1980s Fashion Research

Fashion in the 1980s:

The People Who Influenced Fashion

Background and Introduction:

“The point is ladies and gentlemen that greed, for lack of a better word, is good.” This quote from Gordon Gecko in the 1987 movie Wall Street sums up the1980s decade. After 1960s and 1970s, the 1980s was filled with hardworking and serious consumers. By the 1980s people were tired of the 1970s political discontent. They wanted a change and wanted to start feeling better about themselves and feel good about their country again . The decade was filled with shoulder pads and suits, ripped sweatshirts and t-shirts, designer brands, and fingerless gloves. Women wanted to look sexy and feminine, strong and in control while men wanted to be look masculine,

Though she was in a position of power, she chose an ultra- feminine look that fashion designers wanted women to wear. She seemed almost to represent a relic from the past: the traditional role for women as a decoration to show her husband’s wealth and power . The preppy look that reflected fashions from the 1950s such as penny loafers that both men and women wore. In a yuppies downtime, men and women would where cotton turtle necks, cable-knit sweaters, and polo shirts that helped symbolized a style that represented power, status, and wealth even on a yuppie who was out of the office . However, many power dressing yuppies lost their extravagant lifestyle with the 1987 Stock Market Crash known as Black Friday. This was the biggest drop in the stock market since the crash of 1929 that started the Great Depression. Luckily this didn’t cause another depression but the power dressing fashion had changed. The aggressive look of the power dresser softened with shoulder pads that were decreasing in popularity and men's suits became slimmer in line. The overall look of a business suit carried on through the decade and found its way into the