https://oldvaclav.tumblr.com.

In the early 80s most of British fell in love with the fairytale of the romance of Lady Diana Spencer and Prince Charles of Wales. Diana played family with her husband Prince Charles and sons William and Henry inside and outside Kensington Palace. She did it well, through could hardly be remarked with BAFTA, and became a recognized fashion icon, like Jacqueline Kennedy was in the 60s, — thanks to her refined, but else quite simple wardrobe, or, more likely, the costumes for the famous play. That started with her romantic wedding dress made of 40 meters of silk fabric by Elizabeth and David Emanuel and consisted of a corsage with sleeves in Empire style, a fluffy skirt trimmed with ancient English lace and a 7.5-meter traîne. The dress of Princess Diana inspired designers to create romantic collections and thousands of young girls, all over the world, — to wear dresses with wide skirts to knees, silk blouses with romantic flounces and small collars, ruffles, neckties and bows.

A blond girl in “Take On Me” Music Video, drawn in a kind of magic dream with the mischievous imp in a leather jacket, —looks like Princess Diana in a simple unadorned baggy dress and with a fashionable hairstyle of around 1981-1982.

Since 1985 up to 1992, “The Golden Girls”, an American sitcom, was aired on television and gained huge popularity proved with winning eleven “Emmy” awards, four Golden Globes Awards. The series also put an end to NBC’s ratings slump, along with “The Cosby Show”, “227”, “Night Court”, “Miami Vice”, and “L.A. Law”, so was remade in countries across Europe in 2000s. Blanche the lusty harlot, Rose the “dumb blonde”, Dorothy, a sarcastic supply teacher, and her hilarious mother Sophia come from Sicily — those zingy grandmas gave no way to girls of the younger age and showed up the right style for grown-ups who are still in search for true love. They could wear floral garments of bold colours as their casual wear, flashing elegance and femininity, reverentially veiled beyond silk, crepe de Chine, cashmere, cotton, chiffon, and satin. The costume designer Judy Evans did a wonderful job keeping her eye on the Golden Girls to dress up à la mode in glittering black or pastel-coloured evening gowns of square silhouettes with emphatic wide shoulders and obscure waist.

Meanwhile, there were mainly two types of evening skirts for romantic looks those days: fluffy or fitting skirts, — the ones that would be completely unacceptable even for the bravest grandmas. When the night fell down a city, dreamy young ladies poshed up themselves in dresses by Versace, Escada, Emanuel Ungaro, Christian Lacroix, Valentino, Cerutti, or Chanel, — trimmed with lace, guipure, or tulle, and wore long gloves, drawings one’s attention to beauty of hands and grace of movements. The illustrations by Tony Viramontes show those images to us to the full extent of their power, among with yuppies, the impression, which notable names make, and the latest quite things they produce.

During the day, clothing was simpler: blouses with flounces and ruffles, jackets, and typically fitting high waist trousers, pencil skirt, case dresses, and so on. Oversized pullovers of soft materials made a girl looking small, sensual and fragile, among with laced stockings put together with heavy leather boots or a pair of sport-chic shoes adding a pinch of obstinacy to the whole image as a self-defense. Laced accessories were quite normal: lace gloves, lace headbands, lace details on dresses, etc.

We shall take a look, briefly, at tendencies of 80s fashion that would help in restoring a romantic retro-image these days.

The plushy velour, which essentially combined the luxurious feel of velvet with the stretchy properties of spandex, was everywhere in 1980s. Foremost designers put out cozy v-neck pullovers made of velour. Velour trousers look elegant and do catch an eye so dress them up with a turtleneck of darker shadow and a small tiny chiffon or silk neckerchief of a colour as similar as possible (or exactly the same). A relative look would be perfect for work on Friday, for attending or giving a lecture, or for doing some business in town. To be on save side, pick gray colour.

