The Glorious Excess of 80s Style
When we think back to the fashion trends of the 1980s, vivid images of big, voluminous hairstyles, brightly colored clothing with bold and dynamic prints, and an overall aura of vibrancy and excess instantly come to mind. This iconic decade was defined by a general sense of flamboyance, confidence, and a desire for self-expression through inventive style choices. Many of the most quintessential aspects of 80s fashion actually originated in Britain, profoundly shaped by the creativity of local boutiques, the influence of British music acts, as well as maverick designers who were not afraid to think outside the box.
The over-the-top, bigger-is-better aesthetic that permeated 80s style was cultivated in the clubs, streets, and shops of London, Manchester, and Liverpool. Youth fashion cultures like New Romantics and New Wave originated in the UK and heavily informed the eye-catching 80s looks that exploded internationally. British boutique owners like Sheila Rock in London identified emerging trends and created their own daring designs that pushed boundaries. Punk rock culture also continued influencing high fashion with its embrace of provocative materials like leather, metal spikes, and ripped fabrics.
On the music front, British pop acts embodied these daring sensibilities. Bands like Culture Club, Duran Duran, and A Flock of Seagulls not only created era-defining synth pop hits but became fashion icons in their own right. Their bold gender-bending ensembles of makeup, big hair, jewels, and vivid outfits splashed across MTV defined 80s glamour. Many quirky British newcomers like Boy George became instant superstars specifically for their idiosyncratic, experimental styles versus simply musical talent. Big hair British bands also popularised extreme bleached, crimped hairstyles that soared to new heights.
Equally influential were British designers emerging from art and fashion colleges to launch their own labels. Vivienne Westwood, BodyMap, Katharine Hamnett and others gained notoriety for irreverent streetwise designs that blended edgy sensibilities with high fashion. Katharine Hamnett’s bold oversized blazers accentuated shoulders while pioneer Mary Quant resurrected her mini skirt. Design graduates unleashed waves of vibrant, avant-garde club-wear that celebrated individuality over tradition. London’s experimental design scene nurtured the daring DIY spirit that exploded as 80s style euphoria.
The UK’s thriving youth subcultures, indie music, and renegade designers fostered an exuberant, unapologetic attitude of creative daring. Trends magnified sexuality, vibrancy, wealth and fun in a celebratory way. Although money and labels became flashpoints of status and aspiration, that hunger for originality, pushing boundaries, and demanding attention never faded. Britain’s influence as 80s style incubator is undeniable. The country’s boutiques, bands, and design colleges unleashed era-defining trends that embodied that spirit of hyper-expressive cultural euphoria.
Power Dressing Conveyed Authority
One of the most distinctive fads during the 1980s was the emphasis on “power dressing,” which involved sporting padded, structured shoulder pads to create a triangle silhouette, sharper and more angular clothing cuts, and a palette of dark neutrals and primary colors.
Power dressing emerged as a way for women to capture attention and project an image of authority and capability in the workplace through their fashion choices. The idea was to accentuate the shoulders to create an imposing inverted triangle shape that conveyed clout and confidence. Vivienne Westwood and Katherine Hamnett were two pioneering British designers who strongly advocated for power dressing, believing fashion could be an impactful vehicle for female empowerment and self-expression. Their influential designs helped propel padded shoulders and bold tailoring into the mainstream.
Westwood’s confrontational, eclectic sensibilities from her punk rock roots were channeled into power suits with strong architectural shapes. Hamnett also focused on augmenting the shoulders, creating oversized tailored jackets with accentuated shoulder pads up to 24 inches wide. Both designers favoured primary colours and clean lines to amplify the commanding presence of their garments. Their creations were embraced as the quintessential professional attire for aspiring female executives and politicians.
Margaret Thatcher’s penchant for Westwood and Hamnett’s shoulder-padded suits solidified the quintessential “power woman” image. The designers proved fashion could boost women’s self-perception as leaders, not simply followers of trends.
Their disruptive, feminist energy helped reshape workplace attire and gender messaging. Power dressing came to symbolise women boldly conquering traditional gender roles and the corporate boys’ club. Westwood and Hamnett’s forward designs enabled fashion to amplify women’s equality and ambition when it mattered most.
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Miniskirts Paired With Leggings for Style and Warmth
The 1980s witnessed the resurgence of the miniskirt, which had originally risen to popularity in the free-spirited 1960s. British women eagerly adopted this shorter hemline, often coupling their mini skirts with brightly coloured leggings or tights to provide coverage and warmth during cooler weather while still allowing them to show some leg. The pairing of miniskirts with leggings became one of the decade’s most iconic combinations.
Legendary British designer Mary Quant is largely credited with thrusting the miniskirt back into the spotlight in the 1980s after having helped originally popularise it two decades prior. Quant felt it was time to bring back the mini, and so she unveiled a new line of minis for her clothing label. British pop stars showcased Quant’s minis both onstage and off, immediately igniting renewed demand on the UK high streets. Soon miniskirts were being flaunted everywhere from clubs to office spaces as women embraced the leg-baring trend again.
Patterned leggings or tights, especially in bright neon colours, became the perfect accent to miniskirts while allowing wearers to stay warm. British girls and young women especially loved pairing minis with leggings for both day and night. Leggings enabled being playful with eye-catching prints and colours on top while keeping covered on bottom.
The miniskirt’s major comeback in 1980s Britain let a new generation of women dictate their own fashion rules. Its popularity proved that women were now dressing to please themselves, not just for male approval. The mini encapsulated the rebellious, provocative side of 80s style. Thanks to Quant’s update, it remained the decade’s quintessential leg-revealing item.
