80’s NEW ROMANTICISM

Likewise, the 80’s also embraced a continued era of deprivation through financial difficulties, a Tory government, and a broken youth, mostly of whom, were unemployed. In this decade, the youth rejected the Punk dress sense, and opted for a whimsical and light-hearted approach to fashion, which engaged theatrical costume, bold makeup, and gender bending defiant traits.

Through layers of white face paint, pigmented eyeshadow and lavish layered fabrics, The New Romantics emerged on the London underground scene, infusing flamboyancy, glam and historical references into their styling, setting themselves far apart from the rest of society. Similarly, to the Punks, this subculture turned to music and the club scenes to vent their anger and seek an escapism where they could freely experiment with who they wanted to be.

John Galliano was a New Romantic and enveloped their energy and dress into his collections, which is why my narrative involves the 80’s alongside the 70’s. I believe the merging of strong personalities and underlying frustrations these eras hold, avidly defines how Generation Alpha will feel and act in years to come.

Do all the research correctly girls, and the dots will start connecting…

Leaning on my analysis of John Galliano and Charles Jeffrey and finding a notable similarity for historical references, inclined me to think much broader in my concepts. I appreciate the past periodical connotations of Charles Jeffrey’s work, but I greatly admire the depth of Galliano’s collections in which he correlates multiple historical styles of fashion to create a narrative in garments too.

For me, combining the 70’s and 80’s era sounded appealing, but I knew my capabilities could extend further in this sector. I want to take influence from Galliano and personally merge an array of historical components together for my Visual Campaign.

My Fashion Futures assignment showed a significant passion for dated periods in history. I wanted to home in on this and dissect an area in the past which has never be referenced before and translate it into today.

Considering John Galliano’s first graduate collection ‘Les Incroyables’ and his inspiration from the French Revolution drove me to discover eras which had a significant reflection of societal conventions today. This was where my *lightbulb moment* came in to play. If I could navigate a time alike the 70’s and 80’s movements, with an additional historical value and considerably different fashion style, how powerful could this final piece portray as a story?

I found just that.