Most of dreamy girls of 80s would decorate their hairdos with atlas ribbons, bows and ties. Louder than any average one of those, scrunchies, done up in a sparkling fabric or a bright saturated colour, — kept side ponytails and long hair the right way, and more — started being used as a wrist accessory. The scrunchies are best for wearing them at school or in everyday clothes, with wavy one-side pigtails and a T-shirt with a logo.

Some psychologists claim such an accessory as big circled earrings looks voluptuous. During the 1980s, door-knockers were worn by everyone from pop stars to the girl in the next door. They were perfect on the score of loudness. Through such a feature is the reason for not being used in a romantic retro-image, — you can, however, take them on in order to avoid looking too mawkish in light pink knitted clothes.

A devoted follower of fashion ought to take Lady Gaga’s look, when she interviewed His Holiness Dalai Lama, as a sample and pay attention for the dresses by Hanae Mori. The intelligent and well-educated Japanese designer followed the European tradition in her work and kept on very feminine, smart, refined style, also used simple cut and tiny silk fabrics.

The costume of C.C. Catch for the music video on her song “Nothing but a Heartache” of 1989 may be taken as a precious worthy sample of the romantic style of the late 80s. That image of a girl in love is full of high poetic inspiration. She reminds a bird in her small black dress with tight waist — the movements are soaring, they can be compared with wing-stroke of parotia. And even through she is acting in a desert — she lost in the great ocean of love, as great as this desert with its rare “oases”.

As we made it clear previously, the 1980s was an époque of excess: representatives of the generation preferred catchy models in clothing, very short length of a skirt or pants, too fitting or too fluffy cut. Romantic beauty is a typical style for those days, but it still included wild shoulders and glittering fabrics of bold colours. Some people, engaged in fashion industry, say that fashion tendencies come back in 25 years, so now it is time to think about clap eyes on mom’s old wardrobe.

There is the dust of what the Information Age promised in childhood settled in the corners of collective consciousness of artists, musicians and designers of retro wave. Countless television screens flickered in the neon fog, flaws colored the views of Japanese cities, and horizon turned into a painting of Color Field. Somewhere in that city, a young yuppie, the symbol of a new era, raced on a brand-new Chevrolet Corvette or expensive Ferrari to ultra-modern lonely apartment on high green hills in an elite sleeping area.

Although the 1980s go together with brightness, and for it was a decade of contrasts, as discussed earlier, the image of yuppie was a contrast to the toilettes by Christian Lacroix. Young wealthy people, leading an active secular lifestyle built on passion for careers and material success, began to be called “yuppies” at the beginning of the decade. The”Newsweek” magazine called 1984 the year of yuppie.

We can conditionally identify several subspecies of a luxurious lifestyle: for example, the aristocratic one — this life is lived by people whose profit is not a result of their professional activities, but allows them to do nothing. “Yuppie” is a luxurious lifestyle, but it flows in office and at business meetings.

The external image of most of yuppies, manners, gestures and speech, will write a story of one and tell about the world outlook:

1. Yuppie tolerates random sexual relations before marriage, and adultery as termination of a contract between free equal parties, — that actually does not prevent from recognizing the institution of family.

2. Yuppie is cynical, pragmatic and disdain for less successful people (“losers”). And more, yuppie is apolitical.

3. The most favorite topic for conversation is lack of time. Public talk over illnesses and other problems in the yuppies environment is not accepted, because the conditions of the game require healthy and energetic look.

4. In the yuppies environment, manifesting of envy and hatred is considered to be a destiny of losers and is tabooed completely; open aggression is forbidden as well. The environment has to look friendly and polite. Almost all potential unfriendliness comes down to giving hints — sometimes rude — of misery and failures of an interlocutor, especially based on having personal accessories not expensive enough or modern.

5. For yuppies, it is not peculiar to boast of the suffered crooks in the lot as achievements. They are usually kept in secret. A typical yuppie forgets them quickly, remembering only at the level of reason and cold logic. Long-term emotional fixation in such situations is not yuppies’ trait.

