Hi: I'm doing research on '80s fashion trends and would like to know whether or not this is true. Someone told me that young people in the '80s dressed as if they belonged in their favourite band. Now I know that fans of Madonna and MJ would copy their style but can the same be said of fans of Def Leppard, Tears for Fears, or Flock of Seagulls, as examples? (Hope this makes sense.)

No myth.

Well, the Flock of Seagulls haircut has defined that generation, so they were certainly setting a trend there.  Def Leppard fans were generally heavy metal fans and still look the same to this very day  ;D  Tears for Fears did not really have a "style" so I don't think there was anything to copy.  I do know a few people who would dress like Duran Duran, Cyndi Lauper or Boy George.  Hope that helps!

I tried to do the Mike Score Seagull numerous times, but my hair wasn't long enough and I didn't have the right kind of gel. 

P.I.L. wasn't my favorite band, but circa 1986, I looked quite a bit like Johnny does here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzNjmIWbns4

  As Max and Ladybug said, the practice is not BS.  It was normal and commonplace to assume the trappings, if not the persona, of their preferred artist/actor. Dude in my class, Jerry, was an Eddie Van Halen lookalike.  Others were mimicking their favorite artists - Rockwell or El Debarge or RFTW or Howard Jones some-such...

  Personally, I wanted to look like Mad Max, but I'm not going to go into that.  Others preferred Sonny Crockett from Miami Vice...

No myth.

Well, the Flock of Seagulls haircut has defined that generation, so they were certainly setting a trend there.  Def Leppard fans were generally heavy metal fans and still look the same to this very day  ;D  Tears for Fears did not really have a "style" so I don't think there was anything to copy.  I do know a few people who would dress like Duran Duran, Cyndi Lauper or Boy George.  Hope that helps!


My cousin totally tried to look like Boy George!

My cousin totally tried to look like Boy George!


SO DID I!

I didn't have the industry's top make-up artists working on me, so it came out more like Robert Smith...and then intentionally like Robert Smith!  A lot people thought  I was gay, but I was like, "Even if I was, you got a problem with that?"

It shall all be detailed in my upcoming memoir "How to get beat up in the 'burbs!"
http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/05/fuzz.gif

I'll type so that you can copy, cut, paste directly into your paper:

Inthe00s.com forum lurker and casual 80s expert "Stinkyy" found that the most prevalent hair themes in the 80s were the "70s crusader" a la Shaun Cassidy, Harrison Ford (renowned as Han Solo in Star Wars) or Billy Zabka (as the iconic 80s badass Johnny Lawrence in Karate Kid).  Stinkyy also remarked that he was highly annoyed by the "bouffant bangs" hairstyle on women that emerged in the late 80s, that odd corpuscle shaped and flammable ball.  Heavy metal brought out some longer hairstyles in men, and creating bulk with hair spray was popular with ladies. 

(end)
Glad to see mention of Miami Vice. 

P.S. Everyone heard that Tears for Fears is going on tour this summer, right?

Thanks for listing the PIL song Maxwell...I love that song!

Annonymous, it's true the 80's were a strange mix for fashion.  But on some level yes, your premise is correct. There were some people who did dress like Janet Jackson in the "Nasty/Nasty boys" video with the blouse and big jacket. Or yes, Michael. But there were others who were just regular people with jeans and Vans tennis shoes and concert T'shirts...sometimes, for concerts they never actually went to see. Look at the club dancers in the double date scene in "Wedding Singer", or any movie of the time...some were faithful to the designing trends of the time and some films tried to be universal with their colors so it wouldn't make their movie seem old-fashioned as years passed.  If you can stand watching it "13 going on 30" tried recreating the fun colors of the 80's with a little modern twist for the parts where she's 13...

Thanks for listing the PIL song Maxwell...I love that song!



You're welks!
;)

Let's not forget the origin of the portmanteau "wannabe" as derogatory slang for "imitation" or "pretender" originated with the alliteral "Madonna wannabe" in a 1985 Time magazine article (according to Wikipedia) by the journalist John Skow:

"The bright side of this phenomenon is that these Wanna Be's (as in "We wanna be like Madonna!") could be out somewhere stealing hubcaps. Instead, all of them, hundreds of thousands of young blossoms whose actual ages run from a low of about eight to a high of perhaps 25, are saving up their baby- sitting money to buy cross-shaped earrings and fluorescent rubber bracelets like Madonna's, white lace tights that they will cut off at the ankles and black tube skirts that, out of view of their parents, they will roll down several turns at the waist to expose their middles and the waistbands of the pantyhose."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madonna_wannabe
As with any Wiki article, double-check for veracity.

I didn't read the article, but I remember how viral the term was.  By 1987 "wannabe" was being applied to all kinds of stuff.  I remember a specific incident in which my friend Richard and I had just smoked a joint on the beach.  We had the munchies, so we went over to the nearest McDonald's.  We were walking over to a when we heard a booming voice: "Oh, it's a coupla those wannabe punk rockers!"  There was a knuckle-dragging skinhead about the size of Andre the Giant standing behind us.  We were still kind of buzzed so we just laughed and took a seat.  The troglodyte made his second approach, leaning over us: "You're a pair of f**king fashion show fairies!," he glowered.  Then he walked out.  He paced around the under the fluorescent lamps hoping we'd come out and start some sh*t.  We got nervous.  We just wanted smoke a little reefer grab some junkfood; we didn't bargain for a scene from "Repo Man."    No matter, a cop showed up, said something to the skinhead and  he slunk away like a guilty dog.  

I might have forgotten the incident had I not had a few different run-ins with the same skinhead before he murdered his girlfriend and committed suicide in 1992!
http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/15/tard.gif

But I digress.  The Madonna wannabes were considered risqué in the '80s, but they're pretty tame compared to what you see today.  The only girls who dressed like the bimbos you see nowadays were hookers walking the stroll on Hunts Point!
::)

SO DID I!

I didn't have the industry's top make-up artists working on me, so it came out more like Robert Smith...and then intentionally like Robert Smith!  A lot people thought  I was gay, but I was like, "Even if I was, you got a problem with that?"

It shall all be detailed in my upcoming memoir "How to get beat up in the 'burbs!"
http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/05/fuzz.gif


  Sounds like my situation.  Except I would dress like the GO-GO's when I attended their concerts in the 80s!  Im a straight guy but I demanded my fashion freedom then and a Go-Go's concert was the perfect outlet!  Oh, and the girl I was dating then also dressed up the same.  I mimicked Jane Wiedlin's styles and she went more for the Belinda look.  Yes I took the term "androgynous 80s" to the max then!

At three, my cousins and I dressed like Salt, Peppa and Spinderella in colored leather. We were all ages 3-6 in 1989. LOL.

  Sounds like my situation.  Except I would dress like the GO-GO's when I attended their concerts in the 80s!  Im a straight guy but I demanded my fashion freedom then and a Go-Go's concert was the perfect outlet!  Oh, and the girl I was dating then also dressed up the same.  I mimicked Jane Wiedlin's styles and she went more for the Belinda look.  Yes I took the term "androgynous 80s" to the max then!


The Go-Go's were a great band, but they really hurt themselves with drugs.  So did Boy George.  My look was more the dope addict Boy George of 1986 than the Liberace Boy George of 1983!
8)

The Go-Go's were a great band, but they really hurt themselves with drugs.  


I was all set up to say "God Bless the Go-Go's", after their 2001 comeback album, but a little further googling revealed something more interesting: if you ever wanted to see 'em live, July 2010 is probably your last chance: The Go-Go’s Happily Ever After – The Farewell Tour is on, and the tour dates are out.