Why are the 80s back this fall?

That's what I keep reading. Delias.com (which used to be really cool when I was in high school but is now identical to all the other vendors selling cheap, thin clothing) has joyously announced "we're doing the 80's, ladies!" A few examples:

http://delias.com/cat/html/item.cepl?c=tops&XRF=c2&i=0408L

http://delias.com/cat/html/item.cepl?c=shoes&XRF=c2&i=14664

http://delias.com/cat/html/item.cepl?c=tops&XRF=c2&i=0408U

All I ask is...why?!?!?!

Probably because fashion goes in
circles and the designers just decided
to bring back some of the stuff.

I hope that awful overstyled hair from
that era doesn't come back, or at least
that many people will have enough
taste to avoid it.

That doesn't look like what I remember from the '80s but then I was mostly interested in work apparel back then. I really like '80s suits and dresses. I know most people think this is crazy but I think the shoulder pads and longer skirts were much more flattering to the average female figure than some of the stuff that is out there now.

I think as long as no one starts wearing fluorescent colors or those hideous stirrup pants...I'll be all right.

Oh gosh, stirrups. Yuck. They were a repeat from the sixties too. One recycled look that should have stayed in the bin.

Lyris.
Aren't you 22 years old? You were like 7 years old in the 80s! I'm 27 and I don't even remember the 80s that well except for the music, because they always play music from the 70s and 80s on the radio.

What I do recall of the fashion of the 80s was that it was cheap and obnoxious. Bright cheap looking clothes, mohawk haircuts -(including on women)-, big hair on male rock bands, big earrings, etc. I guess it wasn't the most stylish of decades. I'm sure their was stylish fashion as well in the 80s but the stuff for young people back then wasn't the best.

Some of the music was ok though but there is at least some good music in every decade.

Why? Because they just finished doing the '60s and '70s retro, so now it's time for the '80s again, of course. I read once that fashion repeats itself in twenty-year cycles, so being in the 2000s now, it looks like we're about due for another dose of '80s.
*shrugs* I was a kid then, so I'm finding the resurrection of '80s toys like Care Bears, My Little Pony, He-man, Strawberry Shortcake, etc. way cooler than any cheesy fashions they could resurrect :-) .

[QUOTE=tina m] Lyris.
Aren't you 22 years old? You were like 7 years old in the 80s! I'm 27 and I don't even remember the 80s that well except for the music, because they always play music from the 70s and 80s on the radio.

What I do recall of the fashion of the 80s was that it was cheap and obnoxious. Bright cheap looking clothes, mohawk haircuts -(including on women)-, big hair on male rock bands, big earrings, etc. I guess it wasn't the most stylish of decades. I'm sure their was stylish fashion as well in the 80s but the stuff for young people back then wasn't the best.

Some of the music was ok though but there is at least some good music in every decade.
[/QUOTE]

Unfortunately, Tina, some things are so bad as to stick in the mind forever: scary Mrs. Pirana from the 5th grade, the Challenger, 80s fashion. I was born in '81 so I remember well the late 80s and the early 90s when the big-hair era was still on the way out.

I think that shoulder pads in women's
suits are severe and mannish looking
but that's just my opininion.

Tina, I've seen pictures from 80s mags
where the models are flatteringly elegant
and put-together (and think of the late
Princess Diana, but maybe such people
fall into an entirely different class) but
that seems to have been the higher end
of fashion. There was indeed much
tackiness, cheapness and excess in
clothes and hair for younger people
particularly, as you say. And I've been
seeing more mohawk-type haircuts
lately...

LOL Lyris! I love the 80s! I want to wear leg warmers again!

And you're right... I remember when Delia's was good stuff. But maybe we're too old to know good stuff anymore. I suppose 80s retro is still cutting edge. Sort of.

I was born in 88, so I have no recollection of the 80s at all. I don't get why the retro clothes never look like the original fashions. I wish that shellsuits were never invented though. If the twenty year cycle is true then we will be subjected to them in a few years time. NNNNNNOOOoooo!!!! I'm more than old enough to remember them.

[QUOTE=enfys] I was born in 88
[/QUOTE]

<----- Feels old.

[QUOTE=SuperGrover] [QUOTE=enfys] I was born in 88
[/QUOTE]

<----- Feels old.
[/QUOTE]

Ah, come on. You can't be that old. If you were old you wouldn't be able to remember the 80s, because your memory would have gone. Probably. Unless you've got a really good memory. How good is your memory?

SG *isn't* that old, and neither am I....but yes, the 15-year-olds among us make 20-somethings feel ancient But I think we know deep down we're not. Now my great-grandmother who is 97 and too senile to talk about, on the other hand.....

Well, I am old but I can still remember the '80s and I think fashion wise that was my favorite decade. It was the first one where I could actually afford the clothes. I have really hated the resurgence of '60s and '70s stuff, probably for the same reason that all you youngsters hate the '80s--I had to wear all that stuff in high school and it looked dumb in retrospect. To me Princess Diana epitomizes the look of the decade. And maybe Linda Evans and some of the Dynasty ladies (although Joan Collins was too over the top for me). Also Victoria Principal and Linda Gray. They always looked great.

If you look at the higher end, business end stuff from back then it was really very nice. The "dress for success" principal was coined during that decade and everyone really dressed up. Looking sloppy and casual was considered really bad. Then came casual Fridays that gradually went to casual all week. I remember once when the a/c went off in my building that we were not allowed to take off our panty hose (the CEO made a special decree), even though the temperature was over 100 degrees! Now they tell me that no one even wears hose anymore (imagine that!) but I don't have to go into the office much so it doesn't affect me either way. I personally hope that more formal business attire comes back in. I think it was a much better atmosphere to work in when everyone worried a bit about how they looked.