6. Yuppies almost have no concept of “I deserve”. In this case, they do not cause any rejection of the phrase “The early bird gets the worm” understood often as a natural law.

7. Yuppies, as a rule, do not have close friends. Yuppies rarely are immersed in an informal community — motorcyclists, fans of musical styles, role games and historical reconstruction, unorganized tourism and hikes, etc. Such “informals” are often despised by yuppies for “playing the fool”.

8. Two yuppies can make a very strong family couple in view of similar values f both. Nevertheless, for female yuppies, the so-called “serial monogamy” is characteristic — a sequence of several short-lived marriages.

9. Gender roles in the yuppie environment are erased. Classical femininity is not appreciated; classical masculinity is considered senseless and vulgar. Gender plays its role, exclusively, in situations of erotic courtship. Attitudes towards random sexual relations are highly tolerant; they are considered an inevitable side of life.

10. Yuppies are those consumers on which the “consumer society” is based.

A typical respectable yuppie wore a strict and very pricey business suit, in which there was nothing extravagant: no wild colors, no piercing; pants of acceptable width, a shirt of conservative cut and neutral color with an expensive tie, as well as shiny spotless shoes and a handkerchief in the pocket of a jacket. Men preferred double-breasted jackets by Armani or Hugo Boss with huge shoulder pads that, however, through the taboos, made the silhouette manlier. The impression could be softened with flowing textures of fabrics or narrow sparkling ties. This manner of dressing served as a symbol of ambition and expressed an internal life position.

In 1979, for the first time in history, a woman became the prime minister of Great Britain — Margaret Thatcher. From 1981 to 1989, the series “Dynasty” was broadcasted on television. The characters played by Linda Evans and Joanne Collins were the personification of the image of a prosperous woman. In 1988, the movie “Business Girl” appeared on the screens, in which actresses Melanie Griffith and Sigourney Weaver wore clothing in an office style. All this spurred the interest in women’s business clothes. The female yuppies also wore a fitted suit with emphasized square-built shoulders, a short skirt and a smart expensive blouse. The business woman’s suit was a kind of armor in her struggle for equal rights and duties with men in a career and in the life of society. Shoulder pads, borrowed from men’s fashion, made the impression of power and authority and the dream of emancipation to come to reality.

It should be mentioned that the cut of a business suit could be anything in strictness but not a classical one, in no case. A gorgeous image of a yuppie woman can be seen in the photos for the September issue of Harper’s Bazaar US, 1986, also in “Vogue” magazine in July/August, 1982.

Compared with the previous decade, skirt styles varied. Any length and width became possible. There was tulip skirt, layered skirt, skirt on a yoke, a bubble skirt, skirts with buttons, and trouser skirt. They were sewn straight or flared, with folds and without them, with cutouts and wrapovers.

Variety began to manifest in details, previously, having had rather limited forms. Fashion offered huge collars, which were finished with lace, frills and any other trim.

A rather interesting analogy can be cited with comparing yuppies of the 1980s with working women of approximately the same decade of the 19th century. In short, women of those days did all the work, up to the fact that, in the evening, they lighted the lanterns on streets, but, nevertheless, since the time of Napoleon, working women had no right to receive wages themselves —it was received exclusively by their husbands instead of them. With the development of industry and the growth of the urban population in the second half of the nineteenth century, changes in the social structure are associated. With tiny budgets of low- and medium-staged officials, technical workers and employees, a practical, but fashionable costume had become an urgent issue of everyday life. Therefore, the clothes were in dark colours. By the end of the 1870s, there was a skirt without train, which young girls were wearing for the street, and female workers preferred to wear it as everyday clothes. More Fashionable women began to decorate their dresses with starched collars of the male type, cuffs and dandy ties, stabbed with expensive brooches. Simplicity of a suit and modesty of trim symbolized independence and business life of a new social group. This helped the formation of a classic English set: a blouse, a skirt and a jacket. Tournure, which was introduced into fashion in the 1870s, briefly disappeared, and then returned. Thus, in 1880s fashion, duality appeared.

