Living Life '80s Style... Part 3

Twirling back down the years to the 1980s, the "Style Decade", is such a pleasure. Want to know what to eat? How to furnish your micro bijou home or penthouse flat? Take a seat and enjoy the show - courtesy of mid-1980s Habitat and others!

Do eat nouvelle cuisine. Such a lovely, yuppie fad! Spitting Image described it as "an expensive way of not having very much to eat". Wasn't it WONDERFUL?! Also, employ lots of '80s speak in your conversation. "Tubular!",  "Wicked!", "Gnarly!" Call your friends "mateyboots" and always remember to say "purlease".

Transform your study area, 1980s style! The colours here are so conducive to concentration, I'm surprised they ever went out of fashion!

Computers began entering the home in the 1980s and they were provided for. Remember how trendy black was as a furnishing colour? Even tellys went black eventually.

Pose about in your lounge in pink trousers and fondle your hi-fi. Looking faintly minimalist here.

Invest in lovely lantern light shades and install a pendant over your dining table. Place a warning sign proclaiming "Gesticulation Prohibited" over said dining table before guests arrive as entanglement with pendant may ensue. It is, of course, highly desirable to be known for giving memorable dinner parties. But electrocutions are probably best avoided.

Just look at these! Even plugs went all bright and jazzy in the 1980s! 

"Individuality - being what you want to be - until tomorrow..." and what better way to make a statement than by spray painting your lounge suite with your own '80s style daubings? Glorious, is it not? We love Habitat!

 Ah, the children! The next generation! Our hope for the future! Ensuring their well-being was, of course, one of the top priorities of the 1980s. And what better way to care for them than by providing a nice, restful decor and furnishings for their bedrooms, like this red metal tube bunkbed?

And for your bedtime? How about these gorgeous quilts and pillow cases? The epitome of 1980s chic!

Bonce feeling a bit chilly? Buy a pillow case with inbuilt night cap and you'll be oh-so-cosy! And oh-so-stylish. Lucky you! Night, night!

We haven't finished yet! Tomorrow's another day. Lots more on living life '80s style soon! xxx

The Sun Page 7 Fella

A Sun newspaper "Page 7 Fella" from February 1985. Note the 1980s bouffant mullet hairdo! 

The Sun Page 7 Fella caused a stir when he arrived in the early 1980s. Was this equality at last? No! said some - a male torso was in no way as revealing as a woman's breasts - many of which were to be seen on Page 3 over the years. But then 95% of workplace deaths being male and feminists' constant looking at a 'Glass Ceiling' and never a 'Glass Cellar' isn't equality either. And neither is the fact that domestic violence by women gets such scant attention. And sexual harassment. I've had some of that myself. 

The trouble is, in my 'Ever so 'Umble' opinion, both men and women are amazingly stupid: women for believing feminist ideology, which involves massive amounts of narcissism, misandry and self delusion, and men for immediately siding with anything the 'ladeez' say and dashing forward to be chivalrous white knights, while throwing their own sex under the bus.

But the human race is so funny - for all our posturings and belief in our greatness. Me included.

By 1988, the Sun had its own women's section - Sun Woman - and so at last there was a male Page 3, rather than a page 7. This particular "fella" dates from September '88. But, some complained, it wasn't really equality. A male torso was in no way as revealing as a woman's breasts. But then what is equality? The gender workplace death gap? The 'glass cellar' jobs gap? The gender custodial sentencing gap - massively skewed against males? The fact that until recently women retired five years earlier than men? Life is a lot more complex than the constant misandry spewed by the so-called equality movement, which has been so long accepted by the vast majority of people. I recommend a look at Janice Fiamengo and Karen Straughan's videos on YouTube for anybody who might like to investigate further.

1985 - Live Aid, The Mobile Phone in England, The Beiderbecke Affair, Edge Of Darkness, Windows, EastEnders, Boris Becker, Comic Relief, The C5

The year of Live Aid!

On the 1st of January 1985, comedian Ernie Wise, he of the short, fat, hairy legs, started a revolution. Standing in the middle of St Katherine's Dock, he made the first mobile phone call in England, in fact in the whole of Britain, and a little piece of history was made. More here.

