80S REVIVAL
TV, Fashion, Advertising, Music, Everywhere!
Some fads always find a way to return. It’s crazy to think of the many influences ’80s culture has brought back to us. The old trends are seeping into film, fashion, and music.
Fashion
Cropped jeans. Fanny packs. Bomber jackets. 1980s fashion is a fixture of pop culture. Vloggers and celebs are sporting high top fades and vibrant curly hairstyles lately. We are also clamoring for and seeing elements of vintage shows, films, and sports design.
Cropped Jeans; Louis Vuitton fanny pack with Supreme
Music
Ever listen to an album and think, “this song fills me with old school vibes?” It’s because we’ve seen this trend for a while.
Bruno Mars’ 2016 album, 24 Karat Magic, was a telling sign of retro sounds for a new generation. He modeled it after New Jack Swing, a sub-genre of R&B from the ’80s and early ’90s, part of Mars’ childhood.
Today, artists like Dua Lipa and the Weekend bring back vibes of a decade that many millennials and Gen-Xers hold near and dear.
BBC News reports that Lipa, an English singer born in the mid-90s, modeled this year’s Let’s Get Physical after classic workout infomercials.
The Weekend, however, has dominated 2020 with his single Blinding Lights. It’s been a soundtrack for football and basketball games, and WrestleMania. The sound is filled with instrumentals and melodies that take after vibrant tunes.
Film & Television
There are many tropes in shows and films that we’ve revisited in the last decade alone. Netflix re-introduced the first big wave of ’80s nostalgia with the teenagers of Stranger Things. The setting. The outfits. The heart-throbbing instrumentals. All of it enveloped fans in suspense and horror.
While the show paid homage to old mysteries, the most significant parallel from the last century to the modern-day is arguably 2018’s action-fiction hit, Cobra Kai. The show follows the events of the ’80s Karate Kid franchise. The YouTube exclusive-turned Netflix phenomenon is a nod to all things of the ’80s.
Revisiting sites like Miyagi-Do provide sights and sounds to create flashbacks for both fans and cast members.
So with the ’80s back, what’s coming next? (early 2000s anyone?) Regardless, it is a wonderful trip down memory lane to embrace while applying past energy to the present.
