Celebrity Style influences in 1982

Celebrities, musicians, and fashion designers were known as the main innovators and trend setters in the 1980's. The consumers looked to the media to develop clothing styles and thought of celebrities as style icons. As I read an article in the People magazine archive I discovered that trickle down theory can be easily applied to the style and trends of fashion movement in year of 1982. The most influential woman in this time frame was Princess Diana, who was not only admired for her generosity and character but her sense of style as well. She started the fashionable cloak along with low cut gowns that were sleek and stylish.

Moreover, Brooke Sheilds was an influential, fashionable girl who made in impact between her Calvin Klein jeans commercials and movie roles. She was a memeber of the fashion community as well, being a model. She made headways for the CK commericals that were showcasted as well as chiffon dresses, which she appeared in for various award shows.

Steve Martin wore fedoras and plaid with silk shirts and appealed to a variety of men and women. He was known for his comedic genius and was also recognized as a best dressed person in the 1982 issue of People.

Last and but not least, Girogio Armani made headways with his enduring fashion styles and designs. He designed beautiful, timeless suits for men that can be remembered for years and have been recognized by comsumers and the media.

Economy 1980-1982

Here are some indication of the state of the economy during 1982:

Population: 231,664,458
Life Expectancy: 74.5
Dow Jones High: 1070
Low: 776
Federal Spending: 745.76 billion
Federal Debt: 1137.3 billion
Inflation: 6%
Consumer Price Index: 96.5
Unemployment: 7.6%

The economy is not looking very good for this year, but it is considerably better than the statistics of 1980. Inflation has gone down almost 50%, but unemployment has stayed about the same. The consumer confidence index shows that in October 1982 it was down to 54.1. 1980 show a low of 50.1, so things have gotten better in two years, but people are still not comfortable.

The recession seems to have lasted from 1980-1982. The GDP of the early 80s fluctuated up and down creating uncertainty. There was a a lot difficultly keeping it steady which was one reason the economy led to a recession. By the second quarter of 1980 the GDP actually drops about 5 billion, with another drop the next quarter of 9 billion. This pattern repeats itself all through 1981 and 1982. Investment purchases also went way down in 1982. A graph I saw showed a drop of about 100 billion dollars in investment purchases. In 1983 and 1984 they rose again though.

The cause of this recession is hard to find on the internet. There are a lot of biases politically and it has been blamed on Jimmy Carter as well as Ronald Regan. According to my research the recession started going south in 1979, before Regan became president. There were lots of tax cuts and reworking of the budget with Regan. You could say it was his fault because the worst happened while he was president, or was that because of Carter's leftovers? Regan did pull us out of the recession though.

When researching the economy for 1982 I got a lot of headlines saying the recession of 1980-1982. There are a lot facts about how this was a bad time for inflation, unemployment, lack of consumer spending, and investment. This makes me think that maybe it got better in the next two years. These two years almost mirror what is going on with the economy in 2008 in the present as well. Can we predict this recession will get better by 2010?

Source: Economic Indicators,
Consumer Confidence Index,
US Recession of 1980-1982

1982 Sports

Sports in 1982 was filled with records being broken stars being made:

A in-season walk out occured, the very first in National Football League history. The glaciated talks had become so fruitless that independent negotiator Sam Kagel stopped them for a week. The obstinate rivals were allowed to stew in their juices - to ponder mounting financial losses, growing fan alienation and apathy, and increasing complications in salvaging the 1982 season.
The cold war experienced an immediate thaw once the talks resumed in New York over the weekend. Acting as the icebreaker was the owners' proposal of a $1.28 billion, four-year package, which would guarantee a minimum wage on a player's salary each year and provide for annual raises.

Wayne Gretzky broke the record of most goals by a single player in a season whan he scored his 77th goal, serpassing the 1970 high of 71 goals.

As a freshman Michale Jordan hit game-winning jump shots and secured North Carolina a 63-62 victory over Georgetown in the NCAA Championship.

