Style Decade: The 1980s

The 1980s, the decade in which I came into this world, seems to be the decade everybody loves to hate. The music, most people will claim, was not music at all. The politicians were selfish, sleazy and corrupt, or so cynics say. Everything from the boxy, horrible cars to the vulgar greed culture is largely maligned as being representative of a decade of waste and ugliness that we should best learn from, and then try to forget.

It is also common wisdom that the 1980s were ten years of a style vacuum. Someone I know mentioned earlier on in the year; ‘Why is 1980s clothing suddenly fashionable? It was bad enough the first time round.’ When I was pondering this statement recently it got me to thinking about the oft forgotten benefits and high points of 1980s fashions.

For women it was an era in which outfits turned masculine. No one will forget the shoulder padded jackets, the trouser suits and the shorter hair styles; the Vogue covers presented less feminine women and it was certainly an era of male-inspired female empowerment. Margaret Thatcher, the first female Prime Minister was the figurehead for a generation of women who, in politics, work and even fashion seemed to live by the maxim: “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.”

The diverting change in women’s fashion was all too noticeable, and it is to that revolution that the 1980s owes its reputation in fashion. For men it was a little different. If the 1960s and 1970s represented a change in style from formal to informal, the 1980s represented a return to traditional styles.

Formality wasn’t the only thing that the 1980s encouraged, but also, a cultivated sobriety of dress. Whereas the previous decade had been about contemporary cuts of suit, with flared trousers and oversized lapels, the 1980s tailoring saw a return to classic shapes and straight leg trousers. After the gluttonous fat tie of the 1970s, the 1980s tie slimmed down drastically, and patterns were more subtle and classic; gone were the psychedelic kippers and in came slim stripes, polka dots and Hermes patterns.

Shirts no longer had absurdly large collars and the cutaway collar, one of the most formal, became popular again. Jeans, recently indigo and flared, returned to the straight and slim-fits in stone washes. If it weren’t for the difference in hair styles, it would be difficult to tell between a gent from 1985 and a gent from 2005; classicism is ageless.

There was the odd peculiarity in more casual dress; jumpers seemed to be oversized, and it was popular for one’s shirt to be baggy. However, the style of the film American Psycho, filmed in 2000, shows how in 1985 men were wearing clothing in a style which today would be considered Square Mile chic. White collared cornflower-blue shirts, Hermes ties and pinstripe suits; only the 1980s technology gave away the period.

If you want to relive that classic 1980s formality, look out for bold stripe shirts, narrow ties and braces. Conveniently, all this is available nearly everywhere. Now who would have thought that 80s materialism would eventually inspire recycling?

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Shopping Vintage Clothing

I love using eBay. It’s such a wonderful world that has been opened up; the virtual portal into the salable leftovers of other peoples lives. Antiques, used picture frames, old toys and jewellery; the internet’s largest Aladdin’s cave is one of my favourite places to go for interesting and unique things.

It also reminds me of the ability of one person to see value in something that another has ceased to recognise as valuable. Vintage clothing for example is an area of second hand goods that is represented by a perfect economy of buyer and seller; used goods are sold by someone who views cash as a fair exchange. And the best thing about it? Nothing is thrown away and something is recycled.

There are limits to this Utopian market. Firstly, I would not advise the purchase of second-hand underwear. As ridiculous as the advice seems, it is illustrative of the sheer amount of unnecessary second-hand rubbish that people offer for sale.

Secondly, I would not advise the pursuit of assembling entirely vintage outfits. It can be costly and impractical to do this as it could take months of searching for appropriate pieces. I would advise, from a style point of view, to search the vintage market for pieces one cannot find in the ready-to-wear section of the high street. Vintage is, for example, a great alternative to expensive designer accessories and luxury goods. Standout accessory items like sunglasses and belts, especially if the belts are made using materials that are now contraband in manufacture, can be fantastic buys.

There are certain items, like vintage shoes, which I cannot advocate nor condemn; you should approach them on a case by case basis and always ask yourself what you expect from what you are buying.

Items available in vintage clothing shops are not junk. They are assessed for their wearability. I am interested in vintage ties and I rarely come across imperfect ties; they are simply worn with age, or are a little faded. This only adds to their character and charm.

Not every piece of vintage clothing is worth the money and the apparent ‘bargain’ of purchasing second-hand can be illusory when, in a week or so, the item begins to show the negative side of aging. However, if something is old and it’s still around, if it’s looked after properly, it’s likely to be around for some time yet. Compare what you find in your local vintage store or on eBay to what you can buy new in the shop; strict price comparisons are a little unfair, but it is well to know what is out there that competes with the second-hand product you are interested in.

Here is a short list of some of the best bargains to look for in vintage clothing.

1. Vintage suit

Suits that are made now for high-street shoppers are made cheaply and quickly and materials are not what they were. You can sometimes pick up a premium quality suit, in very good condition, from such illustrious outfitters as Gieves & Hawkes and Acquascutum for under £150. When you consider the workmanship, material and cut, the issue of whether to buy is a no-brainer. Even if the measure is a little out, it’s a suit worthy of a little tailoring.

2. Ties

I wear vintage ties all the time. On an auction website or in a vintage shop, they can cost as little as £4 or £5 and yet, the quality of the silk is always very high. I buy vintage because the high street has a shortage of ties of a narrower width in stripes and classic patterns. An old tie also has the stylish advantage of individualism; I never see anyone wearing anything like my tie.

3. Male jewellery

I’m not referring to unhygienic metal piercings. Cuff links, tie-pins, tie-clips and rings are the bejewelled accessories to which I allude. Vintage versions of these things are just, generally speaking, so much more elegant and stylish than cheap high-street options which are in some cases, when it comes to football tie-pins, novelty cuff links and tacky sovereign rings, genuinely depressing.

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Timeless Appeal of Black and White

Black and white is so simple. One is the very apex of colour, the other the complete absence of colour. The basic art of sartorial monochrome was certainly one of the most influential fashion movements of the 20th century, and it seems like designers and the public can’t get enough of the penguin palette. (more…)

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Leather Jacket Choices

It has been associated with pilots, rebel bikers, rock stars, Nazis, punks and policemen; an incredible cocktail of influences, both good and bad, to live up to, but the leather jacket is one of the most unique items of clothing one can buy. It’s not that there is anything special about leather – we wear leather shoes, belts and some of us have leather luggage. We sit in cars lined with leather and we shake hands after removing leather gloves. Leather is everyday and all year round, it’s not different in itself, it’s just that the leather jacket has a mysterious quality to it. It’s so noticeable in an outfit, that nearly everything else goes unnoticed. (more…)

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Cold Autumn Asks for Coats

‘Maybe it’s because I’m a Londoner, that I love London town’, and just to add my own rhyming line of lyrics; ‘But the wind, rain and cold sure can get me down.’ It is a fact of the locality that come mid-October, London gets more than a little chilly. The thing is that it keeps getting colder until about mid-March; so for November, December, January and February, it’s best to prepare yourself for the harshness that winter weather can bring. Having made a few mistakes in the past, both in terms of sartoria and in terms of my own health, I offer this advice to you in advance of the colder weather yet to come. (more…)

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