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Power Dressing & Designer Labels

By the 1980s, a rounded breast and the padded bosom were back with a bang, and wired bras became a top sales item. The fitness craze continued, and the well-cut and contoured bra essentially grew from the sportswear worn in fitness and health clubs of the eighties.

Power dressing popularised by the television series Dallas heralded the trend towards designer wear. Professional women wore stylish miniskirts with high-heeled shoes and rigorously tailored jackets together with the now famously padded shoulder. Underneath women wore silky camisoles and lacy bras.

Retailers such as Victorias Secret and La Perla grew in prominence, as women demanded a softer styling and sensuality returned, bringing back a basque revival together with its matching briefs and stockings. Women at this time longed to wear something lacy and luxurious underneath their outerwear.

Avant-garde designers such as Vivienne Westwood and Jean Paul Gaultier started to play with the concept of underwear as outerwear, where corsetry and bras were utilized as fashionable outerwear, inspired by the punk street fashions of the late seventies. The publicity and exposure that ensued guaranteed that the corset was to make a comeback in the 1990s.

Pre Twentieth Century

The 1900's

A New Era and a New Look

The Roaring Twenties

The Depression & Hollywood Glamour

The Age of Austerity

Rock and Roll

The Age of Aquarius

Disco Fever

Power Dressing & Designer Labels

"Hello Boys"

A New Century