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Was it simply "The Greed Decade" as many like to claim? I think not - the '80s saw the emergence of yuppies, but also Red Wedge, the Greenham Common Peace Women, and increasing concern for the environment. It may be convenient to scapegoat the '80s as the cause of all known ills, but the reality of the decade was far different - absolute bedlam, as Right fought Left, idealism fought corporate ambition. The election of Ronald Reagan as American President in 1980, and his second victory in 1984, had a far more decisive effect on the international political landscape than the three successive general election victories of UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1979, 1983 and 1987.
Fashion came fast and furious - deelyboppers, ra ra skirts with lycra leggings, Swatch watches, pixie boots, jelly shoes, shoulder pads, blonde highlights, hair gel, hair mousse, men in pink, goths, shell suits, New Romantics, donkey jackets, leg warmers...
Musically, the 1980s saw the beginnings of House Music, the exciting and still evolving world of synths taking centre stage, the evolvement of Rap music into the fully-fledged Hip Hop scene, Band Aid and Live Aid, great Indie, startling Acid House, and Raves...
At the amusement arcades, Space Invaders ran rampant and we first met Pac-Man...
And there was so much more! The decade truly had something for everyone - and provided a welcome escape for a while from the long-running and boring saga of flared trousers as fashion, begun back in the 1960s!
It was a brilliant decade for telly - bringing us such wonders as A Very Peculiar Practice, Inspector Morse, Spitting Image, Hot Metal, The BeiderbeckeTrilogy and Edge of Darkness.
The 1980s also saw the creation of The Simpsons, Twin Peaks, and other wonderful (often groundbreaking) American TV shows like Kate & Allie, Cheers, The Golden Girls, Married... With Children, The Cosby Show, Roseanne, and Hill Street Blues.
The '80s gave us some wonderful UK TV ads. Remember Ted Moult advertising double glazing at the Tan Hall Inn with "Fit The Best - Everest"? Remember the Weetabix gang? Remember the Scotch video tape skeleton ("Re-record, not fade away"?). Remember the romantic yuppie couple in the coffee ads? And what about "Lotta Bottle"?
In fact, the '80s totally transformed our telly viewing, bringing us Channel 4 and Sky TV.
The '80s were a fascinating time for science and technology! Video recorders became widespread, the Sony Walkman arrived, the first hand-held mobile phones hit the streets (expensive analogue bricks!), the ZX Spectrum, Game Boy and the World Wide Web (Thanks, Sir Tim Berners-Lee!) were invented, the first computer mouse eeked its way into our homes and Sir Alec Jeffreys accidentally discovered DNA fingerprinting. It's all here!
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10 comments:
Isn't that where they threatened to send Sophia (back to?) on the great US 80s TV show Golden Girls?
It is, Kristin! Well done! The reason I was wearing the t-shirt was because I'm no longer the spring chicken I was in the 1980s, and will be ready for Shady Pines very soon!
Whew! All those hours spent watching TV with my ma paid off!
Love your site and if I may say- fab blazer you have there :)
Thank you! :))
I well remember the style of smart meets casual in the 1980s. I think you've captured it brilliantly. It was great to be casual yet posh!
PS: My brother's personal favourite was a jazzy '80s jacket, usually flecked, skin tight stone or acid washed jeans - usually with a rip in one of the knees, and red and white trainers.
Thanks so much for the comments from another reader who enthuses about their own taste in '80s style. The look portrayed in the photograph is one that was highly prevalent in England in the mid-to-late 1980s, and I based my 2013 take on photographs of me and various friends in 1986/1987 for authenticity. It really took me back. With warmer weather hopefully here, I intend to plunder my wardrobe and do some '80s style again soon. General note to readers: please do not include links to YouTube or other videos in comments as I have to check them out all out before posting the comment, time presses, and they are apt to disappear - leading to "broken link" comments and questions from other readers.
We girls loved a shoulder padded blazer and rough looking stone washed jeans in the mid 1980s - often holey, but you could buy them with patched material underneath the holes! Loved the leggings too. They're back in fashion and have been for years. Black and always ending around the knee.
I had a linen pink jacket, very Miami Vice style, which I used to wear in the mid-to-late 1980's. I loved 80's fashion. It was very daring for a straight, working class man to wear pink in that decade, but there so much freeing up going on after the regimented fashions of the decade before.
I think the 1980s were a brill time for men's fashions. From the casuals to the dressy, to the popular mix of the two, I was very happy!
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