[QUOTE=demodoll] If you look at the higher end, business end stuff from back then it was really very nice. The "dress for success" principal was coined during that decade and everyone really dressed up. Looking sloppy and casual was considered really bad. Then came casual Fridays that gradually went to casual all week...
I personally hope that more formal business attire comes back in. I think it was a much better atmosphere to work in when everyone worried a bit about how they looked.
[/QUOTE]

Dress for success? Being judged upon your
appearance? Having your comfort limited and
your individuality undermined? Out upon these
ideas! Let the individuals have their freedom.
So it's not enough to do the work, but you
also have to wear what another tells you? Far
from being comfortable working in such an atmosphere, I would feel stifled by it. Down
with needless rules. What's next, going back
to making men men come to work with
nooses around their collars? No thanx,
Demodoll.
I would feel

I suspect that like it or not that is exactly what you are going to see happening over the next few years. I lived through the '70s with casual everywhere and everyone dressing down because it was fashionable and being sloppy and generally being "individuals." I think right now it is fashion to be casual and because people get bored with anything, the pendulum will swing back the other way and a more formal look will be in fashion. There is nothing wrong with trying to look your best and I personally feel much better about everything when I am dressed up. That is just me. It doesn't mean that is true for anyone else. I think having pride in my appearance and enjoying the pretty clothes I was wearing made me a better employee than perhaps I am now wearing shorts and flip flops (it could also be that after 25 years I am sick of working). Again, that is just how I am -- I certainly won't presume to dictate what anyone else should wear.

I graduated from college in 1978 and went straight into the professional world. I had never worn much beyond jeans and college girl clothes because that was fashionable. I quickly learned to dress very differently in the working world and found that I really liked wearing pretty suits and dresses with heels. I got lots of compliments which I never had in my jeans. I guess maybe because I am real tall I just look better in dress clothes.

Whatever, I believe that the casual look of the last few years will begin to change for a more formal look and yes, I think you may even see ties and white starched shirts return too. That just seems to be the way the cycle runs. You may say you will never conform to that but I find that most middle class people are eventually forced to conform to some degree because we have to eat.

Well, there's nothing wrong with dressing
up if you feel good about it. But making
you honor a dress code where that is not
essential for the job, that's a different
story.

Maybe people who were ridiculed on their clothes in school are the ones who're all for dress codes. . . or maybe I just really like the look of suits and uniforms. . . but I think dress codes are a good thing, in a structured environment like work or school. People are less likely to be ridiculed or looked down on over clothing that way, and less competition over who's best-dressed or who's got more money to spend on keeping up with fashion. People like me, who have very little to no concern over fashion and even less money to put towards designer clothing can actually benefit from dress codes. I wish there had been one when I was in school, actually. . .

Well, Kurenko, when I was in middle
school in the early 90s, designer
shoes were all the rage (think, Reebok
Pumps, Nike Airs etc). They were so
expensive that my parents wouldn't
buy them for me. My peers teased me
for my "cheap" shoes. Nonetheless, I
would always have rather dealt with
it than had grownups "solve" the
problem for me by dictating what I can
and can't wear. The thought of school
uniforms was always, you could say,
more degrading and distasteful to me
than some teasing.

I have to agree with Demodoll. People in general looked better in the mid 80s. I would much rather do business with a well dressed man or woman than someone in clothes 12 sizes to big or way way to tight and skirts up to who knows where on someone older than 6 years old. I also think we had a little more self respect than people have now.
Think about it if you look good you generally feel good too. I also " came of age" in the eighties. By the way I am 48 so I've already lived through the low rise, flared, belly hanging out 70s and I will be glad to see it creep back under the rocks again.

I see where you're coming from, Katrin,
but let me put a few things into
perspective. For one thing, not everyone
is as sloppy as you suggest. Some choose
to be, while others (like me, more or less)
wear jeans and t-shirts, and still others
wear "business casuals", even if their
workplace allows jeans. And there are
still those who (whether by dress code or
by choice) wear suits and ties. I am an
easygoing guy and would hate to have
to dress up just so I can go to work in
an average workplace. For me, "self
respect" means making my own decision
about how I'm going to dress, if that
doesn't make a significant impact on the
job I do. And for my line of work
(education), I think there is absolutely
nothing wrong with totally casual
clothes. And I would say the same thing
for the mainstream business world in
many cases, though here, "business
casual" or even ties are more likely to
be required. When you do business
with someone, I think you should care
about that person's skills, honesty and
relevance to your relationship. If it were
up to me, I'd call caring too much about
professional dress UNprofessional.
Anyway, most of the people I know are
not particularly sloppy, and whatever
the ups and downs of their style, often
look IMO more natural than many people
in the 1980s.

Sorry to get so controversial. I'm not
trying to scream at you or anything, just
to make a point about something I feel
strongly about. There is nothing wrong
with dressing up (though uncomfortable
ties are one of the most useless inventions
ever) but it should be optional in most
jobs.

No offense taken, Duke. Hell I live in Florida so casual is the way of life here. I just feel like some people should take a really LONG look in the mirror before they leave for the day (sometimes me included). Thanks for responding. I'm new to this so I hope you aren't offended by my little tirade.











i

Not at all. It's good we can discuss different
opinions without animosity.