The Pioneers Of Party.

    “You might have been wearing dungarees; but they had to be the right dungarees”

When you think of the 80s, what comes to mind? For me it’s leg warmers, Duran Duran and my dear mother sporting a perm, denim jacket and peddle pushers.

My edgy 80s Mother. 

 However, clubbing isn’t something I would immediately jump to. It’s a scene i’m sure a lot of you out there are relatively acquainted with. I know the friends i’m forcing to read this blog certainly are, and I am to. When you really break it down, the nature of clubbing is actually quite a funny one, and you dress up in a particular way for particular clubs. Whether you’re tottering along in your heels and Motel dress, or your throwing on you high tops and denim shorts... Whatever the case may be, there are certain unwritten rules to dressing for a club, and as much as we hate to admit it, we all follow them. I am also guilty of this, there were some clubs in my University town of Reading that I wouldn’t have dreamed of entering without my heels, yet I would have happily gone out to my Students Union in a bin bag. So when and where did this all begin?

The place to find the answer is the ‘1980s Club to Catwalk’ exhibition at the V&A. It is a brilliant, interesting and thought provoking exhibition. Being someone that is both interested in History and Fashion I was looking forward to the trip with LCS, I had my pen and paper out before I had got off the tube at South Kensington.

Club to Catwalk explores the creative explosion of fashion in the 1980s, the decade that dared. The 80s launched the careers of many new designers, and was the emergence of a vibrant club and music scene, and the two colliding created an explosion of devil may care looks and attitudes. I could spend all day relaying the extensive amount of information I wrote down (please don’t close this window down yet) however, i’m going to keep it short and sweet and just explain a couple of things I learn’t personally from the exhibition, and what fashion today has learnt from it to.

You begin the exhibition with the designers, and the first thing I picked up from this section was that Maggie Thatcher was a surprising ally to the fashion world, saying “Fashion is important because it raises the quality of life when people take the trouble to dress well, and it also provides employment for many, many people.” So behind the pearls and the two pieces, there was a fashionista within Maggie, wearing a bomber jacket and dungarees dying to get out. However, despite being an advocate to fashion, haters will always be haters, and this is highlighted in Katharine Hamnetts casual clothing range. She is probably one of the most well known designers of the decade, her t-shirts sported well known slogans such as ‘Stay Alive in 85’, ‘Get it Straight by 88’ and ‘Get Thatcher Out’. Her T-Shirts were a platform for anti-war demonstrations and green politics. They highlight the daring nature and angst of fashion the 80s. Now i’ve never been a conservative, but i’ve also never been a condemner, and found it sad that even within an industry she supported Maggie was still sent to the stacks - if Katharine had been around in this age she would have probably had ‘Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead’ set to repeat on her iPod, but it is a perfect example of the strong messages that the designers in fashion were trying to set with their creations. 

Another nugget I learnt when walking around the exhibition was the amount of history that designers during the decade had pulled from. Vivenne Westwood quoted “I am a great believer in copying” and took this to re work fashions in a completely new and unique way. Her toga dress is a fine example of this, which was a design of classical drapery, incorporating printed motifs borrowed from modern art, the piece in the exhibition exampled this toga dress with an image of a can of Campbells Noodle Beef Soup printed on the side. Clearly my lecturers who lectured me in Ancient History at univerisity failed to mention the Greeks waltzing around sporting Andy Wharhol inspired prints on their togas.

Another designer who flourished in the 80s that took from history was John Galliano, with his french revolutionary inspired collection. John Galliano, who said “all experimental cutting led me to understand precisely how a jacket has been put together in the past; how to put it together correctly in the present and then from that, I was led to dismantle it and reassemble it in a way that would point to the future.” A fine explanation of how designers constantly pull and develop on the past. 

  There was one thing that I kept thinking when walking around the exhibition, if you landed up down Brick Lane on Saturday night, you would most likely see the majority of people (whilst knocking back a can of Red Stripe) dressed in a lot of what was being exhibited. So, just like how the 80s took from the past, we have taken from them. The designers of this decade were literal trend setters and the 80s was the beginning of rave, denim, lycra... all of which holds a predominant place in fashion and society today (and American Apparel..).  

Pam Hoggs 'Brave New World'

Heading upstairs, you hit the trends and the club section, which show examples from phases such as Goth, Glam Fetish, New Romantic, High Camp, Rave, Body Map, Hard Times.... all of which can still be found in some corner of London today. Each trend could be related to a certain club in London during the decade, for example New Romantic beginning at the 'Blitz' club, and High Camp at 'Taboo'. These clubs attracted a small selective crowd, and were suited for that particular trend, much like clubs around the world today. None of these groups are tame, all are outrageous in some manner and again highlight the audacious attitude of the 80s. Every aspect of it is brilliant and it is an example of the bravery that a lot of creative individuals hold whether its by showcasing their style as goth or glam, it’s admirable and a confidence I wish I held, however, it’s probably best that whilst growing up in Lincolnshire I never did, If I had ever walked around there in Pam Hoggs ‘Brave New World’ outfit, i’d have probably had stones pelted at me. 

The exhibition at the V&A is in a word, brilliant. Even if fashion isn’t your forte, I couldn’t recommend it enough. You gain so much more from it than just information on clothes, you learn about history of the decade, inspirations and can gage how not only the clothes and designers have developed through time, but how we as a society have developed with them. The 80s was the beginning of the hardening attitudes in fashion, music and opinion; all of which are still being reflected today.