Becky Ellis
What goes around comes around, and the 80s came right ’round (like a record, baby) on the runway in February. Designers have been inching into the decade for years — think punk colors and skinny jeans with heels — and now they’re going big literally and bringing back 80’s-proportioned shoulders for fall.
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From Diane von Furstenberg to Miss Sixty, Alexander Wang to Herve Leger to Marc Jacobs… everyone was doing it. Some were pretty and poofy, like at Yigal Azrouel, others, like Donna Karan‘s, were seriously structured. Either way, we’ve seen it before. But shoulder pads may be about conjuring a different emotional time as much as recreating a previous decade of fashion. According to salon.com Bloomingdale’s fashion director Stephanie Solomon said that big shoulders can be confidence-boosting in tough economic times, “a way of saying, You can’t bring me down.”
Other 80s revivals? A continuance of leggings and ankle booties and a hint of acid wash. All-in-all, not the vintage-inspired looks we wanted to see on the runway, but the heads-up gives you six months to figure out how to pull off the look… or stage a fashion revolution.
top to bottom, left to right
Yigal-Azrouel Fall 09, WWD
1980s Yvy Barotzi Paris Sculptural Dress $595
Cho Cheng Fall 09, Getty images
1980s Valentino Fitted Jacket $495
Herve Leger Fall 09, WWD
1980s Thierry Mugler Asymmetrical Jacket $495
Miss Sixty Fall 09, WWD
1980s Lanvin Quilted Bolero $395
