The 1980s was an era in which diversity and uniqueness were pushed to the forefront of mainstream media. A deciphering reason for this can be unambiguously linked to the plenitude of creative, ambitious and era defining music of the 1980s alongside with the abundant subcultures that presented during the era. With the introduction of MTV and henceforth the birth of the music video, hair and makeup played a vital part in allowing the public to be inspired. The 1980s saw the bridging together of the constricted 1970s to the liberal nature of the 1990s and never has an era been more fundamental for change and afire with political controversy. Through a thorough investigation of hair and makeup styles that developed throughout the 1980s and examining the political, external, sociological and technological influences during this period it is possible to develop a clear and precise understanding of the extrinsic forces that influenced hair and makeup fashions of the 1980s.
During the 1980s, creativity was in abundance and this can best be seen through the diverse nature of the constant developments in hair and makeup. In an era where identity was at the forefront of everything, hair and makeup allowed a person to develop a unique identity. Celebrity culture played a huge role in the development of personal identity. A defining subculture of the era may be recognized as the New Romantics and they can best be described as at the artier spectrum of the punk scale (Charlish,N 2013). Furthermore, the origins of new romanticism came from a mix of late 70s brit pop and underground punk. As a matter of fact, the New Romantics lent inspiration stylistically from pirates, buccaneers and portrait paintings from the 17th and 18th century, Vivienne Westwood is the most notable fashion inspiration for new romantics due to her 1981 Autumn/Winter catwalk entitled “Pirate” (Vivienne Westwood: Punk, New Romantics and Beyond. V&A Museum No Date).
What is more is that the Makeup which accompanied this catwalk was also filtered down into mainstream wear and became fashionable which is fundamental in highlighting the power that Vivienne Westwood had during the New Romantic genre. Music icons of the new romantic genre include Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet and Boy George, (Weston Thomas, no date). All these artists had unique sounds and a different style. For example, Spandau Ballet were cleaner cut in comparison to Boy George whose flamboyancy and queernees saw him gain notability outside of music and was labeled by the media as a "gender- bender" due to his androgynous nature (Mcalpine, F 2011). His popularity only grew from this as he was pushed into the spotlight as the media was keen to highlight the uniqueness as androgynous males was quite a new concept. Previously women were not valued in society as highlighted during the Elizabethan era where males would dress up in women's attire to perform Shakespeare but during the 1980s after the feminist movement of the 1960s and 1970s women gained more power in society and started to blur the lines of gender (Cochrane, K 2013).
It is disputed on how new romantics viewed politics during one of the most politically challenging climates of the 20th century in Britain. On one hand Vine (2009) suggests that bands such as Duran Duran had unintentionally printed "Thatcherism" on to vinyl, however, in a contrasting view Bernstein (2013) stated that new romantics The Jam, fronted by Paul Weller, were more than happy to overspill their hatred for Thatcher, most notably in the song " A town called malice". The reason for why there was such a difference in political views in the new romantic culture is that it was diverse in nature meaning that anybody was accepted no matter their views or political standing and there was a high level of tolerance and acceptance. Another defining political issue during the 1980s which had an impact on the media persecution of the subculture was the aids epidemic was fundamental in highlighting the impact media persuasion had on a public's interpretation of a group of people. The reason why this is key in the history of new romanticism is since a lot of the community were part of the LGTBQ community, and the media coverage of the aid's crisis saw an attack on the community.
“The gay community responded to the “gay cancer” with skepticism coupled with a critique of the medical profession and the media’s “persistent capacity for major distortion in their coverage of gay-related issues” (TBP, 1981, p. 19). Referring to major North American newspaper and media coverage, TBP lamented having to “endure the publicity which sensationalizes another ‘gay disease’” (Lewis & Coates, 1981, p. 43)”
(C, Mackenzie (2016), Love, Lust, and Loss in the Early Age of AIDS: The Discourse in the Body Politic From 1981 to 1987 P. 1753)
The constant media attention which had otherwise been positive for the genre due to the uniqueness of the frontrunners of the genre, saw the New Romantics brought into mainstream media alongside a high level of scrutiny. However, they appealed to rebellious individuals wich was a direct link to more exposure which in turn saw a rise in demand for the products to enable the public to imitate the individual style of the likes of Boy George and David Bowie.
Furthermore, the 1980s was a time in which makeup and hair fashions had a huge influential role in the consumption of hair and makeup products and is still evident in today's economic climate. and many of the styles have managed to filter their way into modern day fashions however there was a lot of fashions that were exclusive to the 1980s and (Eldridge, L 2012) implies that blusher had never been used in such quantities as it had been in the 1980s. This implies that fashions within the makeup industry have advanced and styles are constantly changing and alongside consumer demand brands have to keep their products within trend. Icons such as Bowie and Grace Jones could be held responsible for the growth of blusher sales in the 1980s which shows influence icons had during the era which correlates to the power Kim Kardashian has in this era as between 2013 to 2014 sales for blusher and contour saw a rise in sales by 12% according to (Mintel.Com,2015). This proves that celebrities have and will forever hold a president over the economic structure within the hair and makeup industry.
