I'm working on my next short story, "Love in the Eighties", and my research aided by my memories brought up the big shoulder fashions. They became popular through television series like Moonlighting, Dallas and Dynasty. Cybill Shepherd, Linda Gray and Linda Evans went sashaying across the screen with skinny hips and shoulders made bigger with pads. They looked so top heavy.
The theory was that with feminism movement, women going into the workforce wanted to look more masculine and tough, hence the need for wide shoulders. That was nonsense, because in those days almost all the designers were men, who to my way of thinking wanted to see how ridiculous they could get women to look.
I am not a beautiful woman. My body has many flaws. I have a big nose and as I've gotten older, I've had wrinkles in odd place, a double chin, and a belly I'm not proud of.
But I've always been proud of my pretty shoulders, with delicate bones and slender arms. During the Eighties, all the dresses and jackets came with those awful shoulder pads. I tried cutting them out but that left wrinkles and puckers in the material that required dressmaking skills.
I understood why Cybill Shepherd liked the style. She had chubby shoulders. But mine were pretty.
That is when I began to shop in re-sale shops and rummage sales. I found clothes that were classic styles with fine lines that fit me perfectly. Though I knew how to sew, I was teaching in those days, far too busy to make my own clothes.
I gave up on any idea of being fashionable and haven't been since. I dress for myself, for comfort and style.
I wonder if women in the 1980s wound up destroying their photos or at least hiding them from their children.
The theory was that with feminism movement, women going into the workforce wanted to look more masculine and tough, hence the need for wide shoulders. That was nonsense, because in those days almost all the designers were men, who to my way of thinking wanted to see how ridiculous they could get women to look.
I am not a beautiful woman. My body has many flaws. I have a big nose and as I've gotten older, I've had wrinkles in odd place, a double chin, and a belly I'm not proud of.
But I've always been proud of my pretty shoulders, with delicate bones and slender arms. During the Eighties, all the dresses and jackets came with those awful shoulder pads. I tried cutting them out but that left wrinkles and puckers in the material that required dressmaking skills.
I understood why Cybill Shepherd liked the style. She had chubby shoulders. But mine were pretty.
That is when I began to shop in re-sale shops and rummage sales. I found clothes that were classic styles with fine lines that fit me perfectly. Though I knew how to sew, I was teaching in those days, far too busy to make my own clothes.
I gave up on any idea of being fashionable and haven't been since. I dress for myself, for comfort and style.
I wonder if women in the 1980s wound up destroying their photos or at least hiding them from their children.
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