The 1982 World Series had its share of exceptional performances. In game one, Molitor became the first player to get five hits in a Series game, as Milwaukee won 10-0. Yount had four hits in that same game, then repeated the feat four games later. Game three was a showcase for McGee, who not only cracked two homers, but made a circus catch at the center-field wall.

Super BowlSan Francisco d. Cincinnati (26-21)
World SeriesSt. Louis Cardinals d. Milwaukee Brewers (4-3)
NBA ChampionshipLA Lakers d. Philadelphia 76ers (4-2)
Stanley CupNY Islanders d. Vancouver (4-0)
WimbledonWomen: Martina Navratilova d. C. Evert Lloyd (6-1 3-6 6-2)Men: Jimmy Connors d. J. McEnroe (3-6 6-3 6-7 7-6 6-4)
Kentucky Derby ChampionGato Del Sol
NCAA Basketball ChampionshipNorth Carolina d. Georgetown (63-62)
NCAA Football ChampionsPenn St. (11-1-0)
World CupItaly d. W. Germany (3-1)

International trade

An analysis of U.S. industries sensitive to foreign trade, 1982-87 ( expanding trade wasn't better off for some workers)
International trade and finance in 1982 international trade 1982-1987 Import >Export trade.

Expanding trade affected some workers in some industries. Mechanical, apparel, leather industries and miscellaneous manufacturers lost their jobs by the expanding import. Especially, Apparel industry had big blow from import. A lot of textile products were imported from the countries which has better skill and cheaper labor.
Source: internet: http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/1993/02/art2abs.htm

Also, Import>Export affected economic! International debt crisis 1982-1983.
Purchasing goods from foreign country cause loan since the US started to buy a lot of import good than the amount of export goods. To solve this situation, opening up their import to other countries was necessary.

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=1&hid=114&sid=233692d8-c03c-4506-beb1-896bd57bfa3a%40sessionmgr108&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=8400004401

Actually, loosing American labors' positions has been still a big problem. Textile industries now depend on Asia, such as China and Korea. Since China has huge labor population with much cheaper labor , many kinds of good are made in China. To survive for American textile industry, cooperating with other countries' industries is very important. Since the import has been expanded more and more, American economic still has a big debt by import. There are several reasons why companies and countries are willing to import than producing in own countries. First of all, they can get better benefit with little investment when they produce their products in developing countries, such as China. Second, the countries don't have enough resources, so they need to import from other countries . America imports huge amount of oil from Middle east since there is not enough resources in the US. The countries which has better resources are favorable on the trade. Japanese economy has much more debt than the US by the import since the country have only few resources. Importing resources is very important for developed countries to keep their economy and technology developed, but at the same time, it causes debt. I believe that it's almost impossible to ride of importing resources, and making unique products is important. For example,keep finding new technology which other countries don't have and make products with the technology, so that they can sell those products to foreign countries.

Politics in 1982

Politics in 1982 is based around the economy. During this specific year President Ronald Reagan focuses on the economy of the United States. His main goal was to create an economy recovery program based on supply-side economics. Basically his goals would be to heighten the spending of individuals instead of higher tax rates. Article approving budget.

An important event that took place in 1982 was the building and dedication of the Vietnam Veteran's War Memorial. This may have affected many people's live, both good and bad. This was a a very controversial memorial and one to keep in mind.

Architecture of 1982

When researching architecture in 1982, I saw a lot of unique geometric designs. I researched skyscarpers, houses in the suburbs and houses of the rich and famous. Skyscrapers that were built in 1982 were around 45-50 stories high, and had a stair step design on the roofs. The stair look is repeated on sides of buildings vertically seen in the Georgia Pacific Tower on the left, and horizontally seen in the picture down below. This was also the decade of the mirrored buildings and many buildings built in 1982 had the mirrored windows.



Houses in the suburbs looked a lot like typical houses of today and the past. Houses of celebrities were a different story though. The windows created a grid pattern, there were different angles and shapes to the roofs and I even saw a repeat of the stair pattern in pool on the picture to the right. Some houses were very boxy and seemed to be influence by the craze of modern art, but some had curved corners at the roof edge and the side edges. Windows also took up entire walls of some houses.