Emancipated women, striving for independence, either did not wear tournure at all, or wore small pads instead, while conservative women preferred old-fashioned designs that hampered their movement. The images of working women in shortened dresses of a simplified silhouette can be seen in the paintings of the salon painters (such as the Italian Giovanni Boldini (“Walking in the Park in Naples”, 1884), or James Tissot (“The Ball”, 1880; “On the Thames”, 1882) and the Impressionists (for example, as Auguste Renoir “Dance at Bougival”, 1883, or Manet “A Bar at the Folies-Bergère”, 1883). Working as housekeepers, flower girls, maid, and mastering “male” professions — such as journalism, women began to demand equality, and at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries the suffragists appeared in the United States of America and in Great Britain, whose movement is considered to be “first-wave feminism“. The “second-wave feminism” is considered as ideas and actions related to the women’s liberation movement, which began to develop since the 1960s and advocated the full legal and social equality of men and women. Completion of this stage fell on the late 1980s and influenced fashion and culture in the yuppie environment, where, as we found out, it was not accepted to emphasize gender differences. Was this an effect or a cause — is a topic for another conversation, more complex and controversial, and, probably, has much less to do with fashion for a costume.

80s fashion, as a whole, ceased to insist on a single product for everyone, and designers started off making clothes not for the whole community, but for an individual who chooses a certain style. The culture of yuppies is a good example, the first one of those we are going to get known later.

Fashion of childhood, thrown back in the 80s, to the melodies of half-forgotten television intros, of ones only shadows remained in memory today, looked back reanimating retro images and weaving them into the aesthetics of youth subcultures. Many of bright images of those days were born under the influence of the cult of a beautiful and healthy body, in the bosom of musical and dance styles, so the models of clothing resembled colourful collages. Mass and elitist, the past and the present intertwined on the “canvases”.

In the 1980s, success was achieved by those who possessed irony and could bring it into their creativity, transforming existent fashion ideas through leading them to grotesque. It was a decade of contrasts.

In the 1980s, the living classic of fashion of Yves Saint Laurent said a prophetic phrase that “we are shining a star which will soon be sunset, and only an accurate line and perfect cut will be able to save us”. The classic models of clothes that Yves Saint Laurent offered were flawlessly elegant, and the colour combinations were refined. In the 70s, the great couturier received many critical remarks about the proposed female tuxedo, but in the next decade his ideas were accepted. Trouser suits and tuxedos had been passing through a “rebirth” for the 80s.

Demonstrative consumer style made the name of a brand the determining factor in choosing clothes. It was so important that fashion-mongers ripped labels with the names of famous brands off from the inner side and changed them to the front side.

Haute couture was an orchestra performing an idle oratorio, and the conductor was Christian Lacroix. In his collections costumes were combined from different eras, Mr. Lacroix combined colours whimsically, textures and patterns. In the late 80s, Lacroix was one of the most desired couturiers. He opened his own couture house in 1987, and before that he worked at Jean Patou. About the style of Christian Lacroix, called “Neo- Baroque”, they said that, like street artists, he mixed up that entire he liked or simply caught his eye. However, haute couture seemed dead when Lacroix breathed new life into it in the 80s.

In the 1980s, a fever in fitness was acquired. The concern of people with their appearance grew into the cult of a beautiful body. The introduction of Lycra made it possible to spread the tight silhouette — leggings, dresses, skirts and bodies. In sports clothes, Lycra was used first by Willy Bogner, in fashionable clothes — by Norma Kamali in the USA and Azzedine Alaïa in France.

