"IT WAS ACCEPTABLE IN THE 80'S"

I just had the most extraordinary day. In the morning I woke up, ate breakfast, put on some clothes and red shoes and turned on the TV. That was the moment when the strangest thing happened: suddenly I wasn’t in my living room anymore but I could see it since I was inside of the TV. I tried to blink (because it has worked in the past) but nothing happened.  I looked around and figured I wasn’t alone. This how I remember it:

                I can recognize now the music that is playing very low -“Thriller”. And the people that I could barely see approach me. They are zombies and among them there he is – Michael Jackson. I’m in the middle of the shot of the music video in 1982. I’m witnessing the shot of the most successful pop video of all time! I couldn’t be more thrilled. Michael is singing and dancing and doesn’t seem to notice me. I wonder if he knows the impact of this video in the history of music (and also in the history of fashion). His red and black leather pants and jacket will be copied by teenagers all over the world. He is creating an iconic look right in front of me! His fedora hat, aviator glasses and glove (frequently fingerless) will also be a major influence in 80’s fashion. And right when I’m starting to absorb what is going on, the scene changes.

                I’m sitting next to the panel that will judge Alex’s performance of “What a Feeling” in the movie “Flashdance”. Jennifer Beals’ look is simple but I don’t think she is aware of how much this movie will influence fashion. Leg warmers became a teen casual trend and the same happened to ripped sweatshirts with their collars cut off that exposed one bare shoulder after the release of the movie in 1983. With the arrival of the “aerobics craze” of the early 1980's the classic leotard moved from the dance floor to the gym, accompanied by matching tights, legwarmers, and elastic belts. Dance-themed television shows such as “Fame” and the popularity of Aerobics created a “dancewear fashion craze” that was taken to street-wear and had its major inspirations in “Flashdance”, Olivia Newton-John's "Physical" video in 1981 and Jane Fonda's line of aerobic videos. Tracksuits would become popular in the mid-80’s with the birth of the Rap and Hip-Hop movement.The performance is over and I’m being carried over  to a whole different set.

               I’m in a busy neighborhood of a big city and I’m starting to realize what this is all about. I believe this is a trip throughout some remarkable events of the 80’s that have influenced fashion. It is funny how things changed since the 70’s when the silhouette tended to be characterized by close fitting clothes on top with wider, looser clothes on the bottom. In the 80’s the trend completely reversed as both men and women began to wear looser shirts and tight, close-fitting trousers. I can see that as groups of friends walk by me enthusiastically. The contrast between different styles is evident, from the exuberance and luxury of the French to the purity of the Eastern cultures, and from the romantic and baroque language to the expression of clothing as a form of art. This is the decade of designers and “brand culture” when Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein became household names due to the emerge of the “Preppy Look”. The New Romantic music and fashion movement had a major influence in both men and women’s fashion, especially in the UK and in Ireland, in the early years of this decade. Bands such as ABC, Duran Duran and Culture Club (especially Boy George) had an important role in the diffusion of this look that included pirate shirts, popped collars, baggy trousers and streaky and bold make-up. I still have time to recognize the type of trousers that are being worn by a couple: she is wearing “happy pants” (not to tight not too loose shorts that finished in length just above the knee) and he is wearing “Parachute pants” (trousers that were extremely baggy that became famous due to MC Hammer). She is wearing Keds that were huge at this time and he is wearing Converse. 

                The street where I’m standing is vanishing and the same is happening to people. I’m in Venice now in a gondola with Madonna! She is singing “Like a Virgin” and again the music video is being shot. She is wearing a short black skirt worn over blue leggings, a layer string of beads, crucifix jewelry and bracelets. Her "street urchin" look will be followed by women worldwide consisting of short skirts worn over leggings, rubber bracelets, fishnet gloves, hair bows, long layered strings of beads, necklaces, bleached untidy hair with dark roots, head bands, and lace ribbons. Her look also included brassieres worn as outerwear, huge crucifix jewelry, tight lycra or leather miniskirts, lace and fingerless gloves, tulle skirts, and boy toy belts. Madonna, along with Cindy Lauper and Freddie Mercury, defied conventions (before the mid-1980s it had been taboo to show a slip or a bra strap in public) and played with religious symbols. Imitating her style was both an assertion of sexual freedom and also a conscious rejection of prevailing androgynous fashion.

                After this wonderful trip to Italy I came back to the US and as it would be expected I’m in the middle of a shot. People around me are shooting “Dinasty”, one of the most popular soap operas of the 80’s. I know little about it except its influence in power dressing. Shoulder pads were worn by women in the Western World to show that they were equal to men. They were even adopted by Margaret Thatcher, the British prime-minister, and by Princess Diana of Wales. Power dressing often included glitzy jewelry, pointed toes and spiked heels. 

          Right in the end of my “trip” someone must have pressured the “Forward” button because in one minute I watched the influence of “Miami Vice” on clothing, the jelly shoes trend and the emerge of the 80’s subcultures such as Heavy Metal, Rap and Hip Hop and Rockabilly in London. And then someone turned the TV off and there I was sitting on the couch again like nothing ever happened. I love that the Red Shoes have provided me this trip, especially in a time when designers seem to have searched for inspiration in 80’s icons like Grace Jones, Boy George, John Taylor (Duran Duran) and Sade for their Spring/Summer 2013 collections, but it’s a shame I didn’t get to see the birth of the 80’s subcultures in detail. I’m sorry shoes but I just love leather and Guns N’ Roses and Bon Jovi’s, among others, influence on style. But again I think they have reserved that for another time. Well, just to conclude, I’m not crazy, I know I didn’t take a walk on the TV but they did. The Red Shoes certainly did and somehow they drove my mind along with them. 

 Red Shoes