80s Fashion Research Paper

People may say that the true years of fashion began in the late nineteen forties and went on through the early nineteen sixties. If you look at fashion today, its almost repeated the look from sixty years ago. In each generation fashion trends become based on history and/or important events. in the nineteen forties fashion was being modeled by the military wear. World War II caused a drastic change in the way clothes were being made and worn. In the nineteen fifties Americans admired the fashion of movie stars and music artists. Media had a strong influence on the wordly trend. The people of the sixties expressed there personalities and emotions through

One of the big factors early on is that no one wanted to be associated with AIDS due to the fact that it was considered a homosexual man’s disease. There was a lot of fear, denial and anger surrounding this disease. In 1981at the CDC Dr. Guinan asks that a report about an epidemic with gay men had broken out and he wanted it published in the medical journal. The fear of the word “homosexual” was marked off and not used for that article. It took a long time for the realization that this disease could affect everyone from homosexual males, IV drug users, blood transfusion patients, women and even babies. Even though it was initially considered the disease came from gay men and their sexual practices it crossed all borders as time went on. Still today there is some prejudice regarding AIDS. (Spelling, Vincent &

Fears and misconceptions regarding AIDS began when only the homosexual community contracted it. Therefore, people started to believe that only the homosexuals would get the AIDS and blamed them for the cause of the disease. The public was not in fear until some people who were not homosexuals contracted the disease. It was at this time, that the public’s attitude shifted into the fear that anyone was able to have AIDS; it was a sexually transmitted disease. Many were also deceived by the government’s actions. For example, one woman in the movie began to become sick after a blood transfusion. She always thought that it was due to surgical problems, but actually she had contracted AIDS and the doctors knew but didn’t do anything about it. This also caused panic because, even though the government knew AIDS was spreading around they did not do anything about it.

There were many styles that people were able to work with. First off, one of the most common styles was the retro style. Retro was, in a way, inspired by disco. Americans would often wear flares, which were types of jeans where the legs got bigger and “flared” out towards the bottom of the foot (CITATION, #). This proves that retro was just one of the major fashion statements in the 1980s. Another style that Americans tried out was the Glamour style. This fashion included top of the line designers like CoCo Chanel, Versace, and Oscar de la Renta. These designers made a significant impact on the glamorous lifestyle. Glamorous was over the top, but in a fashionable or unique way that people like to dress (CITATION, #). People would wear skirts with a huge puffball at the bottom of it, or switch it up to a nice tight fitting pencil skirt. The economy was a huge factor. Obviously people wanted the best of the best, but the economy was not doing that well (CITATION, #). There were some bad things about the agriculture. Since the United States is just coming out of a recession, they were working on rebuilding businesses in the city so they could expand their business and try to earn back some of the money they lost. This proves that at this point in the 80s, life was not so glamorous because people had to worry about earning back the assets that they lost along with businesses. The farm economy was

Republican President Ronald Reagan served as Commander-in-chief from January 1981 to January of 1989, holding his position in office for two terms. When Reagan took his oath into office, he inherited prior damage from predecessor Jimmy Carter, including the issue of the Iranian Hostage Crisis as well as damage inflicted by the Vietnam War from years prior. Reagan’s start in politics was not the normal approach. Coming from a successful career as a popular Hollywood actor, Reagan acquired his interest in politics in a more unconventional way. As president of the Screen Actors Guild, Reagan became involved in disputes over the issue of Communism in the film industry. His political views quickly shifted from liberal to conservative and he

Semen containing white blood cells infected with HIV comes into contact with tissue in the rectum and vagina. The virus can then enter the bloodstream of the host through perforations in the tissue surface. The risk of this happening is greatest in anal intercourse, either between two men or a man and a woman.” HIV is spread through a direct exchange of blood or blood products. This mode of transmission is most frequent among IV drug users who share injection needles. It includes, as well, hemophiliacs and other persons who receive blood transfusions, and fetuses of mothers who carry the AIDS virus.” AIDS has sparked considerable interest and controversy since the start of the epidemic. However, in trying to identify where AIDS originated, there is a danger that people may try and use the debate to attribute blame for the disease to particular groups of individuals or certain lifestyles. When the AIDS epidemic became offical in June 1981, it was widely considered exclusively a "gay disease” and this was because many people were confused and uneducated about this new, foreign disease that faced and ravaged our society as a whole. There is no doubt that many people coming from all walks of life were subject to discrimination when other people discovered that they were suffering as victims taken by the disease. The cultural and social response to AIDS portrayed in the film Philadelphia (1993) covered all of these aspects and was

The events that are affected by the 1980s decade was music, music has influenced the 1980s so much with Madonna and Michael Jackson. Madonnas hair was all the rage, big curly hair with ratted bangs as high as you could get them she was the queen of the 1980s her fashion influenced so much of the 1980s, girls were curling there bangs just like Madonna she was an icon everyone looked up to her.

