Leg warmers were around long before the 1980’s, however, it took the release of the movie Flashdance to make leg warmers became part of popular 80s fashion. Jeans, dresses, knit pants or miniskirts – if you were a girl of the eighties, you wore legwarmers with everything. It could be ninety degrees in the shade and there you would be in your Normandy Rose jeans and legwarmers.
For most circumstances, legwarmers were totally impractical, but then, this was the eighties and as far as every teenage girl was concerned… legwarmers were cool!
The American soap opera, Dynasty was a huge influence in the way many 80s women dressed. The number of women entering the workplace had increased and many of these women were career driven. To be seen as, at least the equals of their male counterparts in the office, women started adopting the fashion styles of Linda Evans or Joan Collins from Dynasty. Shoulder pads became almost a requirement for female business attire. Many outfits came with Velcro fitted to the inside of the shoulders allowing for easy attachment of various sizes of shoulder pads to suit your tastes.
Dynasty also encouraged women to openly flaunt their wealth by wearing glitzy jewelry, wool, cotton, cashmere and silk as opposed to nylons or synthetics.
Fashion in the 80s was full of colour as new wave washes away the fashion debris left by disco. Neon is the newest color of the rainbow, designers get crazy with jeans, and legs everywhere are getting warmer. Put on a headbandand get physical, ’cause the metal is getting heavy and the spandex is getting tight
Fashion in the '80s was one of the most memorable parts of the decade. There were a number of popular fashion trends that are still remembered by those who wore them, and the fads are, without a doubt, appreciated by other generations as well. Whether you want to fondly remember, make jokes, or reestablish the trends, fashion in the '80s is surely not to be forgotten.
Bottom trends in fashion in the '80s included parachute pants, stirrup pants, zippered jeans, spandex, colored pantyhose and mini skirts. Top trends included neon clothing, oversized shirts, 3/4 length shirts, Members Only jackets, paint splattered clothes, shoulder pads, off-shoulder shirts, and pastels. Layered and scrunched socks were also popular trends in fashion in the '80s, as well as Converse sneakers.
Accessories that were popular in fashion in the '80s were hoop earrings, turquoise and silver jewelry, Trapper Keepers, safety pins, slap bracelets, scrunchies, multiple Swatches. For women and men in the '80s, big hair was very popular, and women often wore their hair in side ponytails, multiple colors, or platinum blond. Women also wore bold makeup, like bright (blue was popular) eyeshadow and mascara.
Brands that were popular in fashion in the '80s included Jordache, Guess, Converse, Keds, Ocean Pacific, Vans, and Adidas. Fashion in the '80s was full of trends and fads, and it is still remembered today for the bold looks and returning trends that have been seen even two decades later.
Some of the fashion trends in the '80s have come back in style today. Examples include leggings, which were popular in a variety of colors, prints, patterns, and designs, and have come back in popularity recently, and acid wash jeans. Acid wash jeans haven't been quite as popular as leggings, but they've still popped up in stores more recently. Other fashion trends in the '80s that have shown up here and there include jelly shoes, leg warmers, high top sneakers, Ray-Ban sunglasses and pointy stilettos.