After weeks of "They Are Here" teasers, EastEnders arrived. Angie and Den had a lousy wedding anniversary and Lou had a right old go at Pauline. Oh, and Reg Cox had been murdered.

1985 also saw the start of shorter-lived soap Albion Market. Loads more here.

Longer-lived was the BBC's Howards' Way, first seen in 1985.The goings-on in Tarrant kept us glued to our telly screens until the final series in 1990.

Meanwhile, in the ITV ad breaks, Julie Walters watched footage of an old '50s trout making a pot of tea. "Ooh, worra palaver!" said Julie, opting for a new Typhoo One Cup.

Over on the BBC, Troy Kennedy Martin gave us Edge Of Darkness, the highly topical nuclear thriller serial. Kennedy Martin had been frustrated by the lack of political drama on TV in the early 1980s. With the Thatcher/Reagan era changing the political landscape, Kennedy Martin began to write - with little hope of ever seeing it televised. More here.

Alternative comedian Alexei Sayle's 1984 hit 'Ullo John, Gotta A New Motor? became 'Ullo Tosh, got a Toshiba? and the Holstein Pils commercials melded Griff Rhys Jones to a lot of old film footage, featuring the likes of Marilyn Monroe.

Comic Relief was launched.

At 17, German Boris Becker was the youngest player ever to win the Men's Final at Wimbledon - and a thrilling final it was!

Everybody Wants To Rule The World, sang Tears For Fears. Perhaps not, but money was important. After the long recession, I didn't find it surprising, but I couldn't go along with the ethos. I was young and idealistic, and whilst I liked the OTT glitz and glamour of the mid-1980s (it felt like a huge relief to me after my grotty '70s childhood and the regimented fashions of that era), I couldn't stomach the Thatcher/Yuppie thing. I wanted to do something meaningful and gave up my office job to work as a care assistant in a Social Services home for the elderly.

It was demanding - the home catered for EMI (elderly mentally ill) people, and the physically frail and we often had to care for residents who were, basically, on their death beds, and make their end as comfortable as possible. It was hard work, the pay was lousy, but the sense of comradeship amongst the staff was great and I was happy.

Shoulder-padded jackets, stockbroker shirts, bizarre hair, a bop to the likes of Animotion's Obsession and a few pints of "Reassuringly Expensive" Stella Artois by night (I rarely stayed in) and comfortable running shoes, and a good supply of bed pan scrubbers and disposable plastic aprons by day. It was a good life.

The concept of advertising a drink as "Reassuringly Expensive" made sense back in the mid-to-late 1980s - "yer pays for quality, yer see!"

Controversy raged over Thatcher. She certainly wasn't loved by all and a night out at the local pub was often enlivened by a good old argument between her fans and ... er... non-fans. As you know I was very much a non-fan. I miss those days when politics were top of the agenda. If apathy didn't rule these days and people actually studied the actions of this current government a little more, Brown and co would have many difficult questions to answer...

Microsoft released Windows in 1985, another great leap forward for the world of computing.

New technology slamming into our lives was a theme throughout the 1980s. Some of it, like microwave ovens, wasn't so new - I have read that the first domestic microwave model came along in the 1960s. But it was all a matter of affordability. It was in the 1980s that these became common in England, and it was the same with video recorders.

Video taping techniques had been around for yonks, but it took time for the first domestic VCRs to make their debut. And even then, as mentioned elsewhere in this blog, who could afford them? 5% of households owned them in 1980, nearly 20% in 1983, and several more years rolled by before many of us could afford to get to grips with video recorders. And then there was the Betamax/Phillips/VHS battle to confuse us! By 1985 many of us had encountered a video. But did we know how to set it to tape programmes when we were out? Er...

The Scotch video Skeleton (first seen in 1983) gave us a new catchphrase in 1985 - "Re-Record, Not Fade Away" - more details here.

And talking of technology, there was Sir Clive Sinclair and his wonderful 1985 innovation, the C5.

Practical personal transport - powered by electricity, ran the advertising blurb.

Some original C5 newspaper advertisements can be found here.

Around this time, there were also those funny electronic key ring thingies - you remember - if you mislaid your keys, you whistled and the key ring would emit an electronic beep to inform you of its location. Good idea.