David Bowie was fundamental in the reincarnation of 70s brit pop into new romanticism, a reason for this could be that he understood the look was just as important as the music M, Wagoner 2014 which became more apparent with the introduction of MTV in 1981. Bowie was able to keep his look contemporary and continuously updated it through change within the eras. His unique style was key in the development of androgynous styling with women starting to wear power suits and wore their hair short and spiky and sometimes in mullets which could be seen as more of a political statement and part of the post feminism movement (Fiell, C 2013.) As with David Bowie the same could be said for Boy George who according to (Corson, R 2003) the first ever male to appear on the cover of Cosmopolitan magazine which drew inspiration from the 1950s and Dynasty icons Joan Collins rather than the Blitz Club which was associated with new romanticism as a hub for social interaction and was frequently visited by the likes of Spandau Ballet, Duran Duran and Boy George (Elan, P 2010). The reason for this could be because New Romanticism was short lived and saw a downwards in popularity in 1983 suggests (Nodes, M no date) however bands such as Spandau Ballet updated their look and sound to a more polished and mainstream sound this could be linked to how the public started to interpret new romantics as the constant media defamation would have had an impact on how new romantics were perceived and record labels started to manufacture artist into idealistic pop stars. By 1985 the genre of new romanticism had dispersed and lots of new genres were created however the lasting flamboyancy of New Romantics was heavily recognized as a defining style of the 1980s.
With an increase in film and television it brought about one of the most iconic and recognizable makeup brands to date, MAC Cosmetics in 1984. The creators, Frank Toskan and Frank Angelo became infuriated with the lack of vibrant makeup products that transpired onto camera so therefore they set about creating colorful makeup which up until this point makeup had been primarily skincare based which with the introduction of the music video and MTV bands such as Culture Club wanted their flamboyancy and creativeness to shine through into their videos.
“One of the most popular new offerings was an intense matte red lipstick that was used on a photo shoot with a New York cabaret star named Madonna, later photographed wearing a M·A·C T-shirt, the revolution was on. While other major makeup brands were predominantly skincare companies, M·A·C chose instead to establish itself as the ultimate colour authority.”
(MAC Cosmetics Website, MAC Cosmetics- Our History, No Date)
Whilst Madonna is not noted as a key member of the New Romantic movement, she is noted to have punk influence which derived from new romanticism henceforth during the later period of the era Madonna was key in the rebranding of New Romanticism into a cleaner and more polished sound and appearance. In addition to the reinvention of new romanticism into a cleaner and polished version of punk it is noted that another attempt to revitalize New Romanticism was in July 1985 and the Live Aid concert, this pushed New Romanticism to American culture and it is suggested that they didn’t interpret the synthetic instruments well which is considered one of the biggest controversies within the genre implies (Rimmer, D, 2003). This provides evidence that the approach of the new romantics could be subjective to British culture and interpretation and provides an insight into the different approaches to style including hair and makeup the British public had in comparison to the USA during the 1980s.
To summarize, the New Romantic era was massively influential in current interpretations of 1980s culture regardless of the genre being rather short lived. However, most of the big names of the genre such as Boy George, Spandau Ballet and David Bowie managed to maintain relevancy within the music industry thus remaining an influence upon the consumption of hair and makeup fashions during the 1980s. This era was aloft with technical developments such as MTV and the introduction of the music video hence force it was vital for makeup companies to develop more colorful and vibrant products that transpired onto the new medium. As for developments in hair, the crimper, perm and hair extension all came into popularity and the new romantics set about creating more of a bold statement with their hair. Alongside celebrity culture, politics had an influence on how the new romantics were perceived by the genral public which inevitability held a responsibility for how a person dressed and the new romantics were labeled as rebellious by the more conservative genres such as those still reminiscing in the traditional nature of the 1970s. This is also prominent in how the new romantics were interpreted in social groups and how they were held accountable for issues outside of their control. Economically, the New Romantics would have had an influence on the sales of certain makeup products, a staple being blusher and colorful eyeshadow although this would be small. Within technology there was a lot of developments but most notably MTV had the most substantial influence on the portrayal of hair and makeup fashions in the 1980s. Overall the New Romantic genre, whilst short lived, was fundamental in gaining a comprehensive understanding of the direct influence a genre had on the consumption of hair and makeup fashions.
Reference list
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