Everyone remembers the 80s for one detail in particular: shoulder pads. It was the size, the exaggeration of the shoulder lending strength to the public looking to push their way in a competitive cutthroat environment that the economics of the times supported.
The shoulder detail was inspired at that time from the 40s and 50s where strong shoulders reigned, the 40s in particular being a period where the world was at arms locked in global combat. As men went to the front lines, many women filled the spaces to keep the country productive. While this wasn’t the first time women got into domains reserved firmly and exclusively by their male counterparts, it was a period where women were admired for their fortitude and practicality and where women could finally wear the pants of the family by being the breadwinner. It was an empowering time for women who now had validity to take on roles that, for women before them, seemed highly unlikely if not socially unbecoming.
Valor and strength were qualities to strive for, and nothing boosts confidence like donning apparel that reflects this spirit. This, suiting adopted stronger shoulders. Those who weren’t literally going to battle were armed with the kind of wardrobe that empowered the wearer. It’s this imitation of traditional strength that we still adopt today, actually.
The return of men at the end of the war unfortunately meant that women would lose this footing, encouraged to return to the traditional route. Not all did, and men who came back found their domestic world had been affected. But luxury and volume replaced the shoulders for women while men kept their shoulders as they wrestled control from those who carried the workforce during their absence.
In the 80s, however, where women had more opportunity after the 70s took women’s rights to a new level, the armour returned. Women, before on the opposite side of the fence that the women’s movement conveyed in order to garner respect and empowerment, now were looking for a place to fit alongside. The power suit, with its severe shoulder build-up, signaled to all that this woman was a fighter; it was her modern armour and she would come out fighting.
When the economic bubble burst, this, along with other exaggerations and excesses, seemed out of place as the public looked for genuinity. Those shoulders did not seem real and the modern woman of the 90s did not need this anymore as our mindset allowed women to take their power without having to necessarily be like the boys. Women discovered their power and didn’t need the armour anymore as economics brought everyone down a peg and women have proved their place in the office.
Everything, though, makes it back and even though the economics are a virtual 180 degrees from the last time shoulders were embraced, the call for strength is no more apparent than now. The demands of the times to fight hard to keep what one has is in conjunction with the fight or flight response. The fear motivates us to fight to keep what we have that we have grown accustomed to for too long and the unknown has put us on guard if only to protect what we claim as ours.
The SS2012 collections contained elements of this defense mechanism in many ways, such as the conflict of menswear tailoring versus the femininity that seems dichotomous on the runways, such as in collections from The Row, Fashion Fringe’s Nabil El-Nayal, Paul Smith, Sonya Rykiel, and Stella McCartney. But other expressions have found their way as well.
We saw the toughness of a motorcycle jacket from Altuzarra, Derek Lam, Felder Felder, Kinder Aggugini, and Celine. While Givenchy gave some biker-chic lapel detail, Acne gave their audience motocross pants. Double breasting came up at Junya Watanabe. Danielle Scutt gave us a balance of cheerful colours with a tough punk edge while Lanvin brought the strength in the shoulders, more a nod to the 40s than to the 80s (another mild undercurrent working with our apocalyptic expectations that doomsayers refuse to shake).
Another show of force, connecting to a 90s trend, was armour. Be it the economics or the Olympics, Greece has inspired in collections from Herve Leger by Max Azria, Mandy Coon, Victoria Beckham, and Versace. And on a modern front the defensiveness continues to be loud and clear at Gareth Pugh.
We are on guard, there is no question. The unknown is a frightening prospect for many and our access to extreme coverage of world events that our technology provides does little favors in our sense of denial. But the new generation is about action and empowerment that has been seen already in the grassroots efforts to enact change and to address problems rather than gloss over or bypass them. And as we do, the modern woman will be armed and ready in wardrobe as she is skill, fact and deed.