This was the year of Live Aid, the 12 hour charity pop marathon, held at Wembley Stadium in England and Philadelphia's JFK Stadium in the USA. It was watched by 1.5 billion people worldwide and millions of pounds were raised. Its instigator, Bob Geldof, was dubbed by some of us "St Bob of Geldof".

Many women and girls were favouring large hair ribbons. Worn with a shaggy or spiral perm, large T-shirt, lycra leggings and a pair of trainers, they produced an overall cartoon character effect. Very nice.

Ear rings were growing to resemble studded doughnuts, meat axes or door knockers. Just as popular were big black hoops, or cheap plastic ear rings in vile neon shades.

We met Trevor Chaplin and Jill Swinburne in the Beiderbecke Affair - the first series in Alan Plater's trilogy. More here.

Miami Vice began in the UK, having debuted in the USA in 1984, and its attendant chic quickly became trendy. More about the show and the chic here.

Stone washed jeans had been in fashion for a year or two, but, and perhaps my memory is playing me tricks, it is not until around the mid-1980s that I recall them taking on the distinctive stone washed effect we all remember. They often came with a plastic key ring to hang on them. The brand I usually bought was called Pepe!

The narrow-legged trend had grown ridiculous by this time - it was hell getting those jeans on. Whoever designed them had obviously never heard of feet.

The growing popularity of the new hair mousse meant we could continue our evil experiments with our crowning glories.

The Goth scene had been quietly developing and was noticeable in 1985.

Power Dressing was THE thing. Could those shoulder pads possibly get any larger? we wondered. "YES!!" screamed the 1980s in reply.
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The 1980s: Fashion Freedom For The Working Class Male (And Men In General!)

'80s fashion revolution for men...

Sunday Mirror, January 15 1984:

Boy George may be the High Priest of High Camp, but the 1984 fashion revolution extends far beyond Gorgeous George and the pop world.

You'd be amazed at the extraordinary extravagances very masculine young men are indulging in all over Britain.

And what the girls in their lives think about it...

I have few fond memories of my childhood in the 1970s. I hated that decade and I hated the way that I, as a male, was expected to dress, speak and even move in certain ways.

The dress was boring - flares, which had been around since the late 1960s - and some gawd awful acrylic tank top or jumper - if you didn't dress like everybody else, you got picked on; you had to speak macho round my way, and boys didn't cry; you even had to move in a rigidly masculine way.

I remember a New Year's party my parents threw in the late '70s. Then in my early teens, I was allowed downstairs to take part a bit - even have a "proper drink". There I sat, bemused by it all as my family bellowed at each other and shrieked with laughter over the din of 1950s music. I had my drink in one hand, one hand on my knee, when my step-father approached:

"Don't sit like that, son," he said. "It looks queer!"

WHAT?!!

And my mother was just as bad. She liked "boys to be boys" - they didn't cry, and they played with toy guns and got into fights.

Now, looking back from the vantage point of my current situation, happily married and unhappily mortgaged for the last fifteen years, with a large circle of friends from many different backgrounds, I find it hard to believe that things were so rigid in the 1970s.

But they were.

The 1980s were like a huge gale of fresh air.

Firstly, there was the New Man or Eighties Man - I've written more about that here but, briefly, this was a move towards a new breed of men - sensitive, not afraid of emotions, housework or childcare. They were hot news from around 1982 onwards.

And the 1980s also saw great strides forward in male fashion. Before the 1980s, it was OK for drag artists like Danny La Rue or male pop stars to wear make-up and/or take trouble with their grooming.

In the 1980s, it became OK for even working class ordinary geezers like me to do so. Early in the decade, nothing changed. If you'd dressed like Adam Ant on our council estate in 1981 you'd probably have got your head kicked in.

But when my tough, macho mate Pete started wearing white leg warmers and pixie boots, had his hair streaked and developed a very becoming Princess Diana fringe around 1983, I wondered what on earth was going on.

Particularly as in 1980 and 1981 his favourite fashion accessory was a Punk-style dog collar.

As the decade moved beyond its first few years, I was thrilled by the range of male fashions to buy - and the colours - glaring neons or "feminine" pastels.

And it was all so dressy!

