Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy Reagan in the USA celebrated presidential
success with a style that used fashionable conspicuous clothes and social events
to display the affluence of American society to a world audience. 
The world was in flux; ever changing. The USSR relaxed rules and opened up to
private enterprise. The Berlin wall came down and other eastern bloc countries
craved western clothes and liberation.
In Britain Thatcherism promoted privatization and the idea that greed was
good was given credence. Temples to modern living, shopping malls sprang up
throughout Britain. Western society consumed and consumed.
Right - Margaret Thatcher in her power suits. Fashion history
records the power suit and dressing for success as the symbol of the
1980s. The best know icons of 1980s fashion for power dressing
were Mrs Thatcher and The Princess
of Wales, Diana.
Designer labels and branding gained impetus. Brand names became status
symbols for sports gear and sportswear, perfumes, electrical equipment, cars and
fashion designer goods such as clothing, bags, luggage, scarves and
spectacles.
The appearance of affluence was reinforced by access to designer label
goods.
By the mid-eighties tills rang not with cash, but the increasing use of
credit cards. It was all such a relief to the consumer to be able to spend and
actively be encouraged to consume after years of recession. Clothing purchases
soared. Interiors were decorated. Showing wealth was superficially powerful.
~
Advertisers gave a whole range of acronyms to groups of consumers in the
1980s. Looking at these acronyms does help to understand how advertisers
identified recognisable groups in society in the consumer driven world of
marketing 1980s fashion.
A typical acronym was DINKY which described an increasing section of society,
the couples not necessarily married,
but who were 'Double Income No Kids Yet.' The Dinky was the type of consumer that might
be targeted for spending on fashion and status symbols like perfume, label goods
and stylish kitchen items that might never be used. The couple could even encourage each other in achieving their lifestyle
of aspiration. Other labels advertisers favoured include Empty Nesters, Grey Panthers, Ladettes and
Tweenies. The guppies term has since been hijacked by other groups.
|
Yuppies |
Young Urban Professionals |
|
Yummies |
Young Urban Mother |
|
Dinkies |
Double Income No Kids |
|
Sinkies |
Single Income No kids |
|
Minkie |
Middle Income No kids |
|
Poupie |
Porsche Owning Urban Professional |
|
Swell |
Single Woman Earning Lots Of Loot (Miss Yuppie) |
|
Guppies |
Greenpeace Yuppies (The original meaning of the term) |
|
Bobo |
Burnt Out But Opulent |
|
Woopie |
Well Off Older People |
|
Jollies |
Jet Setting Oldsters With Lots Of Loot |
|
Glams |
Greying Leisured Affluent Middle Aged |
|
Deccie |
D.I.Y Decorators Who Drag Stipple and Marble |
|
Splappie |
Stripped Pine Laura Ashley People |
|
Drabbie |
Ethical Urban Quaker With Anti And Pro Views |
|
Dockney |
East Docklands London Yuppie |
|
Tweenie |
Between 5 And 12 Years Old |
|
Ladettes |
Young Women Who Act Like Loutish Lads |
|
Grey Panthers |
Senior Citizens With Opinion |
|
Empty Nesters |
Couples Whose Children Are Grown Up And Away |
Yuppie was a 1980s acronym for 'Young Upwardly Mobile Professional Person'. The
word was coined by the advertising industry to capture the essence of a
particular type of work hard, play hard, ambitious minded city career person of
either sex. The hectic lifestyle of a yuppie meant that after long hours of
work, rare free time was spent in a self indulgent way frittering away the cash
earned on anything, from expensive make up and perfume, to a bottle of fine
champagne. Conspicuous wastage was part of the attitude.
For day Yuppies sported wide shouldered jackets and for weekends they wore a
Barbour to effect a country aesthetic or a ball-gown to assume the appearance of
a more advantaged lifestyle.
One of the strongest looks of the 1980s was power dressing. After John Molloy
wrote his book Women Dress For Success in 1975, corporate America took it to
heart and women began to abandon the incomplete look of mismatched skirt,
sweater or blouse for a full jacketed sober suit. Soon the concept came to
Britain and the rest of Europe followed.
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The aim of female devotees was to rise the corporate ladder. John Molloy
promoted the idea that the simple tailored wool suit in neutral navy or slate
blue grey, worn with non sexual blouses, imitated uniform of rank, which by design
was authoritative.
From research he did with specific social groupings, he maintained that
inferiors and clients accepted the word of a female dressed in a suit with
better grace than if she were wearing a fashion outfit in an exotic fashion
colour that highlighted her sexual allure. In other words sober dressing enabled
a women to be taken seriously like a suited man might be and helped her shine in
the workplace enough to get promotion rapidly. This led to the concept of power
dressing and its influence on all forms of fashion when the shoulder pad
dominated every female top garment, from power suits to knitwear, to T-shirts to
bed attire.
Ever the expert at summing up the zeitgeist, Tom Wolfe penned his now famous
Dickensian novel
'The Bonfire of the Vanities' which captured the notion of
money fever and the use of clothing to indicate the mood of people, attitudes
and places.
Do read this book if you want to experience the spirit of the era.
If you like 1980's music this may be the music site for you at
all80sradio.com
For related 1980 fashion and also 1990s fashion go to:-
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