The Hewitt Times

In 1980, Ronald Reagan was elected president. This election, like most elections preceding it, not only determined what path our economy and political landscape would follow for the following four years but also what pop culture and fashion would look like as well.

The Reagan administration’s conception of supply-side economics, quickly dubbed Reaganomics, led to immense corporate growth and success for many Americans. That success drove the American consumer culture to new and unimaginable heights. Young urban professionals, “yuppies,” came to embody hypermaterialism – a generation that Newsweek magazine described as living in a state of “Transcendental Acquisition,” defining themselves by “the perfection of their possessions.”  Individuals sought perfection in any way they could–from buying the latest fashionable attire to attaining a perfect physique.  Ultimately, objects took the place of people.  It was a soulless decade.

In the summer 1981, Music Television (MTV) aired its first music video (above), literally transforming the nature of music. Unlike the teen-pregnancy-filled MTV we know today, the Music Television of the 80s was a non- stop music video marathon (except for the brief moments when the screen would go black as an MTV employee inserted a new tape into the VCR).

As music took on a much more visual element, the world of fashion looked to the music industry and pop icons for inspiration. Pretty in Pink, Valley Girl, The Breakfast Club, Ferris Buller’s Day Off, Beverly Hills Cop, and various other cult classics of the 1980s demonstrate an obsession with carefree capitalism and youth culture.

The 1980s in America were about being bigger, better, and more extravagant than ever before. For fashion this meant bulky shoulder pads, bright dyes and floral prints, elaborate bead work, as well as costume-y jewelry and heavier make-up. Who could forget the decade that gave us acid wash jeans, leg warmers, head bands, scrunchies, leggings, and big hair? Nowadays, American Apparel features a plethora of leg warming, jazzercising outfit choices that give our parents a strange feeling of nostalgia when they see us sporting them.

These fashion staples were prevalent not only in the cult classic movies, but television shows such as Dallas (the original not the recent remake) and Dynasty, and on the backs of music icons like Madonna and Michael Jackson, as well. Consumerism was alive and well in the 80s, and some obliviously went into debt if it allowed them to enjoy the indulgent lifestyle displayed in the pop culture of the day. Anything that appeared over the top was in style.

With this overindulgence, however, came a counterculture. For some who came of age in the 70s, a time of social and political unrest, the 80s left them feeling alienated. This world of excess and materialism, of shoulder pads and Madonna, was not for them. They turned first to music like punk rock, but even bands like the Ramones and the Clash were becoming mainstream. So, a new crop of hardcore punk bands came to the rescue. The Bad Brains and the Dead Kennedys were among the first of these bands to become popular counterculture heroes in the early 80s.

Hardcore shows were noisy and violent and often included slamdancing. Since money and extravagance defined fashion in the 80s, the hardcore punks chose anti-fashion to express themselves–the uglier the better. Shaved heads, ripped clothes, and piercings were common staples among this cult.  The goal was to look as scary and intimidating as possible. Despite the prevalent influence that some of these bands have had on some bands today, this movement fizzled quickly due to its inefficiency when it came to singing about the world they were living in; the world they protested.

As the decade came to a close and the Reagan and Bush Era gave way to the Clinton years, fashion, music, and pop culture began to shift dramatically as well. Stayed tuned for the 90s…. liberalism, All That, and grunge.