There have been rumors about the “return of the 1980’s”, is that a good thing. Well, how about you judge for yourself, based on some of these fashion trends from the 1980’s for men. In general fashion in the 1980’s for men was about expressionism. There were changes as the decade progressed from the end of the disco era of the 1970’s into the “hair band” era of the mid through late 1980’s, which had a large role in how men dressed. Yet, the way men dressed for work and outside of the office differed greatly.
In the office, men actually returned to more of the classic professional dress of earlier decades. Straight slacks, and long sleved collared shirts were common. Sport jackets were also commonly worn in the office place. For outerwear to keep warm when going to the office, one of the most commonly seen jackets was the “Members Only” brand of jacket which was a fashionable and conservative piece of outerwear. Jewelry was not common on men in the workplace until the late 1980’s as some more of an anti-establishment movement started to bleed over into the workplace.
Where fashion was determined in the 1980’s for men though, was in casual wear outside of the office. The dress for men outside of the office was greatly influenced by the music scene. Early in the decade there was still some leftover from the disco era, but a pop artist named Michael Jackson ended up having a bigger effect. Michael Jackson’s leather jackets and pants with multiple zippered pockets, commonly referred to as parachute pants, on them became much more common among men in the 1980’s in the first half of the decade than the leftover fashion trends from the 1970’s. In the middle of the decade though, fashions started to change. The leather jackets remained though.
The leather jackets changed to motorcycle jackets though as the “hair bands” of the 80’s took over. This is what many people remember about the 1980’s fashion scene. The hair band period which pretty much included the entire second half of the 80’s saw men wearing leather jackets and denim. This wasn’t your traditional though. These were known as “stone washed” or “acid washed” jeans. These tended to look faded and be lighter colors than the traditional denim. These jeans also were commonly worn torn. At one point they were even sold “pre-torn” for the fashion of the decade.
As far as jewelry on men went, the early 1980’s were rather conservative. Yet, things changed again with the beginning of the “hair band era” in the second half of the decade. No longer were class rings pretty much all you would see men wearing. Now you would see necklaces worn, many times with a charm representing their favorite band or bands on the necklace as well. Rings were not uncommon for men to wear during the second half of the 1980’s as well.
Shoes during the decade were largely controlled by sports stars. One of the most famous stars of the 1980’s was basketball star Michael Jordan. Almost every male child, and even many young men wanted a pair of “Air Jordan” tennis shoes with high tops covering their ankes. These were the trend that replaced the “Chuck Taylor” tennis shoes also named after another sports star.
As you can see the 1980’s were a time of transition from the disco era of the 1970’s to the alternative culture of the 1990’s. There were clothes designed around sports stars and music idols for casual wear, but a more traditional dress was common in the workplace. Many remember the 1980’s as a decade of “the hair bands” but in reality that fashion trend only was evident in the second half of the decade.
