The Reagan 80s marked a
period reminiscent of the roaring twenties; a sort of
no-holds barred opportunity for people to push outside of the
box. With the onset of mergers
and acquisitions during the boom period, Women entered into the
corporate arena in unprecedented numbers as they had
in the 1920's, albeit with the same unenthusiastic
welcome from their male counterparts.
The need for women to fuse
themselves into a predominantly male corporate arena meant that clothing designers cut
and boxed traditional business attire with generous shoulder proportions. "Power dressing,"
at least for designer Claude Montana, meant a fuller, square cut shoulder
pad that gave a reverse triangle shape to the female
form, somewhat similar to a Man's physique. Off the rack designers then fought back with the
dreaded yet professional "perky bow" at the throat
to feminize the square shoulder.
As in the 1920s, clothing styles
were mannish but nothing similar to the boyish appearance of the
flapper. This was the Yuppie of the 80s, in good company
with the Punk, Retro and New Wave Schools which all shared hard
angles.