Alaïa became a famous designer in the 1980s as the creator of the sexiest clothes. In 1980, a picture of the Depeche Mode group in black leather suits with metal rivets appeared in many magazines. In 1985, he received a prize for the best collection of prêt- à-porter. In addition to leather and Lycra, Alaïa enjoyed working with jersey. His famous jersey dress-cases fitted the body like a second skin.

Success came to Thierry Mugler in 1979. His collection had an enormous impact on fashion. Structural models with accentuated broad shoulders, thin waists and rounded hips defined the silhouette of the 80’s. The models by Mugler were characterized by overt sexuality and cold sensuality.

Claude Montana created similar images — his models were inherent in androgynous sexuality. This thread passed through the fashion of the 1980s: the images were embodied by Grace Jones, Annie Lennox, Boy George, and Michael Jackson.

In the 80’s, Giorgio Armani’s career flourished. He was not only a talented creator of “expensive restraint”, but also a very successful entrepreneur. In 1981, the Italian designer played on the enthusiasm of elite for sporting lifestyle and the desire to look young at any age. A youth line “Emporio Armani” and “Armani Jeans” have been added to lines of clothing “Giorgio Armani” and “Armani Privé”.

Jean-Paul Gaultier used deliberate chaos and excessive dynamics of forms in his work, also saturated colour contrasts, and brought fashion ideas to absurdity or outright ugliness with the usage combination of incompatible pieces. The High-tech collection (autumn / winter 1980-1981), made in a hooligan style, introduced Gaultier among the recognized avant-garde artists of French fashion. The Dadaism collection spring / summer of 1983 was a real sensation which strengthened Gauthier’s fame as an unpredictable French couturier. This collection had the famous style of dresses cut like corsets. Collections of men’s clothing by Gautier became the most striking symbol of the tendency to rub out the boundaries between the sexes in the era of postmodernism. In 1987, he met with Madonna in Paris and joint in making stage costumes for her. Huge popularity of Madonna made the corset style of Gauthier world famous. In 1979 Jean-Paul Gaultier released the James Bond collection (spring-summer 1980) in which he presented mini skirts, leather shorts and waistcoats.

In 1983, Franco Moschino founded the eponymous brand. Collections created under the slogan “If you can not be elegant, become extravagant” were distinguished with bright colours, usage of logos as prints, and combinations of different materials in one outfit.

In 1984, Jean-Louis Dumas, CEO of Hermès International S.A., released the first model of the Birkin bag. At the women’s Dolls collection spring-summer 1986 models of Jean-Paul Gaultier came to the podium in black satin underwear and stockings. In the mid-1980s, Azzedine Alaïa created the famous tight-fitting dress with a cloak around her head for Grace Jones.

In Europe and the United States, Japanese designers such as Yohji Yamamoto, Issey Miyake, Kenzō Takada and Rei Kawakubo became popular. They questioned all the existing values. They offered clothes of geometric shapes, kimono sleeves, and sharp colour combinations. They created a baggy fashion hiding the body. That was their unique novelty, which had never been in Western fashion before. Priority was the feeling of comfort and freedom.

Issey Miyake became the first fashion designer from the country of the rising sun who was recognized in Paris. He released his debut collection in 1963. The very first models created by Miyake shocked the public. It was difficult to classify him as a follower of Western fashion, but he could hardly be called a standard oriental designer either. His clothes were fundamentally new. From the Japanese costume traditions, the designer borrowed the desire for comfort and universalism, as well as the principle of multilayeredness and a free, wide cut. Miyake is fascinated with such geometric figures as a rectangle, a square and a circle. This fashion designer likes to use padding, as well as corrugated fabrics, to create origami clothing, which consists of folds and bends. Miyake is a fierce opponent of fasteners (zippers, straps, etc); in his opinion, they fetter the movement.

