1980s Party Clothes
The 1980s were a time when women wore short haircuts and layers of clothing, and men -- at least entertainers -- wore heavy makeup and grew their hair long. MTV came along in the 1980s, revolutionizing fashion and music. Men and women used clothing, hair and makeup to express their individuality and creativity. Party clothes in the 1980s included ruffled dresses, fingerless gloves, puffy shirts, leg warmers, leotards, sports jackets and collared T-shirts. Does this Spark an idea?
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Ruffled Dresses
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Cyndi Lauper and Madonna -- during her "Like a Virgin" period -- popularized ruffled, puffy dresses. Ruffled dresses were fitted in the abdomen area and loose at the waist and hip. The skirt of the dress featured lots of ruffles and made the dress look similar to the one worn by nursery rhyme character Little Bo Peep. The dresses were made from cotton, soft velvet or satin. They were accessorized with puffy hair ponytails, huge earrings, bracelets and necklaces. Colors ranged any from black on the top with a fuchsia bottom to solid cerulean. Bright colors were all the rage, including yellow, orange, lime green and hot pink.
Leg Warmers
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Women sometimes wore leg warmers with ruffled dresses and heels or simply with an over-sized sweatshirt. Leg warmers normally covered the lower legs and could be made of cotton, knitted wool or synthetic fibers. Although leg warmers were commonly worn during exercising, they were also a common accessory for party outfits because they paired with color-coordinated ruffled dresses.
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Puffy Shirts
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Puffy or pirate-style shirts began as a United Kingdom trend, but the musical artist Prince wore one in his "Purple Rain" music video. Puffy shirts had ruffles on the sleeves and on the chest area covering the buttons. The shirts were usually white or off-white and made of cotton, linen, satin or velvet and worn with tight black stretch pants or slightly loose fitting black slacks.
Fingerless Gloves
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Fingerless gloves were worn with ruffled dresses to parties but also by punk-rock fans and romance enthusiasts. Fingerless gloves were made from both leather and lace and came in colors such as white, black and pink.
Parachute Pants
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The 1980s party scene couldn't be complete without parachute pants. Parachute pants were tight at the waist area and baggier toward the bottom of the leg. Parachute pants had zippered pockets on different parts of the pant legs. The pants were originally made of a nylon material and came in various colors such as gray, black and blue.
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References
- Photo Credit dress image by sasha from Fotolia.com
