Jo: I ’ve loved FPQT long before I started guest blogging. I share it far and wide and make everyone I know read it. Hoorah for friends and family who do things because you beg ask them to! So imagine the shock – and delight! – when this humble guest blogger received a request! Funny thing about guest blogging – I can normally rant for days without prompting, but make a request and I am FROZEN. What is THAT all about??
Anywho … my lovely friend Libby is new to the blog (hooray for new readers!!). Sidebar: when I say lovely, I mean Lovely. Capital EL. And RIDICULOUSLY stylish. So she e-mailed me the other day after reading our ’60s inspired post, and she wonders about the ’80s! Question is, with treasures like this, who doesn’t wonder about the ’80s? (Love you, Joan. LOVE you…) 
Looks a bit like my grade 10 photo ID. Go Black Kats!
Pros and cons? Mostly all cons? Does this decade just make everyone, like, totally gag? Libby’s question was inspired by recently watching The Informers, which got her thinking about LA in the ’80s (LA the city, not L-A our beloved blogger!), club hopping, Robert Palmer and neon under black light. “How delightfully tacky!!” she exclaimed. Well I don’t know about you, L-A, but I wholeheartedly agree – delightfully tacky!
[L-A edit: click the image to get the non-embeddable video. Thanks Robert Palmer for making blogging difficult!]
Is it nice? Is it horrible? Do we hate it? Do we love it? Should we let sleeping trends lie? Or should they come back with a vengeance? With these questions in mind, let’s dive in to the ’80s, shall we?? (I promise, NO LEGWARMERS … I am saving that for another day, kittens. What? You didn’t think I’d let them go that easily, did you…) If you are upset about the return of the ‘8os, don’t blame me, point your perfectly manicured finger towards fall 2009’s biggest offenders, Balmain and Marc Jacobs, whose collections were both DRIPPING with the ’80s:
Someone, do something about those jeans! Specifically, DON’T EVER WEAR THEM. But who am I to judge? I used to “fold and roll” all of my jeans. Meh.
Moving on…
I bring you, Jo’s ’80s movie retrospective through the lens of fall 2009 runway! Or is it fall 2009 through the lens of ’80s movies? Whatever. I know, you can hardly stand the suspense, so I’ll get to it.
First up, 007 and MY favourite Bond, Roger Moore (yes, yes, Sean Connery is the classic fave, and ultimately, Pierce Brosnan is the perfect Bond, but I grew up with Roger Moore’s delightfully cheesy Bond, so he fits right in with this post!). I bring you, Grace Jones in A View to a Kill (1985)
Our girl Grace seems to subscribe to the Lady Gaga school of fashion: no pants! But, it must be said that I, um, OWN THOSE BOOTS. True story. L-A will HATE these, but I adore my Arturo Chiang “Tamara” booties
But enough about me and my Pat Benetar yard sale boots. I bring you, Nina Ricci fall 2009 and Emilio Pucci (which I don’t totally hate, with the right outfit, of course):
Next up, our girl Madge and Rosanna Arquette in Desperately Seeking Susan, and Louis Vuitton
Dsquared and hark – a totally wearable look from Emanuel Ungaro (Look at that jacket! That tunic! That SCARF!!! ) I would totally wear that.
And possibly one of the most pivotal of all, Pretty in Pink (1986)
Can’t you totally picture Andie trying to be coy with Blane wearing this Dolce & Gabbana?
Sidebar: A prezzie for you, readers: how can you NOT LOVE this scene?? Well played Duckie.
NEXT!
Working Girl (1988)
and my girl Stella McCartney
Now, to be clear, I don’t hate the “boyfriend blazer” – it’s cute, it’s comfortable, it’s versatile. I prefer it to be not so boxy…
And I don’t know about you, but I prefer to wear my Helmut Lang blazers with pants. Or at the very least, an actual dress.
But then, I have always been a sucker for a great, structured (yet stylish) suit, like this one from Elizabeth and James
And what’s a nod to the eighties without Whitney Houston?? Not a movie, but hells…the lady worked the decade.
Whitney, have I got a couple of fall 2009 selections for you! Like this Foley + Corinna from Shopbop.com
and naturally, Balmain!
And last, but not least – and NO COMMENTS, anyone – Princess Diana (what? I was a fashion/fairytale-obsessed eight-year-old girl when that GIRL became a PRINCESS! ) The lady had class and style in spades, so suck it. I care not if it’s corny.
For you, I give, CHANEL!
And this, I am all over
I know I said no legwarmers, but I said nothing about ARMWARMERS! hah!
So there you have it, the ’80s are back! Studs, legging, sequins, neons, boxy blazers and shoulder pads (eek!), over-sized shirts, trashy lace, bows … Please proceed with caution. Use wisely. Do not exceed recommended doses. Some trends do not mix well with others.
