten-heeled shoes were often worn. Formal shoes became more comfortable during this period in time, with manufacturers adding soles that were more flexible and supportive. The shoes with moderately spiked heels and relatively pointy toes from the very late 1970s remained a fashion trend.
Kamali One of the most popular designers with the public in the early eighties was Norma Kamali, who debuted a collection of casual clothes made in sweatshirt fabric in late 1980Multiple sources: that would become top sellers in 1981 and '82 and make Kamali a household name. The popularity of Kamali's "Sweats" collection is significant to fashion history for two reasons: It got large numbers of mainstream young women back into miniskirts for the first time since the early 1970s, so the first minis to be widely worn in a decade, and it succeeded in finally getting women to wear the large shoulder pads that the fashion industry had been trying to get women to adopt since 1978. The miniskirts that Kamali promoted with this collection came to be called "rah-rah skirts," full, hip-yoked skirts that ranged in length from top-of-the-thigh to just above the knee. The pairing of playful, casual skirts with oversized sweatshirts containing big shoulder pads took some of the severity away from the idea of big shoulders and made them more acceptable to women. The pads were removable via velcro, thus optional. Kamali was the first designer to make prominent use of velcro-fastened shoulder pads, a fashion item that would soon become characteristic of the 1980s. Colors in this collection ranged from sweatshirt grey to tomato red to black, white, turquoise, yellow, pink, and combinations of two colors in horizontal stripes. Women wore Kamali-style sweatshirt-fabric outfits with opaque, often brightly colored tights, giving a sort of sixties look with the short skirts. Legwarmers were also commonly worn. Shoes with these clothes were typically flat, though brightly colored high-vamp pumps with low cone heels were also seen; there were flat skimmer pumps; flat, calf-high boots; black-and-white checkerboard Vans; and Converse All-Stars, low-top or high-top. Other accessories might be brightly colored geometric pins and pin-on buttons, bright geometric earrings, and wide, brightly colored belts in shiny leathers and vinyl. Hair was often gathered into bouncy-looking, top-of-the-head ponytails.
Mid-1980s (1984–1986)
Bright colors Women's fashion in the early 1980s became more colorful around 1982. This included long wool coats, long flared skirts, slim miniskirts, slightly tapered pants and stirrup ones, designer jeans, spandex cycling shorts, high waisted ankle length jeans and pants plain or pleated, extremely long and bulky sweaters, jumpsuits, pastel colors, "off-the-shoulder" sweatshirts over tight jeans, leather trenchcoats, fur coats, extremely large scarves, beanies, leather gloves, and dresses worn with wide or thin belts. The aerobics craze of the early 1980s continued into the mid-1980s, but the clothes became more colorful than they were before. At the same time, black continued its march toward ubiquity, becoming the new neutral, especially among the trendy. This reflected both the increased formality revived by high-fashion designers at the end of the seventies and the continuing influence of punk and its successors like postpunk and goth. It became more and more common to see not only black clothes but also stark black eyeliner, hair dyed black, black nail polish, and even black lipstick, on both sexes. Black would continue to dominate into the nineties. Among all the other looks available during the decade, there was a consistent dressy look seen of tailored, broad-shouldered suits, narrow skirt or trousers, and pumps, accessorized with sheer or colored hosiery, prominent belts, prominent earrings of various shapes and materials, and sometimes hats and gloves, a favorite among designers since 1978 that occasionally became popular with the public during the eighties, particularly gloves, which were available in a variety of lengths, shapes, colors, and materials. Women's shoes of the mid-1980s included strappy sandals, kitten-heeled sandals, pumps, ballet flats, boat shoes, slouchy flat boots, Keds, and white Sperry's sneakers. In the 1980s, rising pop star Madonna proved to be very influential to female fashions. She first emerged on the dance music scene with her "street urchin" look consisting of short skirts worn over leggings, necklaces, rubber bracelets, fishnet gloves, hairbows, long layered strings of beads, bleached, untidy hair with dark roots, headbands, and lace ribbons. In her album "Like a Virgin" phase, millions of young girls around the world emulated her fashion example that included brassieres worn as outerwear, huge crucifix jewelry, lace gloves, tulle skirts, and boytoy belts. Gloves (sometimes laced or fingerless) were popularized by Madonna, as well as fishnet stockings and layers of beaded necklaces. Short, tight Lycra or leather miniskirts and tubular dresses were also worn, as were cropped bolero-style jackets. Black was the preferred color. With the new fashion's most extreme forms, young women would forgo conventional outer-garments for vintage-style bustiers with lacy slips and several large crucifixes. This was both an assertion of sexual freedom and a conscious rejection of prevailing androgynous fashions.