20 Fashions That Prove The 1980s Was The Greatest Decade

There are two ways to view the fashion choices that people in the West

made during the 1980s. You could deem them as something to be left in the past;

the crazy, over the top faux pas of a richer and less responsible society.

Or you could see them as something to be admired: colourful,

artistic expressions of individuality that should be remembered with

a great deal of fondness.

Whatever your opinion on the matter, the title of this post has already

revealed which side of the 80s fashion fence we’ve fallen on, and

on a site that celebrates the 1980s in all its amazing glory, that probably

shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. So without further ado, below

are 20 fashions that absolutely prove, once and for all, that the 1980s was

definitely the greatest decade there has ever been.1980s, a decade

that has been making a comeback of sorts around the aesthetic

edges for the last few years. But while in previous seasons,

its re-emergence was tempered by assorted other decades

and influences, it has now reached critical mass.

Shoulders were the body part of choice, most often inflated to

mega proportions (see Marc Jacobs, which even included a pouf-skirted

party dress). There were a lot of power furs and leathers, at Givenchy,

Balmain — which, along with Gucci and Versace, also played logo-a-go-go.

It was as if everyone had taken a wrong turn on the Warner Bros.

lot and ended up in the costume department from “Bonfire of the Vanities.”

And it was all set to an ’80s soundtrack: Terence Trent D’Arby and Sade at Ferragamo, “Tainted Love” and“Take On Me” at Balmain,

Carly Simon’s “Let the River Run” from “Working Girl” at Thom Browne.

Julie de Libran, the creative director of Sonia Rykiel, even

reconstituted Bananarama (live!) for her label’s 50th-anniversary show.

With the requisite stonewashed denim (Miu Miu), lots of neon (Prada, Versace)

and stirrup pants (Tom Ford) to match.

I guess we should have expected it, given the current conjunction

of political and cultural events, all of which seem to steer a designer’s thoughts naturally to the go-go decade.

GABRIELLA