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?!?!?!

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.

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

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 :-) .

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...

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.

SuperGrover wrote: enfys wrote: I was born in 88 <----- Feels old.

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?

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.

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.

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. . .