1980’s Style

Clothes

Preppy clothes (izod shirt, collar up, sweater tied around neck). Parachute pants, were a breakdancing style that became more mainstream from the pop musical icon MC Hammer of the mid 1980’s. Leg Warmers (Flashdance or Jane Fonda’s workout). Cuffed Pants, was the technique of folding over one side and rolling up the leg, which worked best with jeans. Overalls/Suspenders became a huge phenomenon in the early ’80’s from bands like Dexy’s Midnight Runners. Ripped Jeans started in the punk days of the’70’s and became high fashion by the mid ’80s. Ruffled Shirts was part of the music ‘New Wave/New Romantic’ scene of the early ’80s and became mainstream in the mid ’80’s. Large oversized sweaters became fashionable in the early to mid ’80’s from sensual women in music and movies, most notably Madonna and movies like Flashdance. Oh and don’t forget the Acidwash clothing.

Hair

The Flattop was all the rage in the 1980’s, especially in the pop and hip hop music scenes. The Mullet style began as early as the late ’70’s from rock bands and was popular throughout the ’80’s. Punk and New Wave hair ranged from a simple shaved area with bangs to exotic color spiked streaks. Hairspray (Aquanet), oh that heavy smelling aresol spray.

Accessories

Boom Box, dangling earrings, swatches, one shoulder backpack wearing, hip hop chains, fingerless gloves (Inspired by the glove-wearing new romantics and the leather/vinyl punk fashions. Punks tended to wear large studded wristbands that were frequently up near the base of the thumb. The other factor is the 80′s obsession with cutting off the ends of garments. Leg warmers are a similar example of the cut-off look and were often accessorised with fingerless gloves. All these factors combined to create the fashion, but like many trends, fingerless gloves didn’t take off until some celebrities started wearing them. The two best know fingerless glove icons were Billy Idol and Madonna), and finally neon jewelry.