How To Dress Eighties (Without Looking Too Eighties)
Esquire's Fashion Director Catherine Hayward knows how to solve our readers' most pressing style conundrums. This week, how to dress at just the right level of Eighties.
I'm being told that the Eighties are back in, and that we're all going mad for those big boxy suits again. That said, I really don't want to look like my dad at his wedding. How do I get it right? – Sam, Liverpool
A good question, especially as we're all a bit bored of the WFH wardrobe. We're bored of pyjamas and sweatpants and the Zoom conference wardrobe. Really bored. And we've all taken to watching a lot of old Eighties movies that have you planning some Risky Business with Ferris Bueller at St. Elmo's. Yes, the Eighties are back – again. And not just on your Netflix suggestions.
For those old skoolers who lived through it the first time around – and I include myself in this category – I apologise. I will not be resurrecting stone wash jeans (and definitely not acid wash: we had some standards). Nor do I advise pumping half a can of Elnett onto your grown-out roots (bad for the scalp, and the environment) but a redux is par for the course in fashion these days. How else can we explain the current appetite for camp collar shirts? (NB: I prefer the term ‘Cuban collar’, but I bow to the collective coercive pressure of the twenty-somethings on staff who are enjoying this Eighties craze/pandemic for the first time from the safety of their parents’ houses in the provinces. Bless). So grab your raspberry berets, and if you’re sitting comfortably, then I’ll begin.
The House of Versace is the spiritual home of brash, in-yer-face styling. And a scroll through the latest runway collection ticks all those eighties boxes: neon, print, big shoulders, leather kecks, experimental hair. It’s Donatella at her finest. And while you may be forgiven for thinking it’s all a bit Palm Springs pensioner, have you seen the shirts? Handpainted by LA based artist Andy Dixon, the archive Caravaggio print pieces depict Bacchus, the Roman god of wine and revelry, and come in a heavy silk twill for major maximalism on Houseparty, or on printed stretch denim so you can wear it as a jacket too.
New Parisian label on the block, Casablanca, riffs on the loud graphic shirt theme for summer too and it’s an easy way to incorporate the Eighties trend into your existing wardrobe. French–Moroccan founder Charaf Tajar dials down the volume with a colour palette of soft muted pastels, but turns it all the way back up to ten with a bold emerald green illustration of the Barbary lion - the national emblem of Morocco – emblazoned across the chest.
Simon Porte Jacquemus broke the internet last July when he staged his Summer 2020 show on a bubble gum pink pathway through the lavender fields of Provence. Known for his wide, boxy, layered menswear silhouette – very Armie Hammer in Call Me By Your Name, which was coincidentally set in 1983 – Jacquemus’s painterly prints look just as good on the double front pleated shorts as they do on the shirts. Pair them with the matching shirt for an updated take on the WFH casual suit. A visible white undervest does the trick too.
Over at Reiss Towers, they’ve gone heavy on the embroidered western shirts and the snakeskin effects throughout their Americana collection. So far, so retro. But the best things by far are the terry towelling pieces – in particular, this zip front polo top with a towelling front panel. The camel and ecru colour scheme may seem restrained but I suggest channelling the full George Michael with a pair of micro shorts or, as worn here, a pair of freshly laundered white jeans.
So there you have it: how to dress Eighties without looking too Eighties. Now for a cocktail as I watch Cocktail.
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