Big hair was in and men wore their hair long and wild. Having a permanent done at a hair salon to achieve flowing curly locks was equally appealing to both men and women. If you couldn’t make a lion’s mane or a gigantic bush out of your hair, then you chopped it, dyed it, spiked it, and did everything you could to make your hair look like a UFO had just landed. The idea was to make your hair as big and as wild as possible.

This was the same for both guys and girls. Next to hair, the biggest fashion trend-setter was the dressing up in metallic fabrics for the dance scene. The women had an overabundance of and affection for gold lame’ but the metallic fabrics also showed up in men’s fashion in the form of silvery pants and gold shirts, that ranged from the horrid to the classically sexy. One of the favorites was any metallic material threaded with gold threads. It was all about sparkling under the dance lights.

80s FASHION TRENDS – Modern Upgrade

Off the dance floor we poured ourselves into the tightest fitting jeans possible. The modern upgrade to this trend is to offer jeans that are made of slightly stretchable fabric so they achieve the same tight-fitting look without the discomfort or having to pull the zipper up with pliers to be able to put them on. The 80′s were the last days of vinyl and all the music was bought and sold through record stores. Luckily the modern DJ’s still have a taste for the old school stuff because it just is not as easy to scratch mix with a couple of Cd’s, so for now the extended play DJ mixes and re-mixes on vinyl are still the dominant medium for musical playback in nightclubs. During the eighties, guys also wore spandex especially if they were in a heavy metal band or they wore tight black leather pants and jackets with chains and piercings to show how punk they were.

The 80 s business attire was expressive with thin ties, pointed-toe dress shoes, strong contrast in colors, or the classic juxtaposition of black and white with the complimentary ray ban sunglasses to finish off the look. You could wear a shirt without a tie, complimented by five o’clock shadow, a la “Miami Vice” and be perfectly acceptable at the office. While current business attire has now gone more sedate, the same 80′s business look has found its way back into the realm of the night-clubbers who dress up to go out for a night on the town and want to express themselves with abandon as a modern 80′s baby.

Pohl is a writer for mens fashion. He also started several online tie retailers including is latest website: Bows-n-Ties.com that sorted ties by color. If you are looking for some trendy ties then pohl suggests you also have a look at these Slim Ties.