Vibrant Neon Colours and Wild Prints
No discussion of 1980s style is complete without mentioning the explosion of dynamic neon shades and wild, creative prints that dominated the era. Clothing and accessories splashed in fluorescent pink, green, orange and yellow hues became a popular way to make a bold stylistic statement.
British fashion visionaries like Jasper Conran and Zandra Rhodes led the way in terms of crafting clothing covered in bright, eye-catching prints, often drawing inspiration from art, music, culture, and other facets of popular media for their designs. Conran and Rhodes both incorporated high-voltage neon colours into otherwise conventional silhouettes like dresses, suits, and separates. Their use of unnaturally bright fluorescent textiles stood out in a sea of more muted tones. Pieces covered in abstract neon shapes and patterns added vibrancy.
The designers also pioneered bold graphic prints ranging from paisley and florals to geometric shapes. Conran adapted motifs from Ancient Greek vase art while Rhodes found inspiration in travel, nature and textile arts. These dynamic prints amplified the energy and excitement of the era.
Both vivid neon and artistic prints perfectly encapsulated the zeitgeist of the 80s. They signalled a new wave of fashion that threw off formal conventions in favour of self-expression and vibrancy. Conran and Rhodes demonstrated how dynamic textile design could reflect the cultural craving for energy and fun. Their innovative use of colour, pattern and silhouette made them style visionaries who uniquely captured the decade’s essence.
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Punk Influences: Leather, Studs and Rips
The anti-establishment punk culture movement that began in the 1970s continued to permeate mainstream fashion in the following decade. Leather jackets, metal studs, chain accessories, ripped fabrics, and unconventional pairings are all hallmarks of the punk-rock image that greatly informed ’80s style, adding a raw, rebellious edge.
British punk bands such as The Sex Pistols and The Clash inspired hordes of youths not just in the domain of music but became trendsetters ushering in a new counter-culture, anti-fashion look reliant on shock value. Band members like Sid Vicious and Johnny Rotten flaunted ragged clothing, heavy boots, eclectic accessories and extreme hairstyles. Their outlandish outfits both on and off stage screamed rebellion and anarchy.
Both bands helped catapult the provocative punk aesthetic into the mainstream. Leather biker jackets, tartan plaids, and ripped t-shirts became closet staples for teens. Spiked collars, choke chains, and dark dramatic makeup completed the edgy punk uniform. This bold, unconventional style resonated widely as a form of self-expression and protest against the establishment. It signified disillusionment and dissatisfaction with the status quo.
Even as punk faded, its imprint remained forever etched in fashion’s DNA. The punk mentality of questioning tradition, remixing influences and demanding attention still drives modern fashion rule-breakers today. Its avant-garde spirit lives on.
British Boutiques Offered Trendy Threads
Local British boutiques also played a monumental role in determining the 1980s aesthetic landscape. Legendary shops like Kensington Market in London and Afflecks Palace in Manchester became go-to gathering places for artists, creatives, musicians and style mavens wishing to obtain unique garments not available on the high street.
These stores traded in vintage, avant-garde and underground styles allowing patrons immense creative freedom to craft their own distinctive looks by mixing and matching items. Shoppers could curate entirely novel ensembles from the one-of-a-kind pieces. Owners like Tommy Roberts of Kensington Market scoured their own homegrown youth fashion subcultures as well as international influences to stock cutting-edge and affordable designs. Ripping up traditional retail conventions, these shops nurtured eccentric personal aesthetics versus following trends.
Patrons experienced the latest underground music in the boutiques while sifting through racks for customised leather jackets, reworked vintage dresses, or DIY-fashioned accessories. Nothing was deemed too weird or outrageous. These bastions of experimental style provided space for youth and outsiders to shape the visual language. Kensington Market and Afflecks Palace democratised access to the avant-garde. They cultivated an irreverent but empowering spirit of fashion independence.
The boutiques’ open-minded ethos of embracing individual creativity and self-expression above all perfectly matched the freewheeling energy of 1980s style. They offered a chance for alternate identities to flourish.
Do you remember trying to solve the Rubik's cube whilst dressed in your He-Man pyjamas? Did you try to make 'cool' sound effects with your mouth like Jones from Police Academy? Or maybe you swooned over Scott and Charlene's (aka Jason and Kylie's) wedding of the year? If that sounds like you, there's no mistaking you were a child of the eighties. Rev up your DeLorean, switch on the Flux Capacitor and take a cruise back throguh the decade that made you the person you are today.
Reliving the Glorious Excess
The 1980s will forever be remembered as a glorious age of bold sartorial statements, rippling creativity and the desire for full self-expression through one’s appearance. The decade was defined by its daring exploration of silhouette, colour, texture and print that broke free from tradition. Many quintessential aspects of 80s style actually originated in Britain, from gravity-defying big hair held up by handfuls of mousse to unnaturally bright neon spandex and angular power shoulders.
Local British boutiques, punk rock culture, and envelope-pushing designers like Vivienne Westwood and Mary Quant cultivated these groundbreaking trends. Their innovative designs captured the cultural craving for vibrancy, fun and pushing boundaries. The UK incubated these aesthetics that perfectly embodied the zeitgeist.
Trends like bouffant perms, artistic prints, studded leather and fluorescent minis first took shape on British soil. Musicians like Boy George and Sid Vicious pioneered new forms of self-expression that blurred gender norms and rebelled against conformity. By boldly questioning conventions, the maximalist 1980s achieved unprecedented euphoria through fashion.
Even today, modern designers continue finding inspiration from the most expressive British designs of the 1980s. The era’s aesthetic daring, youthful irreverence and hunger for standing out still resonates. The 1980s were truly revolutionary in nurturing unbridled creativity, vibrancy and confidence through groundbreaking fashion born in Britain.