Those linen jackets, with massive shoulder pads, looked tremendous with a cerise mesh vest and skin-tight yellow trousers.

Push up those jacket sleeves, or turn them back to reveal colourful contrasting material...

And then there was hair styling.

In the 1980s, I had my hair streaked blonde, bought gel and mousse, and had a variety of styles, ranging from bouffant mullet to glorious blonde tinged flat-top.

In 1984, I became the first man in my family ever to own a hairdryer.

Whilst I was happy simply being colourful and dressy, the influence of pop stars like Boy George and Marilyn prompted some men to go further...

The Sun, October 26, 1983:

Disco bosses have barred dance floor show-offs who wear too much make-up and revealing dresses... and that's just the lads!

Fashion-conscious fellas - who mimic chart-topping Boy George - have been blamed for falling attendances at the trendy over 18s club.

Now the "in-crowd" - who have been turning up in off-the-shoulder gowns, high heels and ostrich feathers - have been told: "Butch up or stay out."

Adam ____, manager of the Summerhill Club at Kingswinford, West Midlands, says their antics were putting the girls in the shade - and frightening away the regular guys.

One of the banned lads is Gary ____, 21, of Dudley, West Midlands.

"I was wearing my full make-up and all my best gear," said platinum blonde Gary.

Magazine advertisement from September 1985. "Looks even better on a girl"? I think he looks pretty darned striking myself!

So, what caused this sudden softening and colouring up of male dress sense in the 1980s?

The influence of Boy George cannot be underestimated. He was a real person, he didn't just dress for the stage. He sought to express himself through his varying looks.

It can be argued that there had been heavily individualistic people like the Boy around for a very long time, but his success on the pop scene and the tremendous interest he aroused says a lot about the 1980s.

Then there was the New/Eighties Man thing, a reply to the revival of the feminist movement which had come bursting out of the 1960s.

There was also the growing "swankiness" of the mid-1980s as money began to swirl around and style became oh so important. It was such a contrast to the early '80s, when donkey jackets had been one of the main fashion must-haves for both boys and girls.

Why the '80s male fashion revolution happened I'm not sure. I've expressed my ideas on the subject, but I'm really not sure.

But I'm very glad it did!

Two '80s popstrels, Nik Kershaw and Paul Young, on the cover of the very wonderful Smash Hits in September 1985. Nice hair! Read our hymn of praise to Black Type here.

Fashion trend leader Boy George - a sticker from the mid-1980s. Princess Margaret refused to be photographed with him at an awards ceremony in 1984, saying: "I don't know who he is, but he looks like an over made-up tart."

Marilyn had his handbag stolen in 1984.

Moon Boots...

Moon Boots 1985... my little sister (right) sports her height-of-fashion pink Moon Boots with leg warmers and ra ra skirt. She'll kill me if she discovers that I've put this photograph on-line!

Ros writes to ask about the 1980s fashion for Moon Boots in the UK...

I remember having a pair when I was a little girl circa 1984. What was it all about?

Well, Ros, I don't KNOW what it was all about it! Apparently, the original Moon Boot was designed by a company called Tecnica in Italy a couple of years after the 1969 moon landing, and looked like something an astronaut might actually wear - although perhaps not in the jazzy colours produced through the years! They seemed to be a pretty serious piece of kit, and were all emblazioned with the words "Moon Boot".

I never saw any (or even heard of them) until a version arrived in the UK around 1984. These were available in children's sizes, and I remember them as being very much a little girls' fashion as the only colour I remember seeing was bright pink - which was a popular '80s colour. It is highly possible that other colours were available, but I don't recall ever seeing a boy wearing them!

My little sister got heavily into them, as the photograph above shows. She loved her pink Moon Boots dearly.

The '80s ate up fashion trends hungrily and after a few years the pink Moon Boots disappeared.

Fashion '85...

An advertisement from a February 1985 women's magazine. You could knit a "dramatic bat-wing sweater" as it advises.

But I don't recommend it.

The woman in the illustration also seems to have a shiny doughnut suspended from her ear.

Strange.

A very lovely 1980s bat-winged dress.

A nice leather flying suit and blue high heels...

I had a suit just like this one. The jacket sleeves look much better pushed up. Take my word for it, mate.