When Miyake develops new clothes, he never thinks about fashion trends. He prefers to create something of his own. Although his work influences fashion and work of many other designers. For example, in 1986 he opened a store in Tokyo that he called “Permanent”. It sold the clothes of the same name line of the Miyake’s brand, and there it was possible to find the goods both from the latest collection and from earlier ones. Issey puts his work above time and fashion, so his style is close to many artists. His admirers include Miles Davis — a famous jazz musician, and Robert Rauschenberg — an artist who works in the direction of pop art.

In 1988, Issey launched the work of his new brand, which was named “Pleats Please” and in 1993 brought his owner the Order of the Legion of Honour, as well as a doctorate at the Royal College of Art in London. In creation of clothes, a neoteric technology of pleating materials was used. Issey Miyake himself invented it. The designer offered to put the ready clothes between two paper layers, and then press it with using heat. After this procedure, the fabric retained its folds, and it turned out an original, beauteous and practical product. These clothes did not need to be ironed, but one could regularly wash in a typewriter. These models were perfect for taking them on a trip.

The name of Kenzō Takada is attributed to appearance of elements of Japanese national costume in the Western world of postmodernism and the fashion to the Japanese style.  By the end of the 70’s Kenzō’s shop turned into one of the most fashionable places in the French capital. In the 80’s, he amazed the audience with his enchanting fashion shows. For example, once, in 1981, the designer surprised spectators with covering the whole square of Place des Victoires with a canvas and strewing it with sequins. The fashion designer did not leave any landmark place in all of Paris without his attention. Next to the castle in Bordeaux, Kenzō installed tents; he decorated the Pont Neuf Bridge with thousands of flowers. Catwalks were held on the hill of Trocadéro, in the famous building of exchange, the Parisian circus, the D’Orsay museum, and even the train station.

In 1983, Kenzō announced the launch of the men’s clothing line of his brand. All models were made in exalted colours, and generously decorated with all kinds of patterns. In combination with striped trousers, Kenzō offered wearing a severely cut jacket, strewn with colourful flowers. In 1984, Kenzō Takada was awarded the honourary Order of Arts and Literature from the French Government, and was solemnly knighted, and in 1988 the first flavour was produced under the brand “Kenzō”.

Rei Kawakubo is known as art director of Comme des Garçons. In 1980, the Japanese designer moved to Paris. In 1981 she presented her collection at the Fashion Week. Clothes of asymmetric cut were sewn from black, gray and beige fabrics. The collection received mixed reviews: some critics called it “the apotheosis of absurdity”, and others — “a blow to the stamps”. In 1982, Rei Kawakubo became a member of the Chambre Syndicale du Prêt-à-Porter des Couturiers et des Créateurs de Mode (Trade association of ready-to-wear of couturiers and fashion designers). In 1983, Rei Kawakubo was awarded the “Mainichi Newspaper Award” from the newspaper “Mainichi”. In 1987, “Journal du Textile” called her the best designer.

The creative position of Rei Kawakubo is rejection of generally accepted standards. The designer does not have affection for a certain form, material, type of fabric. Models of clothing created by Rei Kawakubo in different seasons are very different from each other. The designer’s features are elements of deconstructionism: uneven hemlines, slanting seams, elongated sleeves, inverted pockets, deformed fabrics and so on. Rei Kawakubo admits that she hates symmetry.

Images of the collections by Rei Kawakubo can be romantic and tough at once. Dome call the designer’s work “antimode”, but others, for instance, Ann Demeulemeester and Martin Marcel, talk about her “exclusivity in the fashion world”. According to Rei Kawakubo, her work is creating the things that have never existed.

Different brands were popular in different social classes. Many popular designers of the last decades of the 20th century were born in its first half, and significant, right steps on the way to success began mainly in the 60-70s. Based on the above, we can see that their ideas were readily accepted in the 1980s — in a decade of contrasts, when the world was wanted something new. The ideas of Japanese designers, famous European couturiers perfectly fitted into the aesthetics of the new decade, about which we will keep on talking.

www.hilaryvatslav.com