80s fashion redux, part 11: Finally! Vintage inspirations in the 80s

(This is the eleventh in my series of posts on 80s fashion trends and the impact they are having on current fashion. If you'd like to read from the beginning, please start with my blog of July 23.)

Vintage clothing was hot in the 80s. What had gotten going in the 1970s only intensified, and designers were inspired to create new fashions with decidedly vintage style.

Norma Kamali, 1985

Now stay with me here, I'm talking about the influence of previous decades' fashions on 80s fashion, while talking about how fashions of the 80s are influencing current fashion. It can at times be dizzying.

Originally posted May 22, 2006:

(I've been just dying to show these photos...I was at home in vintage in the 80s, and some of these photos are much worn from my carrying them around as inspiration. I will limit my remarks and photos, but I would love to go on infinitely...)

The most modern VINTAGE wearers in the 80s didn't so much wallow in nostalgia, but nicked and adapted freely from the past. Fashion in the 80s found its kindred spirit in the 50s so inspirations from that decade were particularly compelling, while the 30s seemed to come in a glamorous second. The 60s were too recent to find great currency (not so much shape any way, but color and pattern), and the early years of the 40s were just a tad too austere for this flamboyant decade.

Edwardian Summer

Flapper Twenties

Margaret Howell white linen shirt and jacket

Starlet Thirties

Dior makeup

Donna Karan

Randy Kemper

Air Raid Forties

Pringle twinsuit and Armani cuffed trousers

Glamour Fifties

OMO Norma Kamali draped gown. Marabou stole, Adrienne Landeau

Rifat Ozbek stripes and Graham Smith straw hat

Coveri blue and silver cocktail frock

Fab Sixties

Stephen Sprouse

Update August 23, 2009:

Maybe we are being influenced by the 80s to delve into the past, but we may actually have the 80s beat, with so many designers referencing vintage styles for fall 2009.

Galliano's bright vision of the Edwardian era for Dior ready to wear

20s inspirations from Lanvin and Prada

30s from Dolce & Gabbana and Hermès

Alber Elbaz/Lanvin's and Elie Saab's 40s looks

Galliano's take on the 50s, for Dior haute couture

Phillip Lim's trip seems to be the 60s British Invasion

The 70s seem to hold less sway over current trends than they have in some time, although I wouldn't be surprised to lift the brim of this hat to find Lauren Hutton:

Ralph Lauren

Now add to these the 1980s, and the 80s versions of previous eras.

It's dizzying...but in a good way.