Sarah Jessica Parker Narrates the 1980s in Vogue

(upbeat pop music)

[Sarah Jessica Parker] The 80s were about flaunting it,

dressing for power by day and sin by night.

Breed is good was the catchphrase of the era.

On 7th Avenue and in London, Milan, and Paris,

that idea took form with flashy, more is more fashion.

Hair was big, colors were saturated,

shoulders had linebacker proportions, pearls were piled on,

and skirts were either slashed to the thigh

or ballooned into meringue-like poufs.

And of course, the fashion shows were just as glitzy

and theatrical as the clothes themselves.

Fitness was an 80s obsession.

A toned body was just as prized as a fat stock portfolio.

As the social X-ray haunted the upper east side,

glamazons with names liked Gia, Brooke, Cindy, Linda,

Christy, and Naomi were featured in the pages of Vogue

wearing bodycon clothes to celebrate

their supermodel proportions.

Now Tokyo is on the map, declared Vogue,

as Yohji Yamamoto and Comme des Garcons Rei Kawakubo

joined Issey Miyake and Kansai Yamamoto

at Paris Fashion Week.

Their approach to fashion was completely subversive.

The clothes were deliberately outsized,

tattered, and body obscuring.

Dressing for success in the 80s often meant

borrowing from the boys.

As fit and fashionable women strove to break

the glass ceiling, the power suit was born.

Traditional gender roles were turned upside-down

and tailoring became a sexy aphrodisiac.

Anna Wintour broke all the rules with her first

Vogue cover in November 1988, and yet in doing so,

she was mirrroring the times.

Model Michaela Bercu was photographed on the street

in an haute corner Christian Lacroix jacket

with a beaded cross and stone-washed Guess jeans,

all very Like A Prayer, said the editor-in-chief.

This high-low, sartorial mix reflected larger changes

in New York society and the emerging

downtown state of mind.

The city was invigorated by the arty

and anti-establishment energy of graffiti

and the all-night dance parties of the time.