Posts

Clueless movie

It’s almost the end of the year and everyone is going back in time. I mean, Dutchies: who is not listening to the top 2000 songs of all time on radio 2? We went to the future yesterday, but today I am taking you back again to the past. However, this time I am not going back that far, because this is the last post of the retro fashion serie! Back to the 90s, which brings back some extra nostalgic moments for me, because this is the time that I grew up. The time of ghettoblasters, The Spice Girls, Hakuna Matata, Discmans that didn’t fit into your trousers and the internet was just coming up! Imagine that…

This era also left its lasting mark on fashion. A very colorful mark also as you will discover. The early 90s were an extension of the late 1980s. But this was about to change very fast. Remember when MTV was all about the music? Music videos were being produced everywhere. The fashion in those popular music videos had a tremendous impact on the fashion sense because of all those teenagers, who adopted the fashion style of their idols into the real world. Hip-hop artists were seen as topfashion influencers: the urban culture rised and rised, not only in the big cities. The urban fashion motto was: Big t-shirts and baseball caps for everyone! Also, there were a lot of remixed versions of fashion trends from previous decades. In the mid-1990s there were for example The Spice Girls, who brought back a huge revival of the 70s platform shoe. Another item that made its revival under young woman, was the loose, short skirt. Once again fashion comebacks were very colorful. Denim and leather jackets were extremely popular and survived the whole nineties decade. As a matter of fact, denim and leather are true fashion survivors. Who doesn’t own a nice pair of jeans or a leather jacket these days?

Read more

big-earrings-1980s

After the flower power and wide flare 1970s, it’s time for the second-last episode of the retro fashion series: back to the 1980s!

The red line of the 1980s was: “More is More”, but please No More DISCO. Big hair, more make-up, more color, more color with more make-up and even bigger hair. Anything was possible! It didn’t start out like that though. We started the 1980s quite neutral with colors like brown and tan. Probably because everyone had to catch their breath from the previous dazzling and headspinning Disco years.

There was a little revival of the 1940s in the beginning of the 1980s. You saw slightly high waistlines featuring blousons and padded shoulders. Velvet material was also extremely popular. Lace got a more robust look and feel, because it was often combined with for example leather. And then there was MTV. Remember the good old days when MTV was actually only about music? This channel had its influence in more than one way. When it comes to fashion, the youth suddenly saw their role models in the most trendy outfits. As you can understand, when “video killed the radiostar”, dressing like the popstar was born. Especially during the mid-1980s when stars like Madonna, Cyndi Lauper and Michael Jackson had a huge influence on teenagers. White gloves, sunglasses, leather jacket and BAM…get ready for a (moon)walk in the streets.

More than ever, accessories were important to finish your look. Remember hoops? No not hula hoops. I mean those large, round earrings that were a musthave to “dress” your ears. Same goes for bangles and other large and eyecatching jewelry. When I talk about eyecatching, over-the-top hairstyles need to be included. Especially in the second half of the era. Colouring your hair in every color of the rainbow and “go wild” was pretty common back then. Hairstyles of women AND men were bigger than any other decade. Rock and punk music of the late 1980s also had its influence on hairstyles: the new age style was born. For those spikes on top of your head, you needed a lot of hair glue… When it comes to beauty, the motto was: the heavier the make-up, the better the look. So women wore heavy eyeliner, heavier blush and to finish the look: intense lipstick. That popular “pure” nude look of nowadays was not even seen at the horizon of the late 1980s.

Read more