Those Crazy 80s!

Pile of pictures from 1980s Elle magazines

It's official (has been for a while)...80s fashions are now considered vintage. Love it or hate it, it's a fact and it's time to embrace the carnival. The 80s represented SO many different styles and a lot of it was over the top. Colors and patterns out did themselves, it was a cartoon world...Crayola and neon...animal prints... optical effects... bold graphics.

Classics turned surreal with exaggerated bows and nautical collars, miniature top hats and monstrous ruffles. Even the "back to the country" looks of Ralph Lauren and Laura Ashley were sometimes more costume than fashion (I mean that in a good way, I think...). There were spikes and corsets from the punk movement. Killer high heels accompanied school girl skirts and avant guard layers, swathed the arty crowd.

For evening...beads, embroidery and sequins galore, women wore mini cocktail dresses to black tie events and sometimes even modified menswear. Oh yeah.... androgynous was totally hip. The power suit with it's ever dramatic shoulder pads are now considered iconic...designers like Thierry Mugler and Claude Montana did tailored with a twist.

...and accessories, if you can believe it were even more wild and wonderful, especially costume jewelry. Earrings were huge and so were necklaces, plasic was often the material of choice. Wild patchwork handbags were the rage.

Patchwork PLEATHER handbag

The 80s had a viral love affair with vintage and designers looked to just about every era for inspiration from sweet Victorian to ultra Mod. With such strong interest in vintage, hats made a comeback which made me a very happy camper (that's when I did my millinery training).

80s fashions aren't everyones cup of tea but you must admit they are fun and certainly interesting and mind you it's not all ugly prom dresses and giant shoulders. Like any other era there are some real gems, keep an open mind and apply the "little goes a long way" rule you might be surprised :)

Til next time, best to all

Melody