The 80's,High Fashion,Androgyny and Transgenderism

[Solitary Brother]

What do you guys think of the 80's and some of the things that were in vogue at that time?
I love the eighties.....very open minded times and very creative.
The music has never been better than the 80's....The fashion was amazing as were all the creative arts but something flew under the radar.
The androgynous look that became mainstream.
Guys wearing make up and gender ambiguous clothing courtesy of COMMES DES GARCON and the great japanese designers.
I kinda like the how can I put it?.....gayness that was abundant in the 80's...
Prince Michael Jackson Boy George Marilyn.

Now things have turned decidedly more macho and the creativity and originality is gone....
Is there a connection?

[giovanni_hotel]

Yeah, almost every Brit techno/club band in the '80s was overtly fem. Guys wearing lipstick, androgynous front men, lesbian chic, etc.

I don't think it's really changed that much, just the packaging.

Justin Beiber(sic?), and a lot of those male tween stars on Disney and Nickelodeon are very fem/androgynous, mainly because of their youth.

I see more out gay TV personalities and celebs than sexually ambiguous types, like there were in the '80s. Maybe that's a byproduct of the previous two decades.

[runround04]

Only the 80's could produce this, I kinda like it tho

[Caff_Racer]

Although at the time I was busily going my teenage years, for me the 80s will forever be tainted by the shadow of Maggie Thatcher and the way she single-handedly wreaked havoc on British industry. Indeed, if she could have done so, she'd have turned the UK into a kind of dictatorship along the lines of the show run by her great pal Augusto Pinochet in Chile.

No, for me the only good things to come out of the 80s were the New Wave of British Heavy Metal and the first 750 GSX-R back in '85.

[BellaBellucci]

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs259.snc4/40296_138748292827916_100000782396992_173525_70849 59_n.jpg

~BB~

[lisaparadise]

THE 80S WERE THE BEST BY FAR ESPECIALLY THE MUSIC YouTube - Guns N' Roses-Paradise City W/Lyrics (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHEUsGhUtgg) YouTube - Def Leppard - Rock Of Ages (1983) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvNOZegkVXo&feature=list_related&a=GxdCwVVULXfwdaqZ7YWi_z5caavXeXGf&list=ML&playnext=1)

[PomonaCA]

Yep. You can't have a Boy George nowadays. Music became very angry around the turn of 1990. Angry and drugged out. Granted, Boy George was a druggie, even then, but drugs weren't a theme of Culture Clubs music. Music became very dark around the time of the rise of Nirvana and NWA. It's really sad and I feel sorry for the kids today. I'm glad I was a kid in the 80's. If I have to choose between guys wearing makeup like girls and acting like fags or the druggies of today like Amy Winehouse and Lindsay Lohan, I'll chose the guys wearing makeup and acting like fags any day.

[Tepres]

The 80s was tacky.

[phobun]

What do you guys think of the 80's and some of the things that were in vogue at that time?
I love the eighties.....very open minded times and very creative.
The music has never been better than the 80's....The fashion was amazing as were all the creative arts but something flew under the radar.
The androgynous look that became mainstream.
Guys wearing make up and gender ambiguous clothing courtesy of COMMES DES GARCON and the great japanese designers.
I kinda like the how can I put it?.....gayness that was abundant in the 80's...
Prince Michael Jackson Boy George Marilyn.

Now things have turned decidedly more macho and the creativity and originality is gone....
Is there a connection?


Dude, it's time to come out of the closet.

[jedimaster]

if anything, THESE are the times of more openness, tolerance, and "cool" for androgynous and "gender-defiant" attitudes, behaviors, roles and lifestyles.

Just look at the various threads started on the topic of "androgynous" or "femboy" kids. i'm not pointing this out to promote against or for the femboys. i'm just saying, look at the sheer numbers of them! Do you really think these kids would have been able to live normal lives while being themselves, androgynously, in the 80's?

These are kids who have normal lives, they go to school, work, whatever life is for them, and happen to be accepted more than we might think. Most of what we see is the "tranny" side of it, the escorts, the porn, but there's A LOT of young androgynous and transgender people who are actively pursuing their preferred lifestyles WITH or WITHOUT their family's and friend's help and/or approval... in many cases, it's WITH their approval and even help. Do you think this would have been possible in the 80's?

Because if the 80's were so tolerant and creative as you say, i think we'd be ahead of where we are today. i'm not saying we're behind, but gay marriage would be 100% legal everywhere by now, etc. Just sayin. The 80's did their part for tolerance, diversity, creativity, etc, but i think NOW is the really exciting times, i'm talkin about times that change and define history. Socially, culturally, technologically, in pretty much every field.

THESE are the real exciting times. There'll always be macho shit going on, but i don't see any increase of chauvinism and machoism nowadays. If anything it's quite the opposite.

[ILoveGG&TS]

This is the best song of the 80's.

YouTube - TEARS FOR FEARS - SHOUT (ORIGINAL) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54IN3URGuM8&feature=related)

[Silcc69]

Shit I miss the 80's but I was a child during those times and I had never heard of Boy George till the 90's or so. But for old times sake......

YouTube - Transformers The Movie (1986) - Original Theatrical Trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oh3wgldJxRM)

[lovesall]

I do miss the 80's, growing up in the 80's they don't make cartoons like they used to. Today the cartoons are crap compared to way back when.