In the world of fashion, the ’80s was an era of excess: bright and shiny fabrics, wild patterns, gaudy sweaters, big neck bows, bigger shoulder pads and even bigger hair. Women took cues from Joan Collins of TV’s “Dynasty,” men took theirs from Don Johnson of “Miami Vice” and everybody wanted to look like the singers on that then-new channel MTV.
“This was the last explosion of American fashion, when people wanted to wear the weird stuff,” said Laura Crow. “It was the last time of theatricality, of clothing as street theater. It was the last period when men had long hair.”
Crow is a stage costume designer and a professor of costume history, design and technology at UConn’s Department of Dramatic Arts. She curated “Eccentrics: The Evolution of the Eighties,” a delightful exhibit on view throughout the summer in the gallery in the basement of the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts on the Storrs campus.
The exhibit is a fun counterpoint to Crow’s last curatorial work: the Beatrix Fox Auerbach show at the Connecticut Historical Society. Auerbach’s sedately elegant wardrobe reflected the powerful woman executive of the ’30s to ’60s. Two decades later, businesswomen who wanted to be both formidable and chic mimicked Collins, whose costumes were designed by Nolan Miller.
“There were three women on ‘Dynasty,’ but Alexis was the powerful woman, the head of a corporation. She had the same power Mr. Carrington had. She was a force to be dealt with,” Crow said. “The women’s power movement popularized these clothes. She made the ‘femme fatale’ or the ‘bad woman’ someone to be dealt with, a glamorous image.”
The exhibit features some Alexis-like business suits with “power” accessories: scarves, brooches, jewelry and those ubiquitous shoulder pads. The pieces come from UConn’s historical costume collection, which recently received large donations of vintage pieces from theater director Emma Duricko and designer Arnold Scaasi, who was at his peak in the ’80s.
Girls who just wanted to have fun had other fashion role models: Cyndi Lauper and her random feathers, beads and multicolored, punky hair; Madonna and her lace and visible bustiers; Salt N Pepa’s androgynous ‘tude, all of them in a wild palette of hues.
Men had MTV fashion idols, too: Adam Ant, the first of the “New Romantics,” whose Vivienne Westwood-designed costumes combined military and pirate motifs; Michael Jackson, who combined military styles with sequins, spangles and rhinestones; Prince, who mixed the pirate-shirt look with crushed velvet; the glam metal of Mötley Crüe; the androgyny of Boy George.
Women of more sedate taste might have preferred the styles favored by Princess Diana. Even those, Crow said, showcased a more imaginative array of colors than are seen today. “This is a decade that used color brilliantly,” Crow said. “Women don’t wear color like that anymore. When they do, they’re considered daring.” Two of the Scaasi donation pieces show his signature basket-weaved chiffon, one pink and the other yellow.
The exhibit highlights the sapphire-blue Scaasi worn by Barbara Bush at her husband’s 1989 inauguration. A shorter version of the dress is on show, with her signature triple strand of pearls. Nancy Reagan, too, had an impact on fashion. Her fondness for red is reflected in five pieces.
Reagan’s husband, however, had a negative influence on couture, Crow said. The president’s inaction on the AIDS crisis did nothing to stem the carnage in the gay community. That community’s uninhibited sense of adventure was the driving force behind many cutting-edge fashion trends.
“Drag queens inspired people to go a little crazy. They ramped up how people dressed,” Crow said. “AIDS destroyed a magnificent decade. After a while, there was very little for them to keep up that joy and that heretical spoofing of women and glamour.”
The influence of another AIDS casualty, legendary artist Keith Haring, is seen in several pieces in the show that co-opted his energetic aesthetic.
Crow mourns the end of this wacky decade. “The last time people felt truly prosperous was the ’80s. It was joyful and fun. … There was this naive optimism overwhelming it all,” she said. “The world is not such a happy place anymore.”
‘ECCENTRICS: THE EVOLUTION OF THE EIGHTIES’ is at Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts, 2132 Hillside Road, University of Connecticut in Storrs, until Oct. 1. Gallery hours are weekdays 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. or by appointment by emailing Crow at laura.crow@uconn.edu. During the month of August, due to construction at the Jorgensen, call ahead to the box office (860-486-4226) to make sure the gallery is open before visiting. Admission to the exhibit is free.
Editor’s note: This story has been edited from a previous version to reflect the fact that the exhibit has been extended.