This essay will explore the effects social and political changes had on fashion in the 1980’s. This period was chosen because the new romantic fashions were so different to the punk fashions that had been before, this essay will therefore identify the changes that had taken place to influence this change. Primary evidence used to support findings will include interviews and photographs which will show a firsthand account of the period.

The 80 's was an eye opener to a lot of new things, new music, new styles, new points of view on life and new technology. Music was a big hit for the 80 's and so was the technology. A home, family, job and fun was basically what everyone needed to live ahappy life. In the 80 's, people saw the American dream, as a simple task of success andthose years defined them. They were the generation in between differences and facing disagreement andnot turning our backs. The 80 's may have made them idealistic, but it 's idealism that will push themand be passed on to their children, the first children of the twenty-first century.

Ronald Reagan one of the most famous republican presidents of modern history shaped American politics heavily. In 1981, he worked with congress to reduce the top tax rate from seventy percent to fifty percent and lowered the overall marginal tax rate by twenty three percent. In 1986 he helped pass the Tax Reform Act, which lowered the top income tax to twenty eight percent. He also implemented trickle down economics and was anti labor unions. He also ended the Cold War with increase in defense spending, which led the US and the USSR into an arms race then the USSR going bankrupt. He also led the Nuclear Freeze Movement which was trying to abolish nuclear weapons. Reagan was the first president to appoint a female Supreme Court justice, Sandra Day O'Connor.

inevitable that AIDS would be defined in political and cultural terms as well as medically, and

When the AIDS and HIV virus crept its way into the human-race, it quickly, and without warning, claimed the lives of millions. Then when its destructive wake had finally been abated, it left behind several untold mysteries. Throughout the course of this class, all the new material we have been exposed to has added some unique piece to the puzzle of the AIDS epidemic. Each puzzle pieces have ranged from speculations on how the AIDS epidemic had begun, to what exactly has the epidemic done. We have also tackled the question and how it forced a change in society. Our newest piece of the puzzle is the documentary “The Age of AIDS,” by William Cran. Although this documentary did not surprise me in its content, it did, however, affirm certain types

According to a report published in the February 1998 edition of “Nature”, scientists identified what they believe is the earliest case of AIDs in a man from the Congo in 1959. (Lerner and Hombs 39) By the end of the year 1980, 80 men would have been diagnosed with at least of the opportunistic infections that are a characteristic of AIDs. (Lerner and Hombs 40) AIDs cases in the 1980s increased dramatically not only around the world but in the United States, primarily in larger cities like Los Angeles, New York City and San Francisco. The numbers of AIDs diagnoses and deaths spiraled out of control throughout the 1980s and towards the end of 1989 there were 117,500 cases of AIDS reported and 89,000 related deaths.(Lerner and Hombs 54) In the

Fashion was all the rage back in the 1980s. Mostly men and women wore a mullet, kids wore their jelly shoes, and teens had their boom boxes. But there’s way more to it than fashion. There’s also fads. Fads such as the slangs “PSYCHE!” and “Not!” But fashion choices were really interesting such the fingerless gloves or the jelly shoes

The eighties were a great decade so much went on in that time period especially at the beginning. The eighties started off with the assassination of John Lennon in 1980 which put a sadness in the music air and then in 1981 Bob Marley another great musician died. Music also changed a lot in the eighties as well it went from more of a disco in the 70’s to more of a rap sound in the 80’s. Musicians like Blonde, New Kids on the Block, and Sugar Hill Gangs where introduced in the eighties. In 1982 Michael Jackson broke away from the Jackson five to come out with his song “Thriller” and that song is still very well like even to this day. The music in the 1980’s was constantly changing with a large genre of music. With most of the 80’s music still well known to most even today.