I must say, I love it a little because I was too young to wear the “grown-up” stuff the first time around. And while I might be tempted to wear this See by Chloe (shopbop.com) on a fun night out for cocktails with Libby and the girls (hopefully in LA!)…
you will not soon see me in anything like this, as much as I love Marc Jacobs. And crazy hair, you can stay right where I left you, on my 1989 student ID…
AllyG: ‘Magine my excitement when I plopped my legging attired arse down in front of the computer to find a draft post of all things 80’s. The post, started by Jo our guest blogger extraordinaire, is already fabulous so I won’t murder it with my sleep deprived brain. However! I do need to add a few thoughts!!
First off, who didn’t love Working Girl? Anyone? It was so ridiculous it became brilliant. While I wouldn’t necessairly trot down Barrington St. in Tess’ padded suit jackets, I would absolutely toss on the jackets inspired by the movie that are currently all over the runways. W Magazine had a great online article discussing JUST THIS VERY MOVIE. How awesome? Let’s link shall we?
My favourite piece highlighted in the article is the Viscose, wool and nylon canvas skirt by Vera Wang
It’s what I like to call “updated 80’s”. Paired with this Wool and silk satin jacket from Roberto Cavalli you’re halfway to swoon town with Harrison Ford. Swooooooooon.
Can we talk for a sec about the best thing to come out of the 80’s? Besides Britney Jean Spears? Jo, I’m sort of shocked you neglected to flag this monumental piece of history…
[L-A: if you click on the image, you’ll get the video…apparently Billy Joel is too good for embedded video. Downtown boy my arse.]
Christie Brinkley? She OWNED the 80’s. This my friends, is my all-time favourite song ever in the history of the world. It would have been my wedding song, but I was informed that I would not have a “wedding” if we proceeded to choreograph a dance to that song (Seriously, can you imagine how awesome it would be to pull up in a limo in your Vera Wang wedding dress with that song playing? You’d hit the runway aisle in the church just as the chorus came banging in…sigh).
You just have to take a quick look at Christie’s earrings to see how they have inspired our current big, beaded, over-the-top jewellery trend (which I adore). You can find these big, flashy earrings locally at All Dressed Up where Moda by Ozlem sells her divine jewellery (as our loyal readers know I’m a huge fan of Moda accessories). I also love the bridal earrings by Tejani. Not so much 80s, but sassy nevertheless…non?
I’ll let L-A wrap this up. Jo owns this post for sure. Well played! Can I just add that we’ve referenced the blue sequined Balmain dress before and it deserves more than golf claps, it deserves the best baby dancing video ever.
You best believe Hugh is going to be rocking out to Britney as soon as he is able. Trust.
L-A: Hilarious moment as I was watching the video Ally posted (the Billy Joel, not the dancing baby). The Husband came racing down the hall yelling, “What are you listening to? No Billy Joel! Headphones! HEADPHONES!” and then closed the door to my office. There’s a bit of a no-Billy-Joel-rule Chez Moi and it is mostly because of The Husband. His hatred of all things Billy Joel will probably make Ally want to through her drink on him the next time she see him. The video also made me wonder what it was about the late 70s/early 80s and the whole “tough guy” mechanic doing cheorographed dance routines:
Seriously. What was up with that? I’m not much of a Grease fan and I was fairly young at the time of that Billy Joel video, so I’m wondering: is it an homage/blatant rip off of Greased Lightening? Or was that actually something young mechanics were into at the time?
Moving on.
First things first: I’m going to be a bit of a Debbie Downer here and be the Voice Of Reason/Party Pooper and state – for the record – that I think the 80s should have stayed where we left them. I really struggle to embrace anything that reeks of 80s.
Secondly: If we are going to talk 80s, then I am Extremely Disappointed with both of you because: where the hell was the Joan Collins in this post? No Dynasty? Travesty! Not even a bit of Dallas? Shocking! I mean look at her:
Joan Collins was the 80s. And Lady Gaga would totally tap that first look. She’d tap the second if it didn’t involve pants. And as much as it makes me cringe, those shoulders are back and have been at least since the Fall 2009 ready to wear collections like Givenchy or the Marc Jacobs SS2010 runway, as pointed out by my most recent issue of Flare:
That’s the kind of thing Alexis Carrington Colby would wear to breakfast.
Since you both failed to mention Dynasty, I want you to watch the following ten minute video that features all of Alexis’ outfits (twice) and then write a report on the Sartorial Influences of Joan Collins/Alexis Carrington on the 1980s. For the readers at home (who are not required to write a paper), you can just watch this much shorter video that is mostly of The Many Hats of Alexis Carrington:
p.s. would you believe I’ve never actually seen Working Girl? Shocking, I know.