The theme between trendy houses seemed to be very geometrical. I see a lot of shapes when I look at the houses and skyscrapers. Squares are definitely popular, but with the house to the right I see triangles as well. The way this relates to fashion is the boxy silhouettes and geometric patterns seen in garments of 1982.

Sources: Skyscraper Page

1981-1982 Archives of Architectural Digest

media 1982

Media 1982

popular TV programmes in 1982

Dynasty(power dressing): premiering as three-hour movie on January 12, 1981, the prime-time soap opera Dynasty aired on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) until 1989. Dynasty quickly worked its way into the top-five rated programs, finishing fifth for the 1982-83 season and third for the 1982-84 season. The program relied on both camp and excess for its appeal. It characters and plot lines were sometimes absurd and broadly drawn, but it was the trappings of wealth, glamor, and fashion that drew viewers in some 70 countries to the program. With a weekly budget of $1.2 million($10,000 of which went for clothing alone, including at least ten Nolan Miller creations per episode), Dynasty placed more emphasis on style than on plot.

source: (Book) Encyclopedia of Television second edition p771-773 published in 2004 by Fitzroy Dearborn An imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group 270 Madison Avenue New York, New York 10016

Dallas(1978-1991): The first of a genre to be named "prime-time soup"by television critics, established the features of serial plots involving feuding families and moral excess that would characterize all other programs of the type. the first season was started on April 1978, and the last seasons ends May 1991. The show was top rated on September 1981-April 1982. On September 1982-April1983, It was second rated.
source: (book) Encyclopedia of Television second edition.P649-652. Published in 2004 by Fitzroy Dearborn. An imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group. 270 Madison Avenue. New York, New York 10016.
The complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946-Present. A Ballantine Book. Published by The Random house Publishing Group.

Music

Famous musicians and songs

Olivia newton John- Physical released in 1981 and been popular until end of January, 1982.

Source

http://www.olivianewton-john.com/discography.html

Survivor(group)-Eye of the Tiger released January 1, 1982. The song for film,Rocky III which third installment of Rockey series.

Paul McCartney & Steve Wonder-Ebony and Ivory, released on March 29,1982.

Ebony means black, Ivory means white. It represented the

colors of keys of piano, but also, their integration of ethnicity.

Relation of fashion, Race, and culture and media

Media is very effective to give poeple information of fashion. Those heavy make up and the wealthy look on the TV shows, Dinasty and Dallas are also showen on the magazine on 1982. Dinasty spend a lot of money for the fashion. There are many dramas which advertise current and new-coming looks,but this is very rare when I compared with other old TV programs before 1982. Music has also relation with other elements, such as fashion, culture, and ethinicity. It seems like that sport look was very popular on 1982. The trend of the sport look was definately affected by the Rocky series. Also, music was good presentation tool of social movement. Paul McCartney and Steve Wonder released the song which represented the intergration of colors.

Interior Design of 1982

The wallpaper craze was apparent in 1982. Every room was decorated in floral wallpaper with couches to match. The trend seemed to be to cover your furniture with the exact same pattern that the wallpaper had. This was done in bedrooms, dining rooms, living rooms, kitchens and bathrooms. There was also a monochromatic theme to some rooms. Some rooms everything from the walls, furniture, carpet and decorations were all one color. The main colors included, cream, pale pink, greens and blues. From
interviews I also learned appliances in kitchens followed the color trends. The picture on the right shows a house of one of my interviewees, and you can see the green stove, oven and floor. The interviewee said this color was very popular and all of their kitchen appliances were this shade of green.

Another trend I noticed was the mod design of some of the rooms. This included geometric designs, the use of mirrors as decoration, and glass tables such as the one seen at the bottom of the picture on the right. In these houses there was not as much decoration on the walls and the colors were mostly cream, white or black. Another element to this trend was curved edges on counters and ceiling, which is also shown in the exterior design of the houses as well.

The trends of floral wallpaper and curved furniture was apparent in 1981 als well. It has just developed to more exaggerated patterns and colors in 1982. Something I have also seen is the colored appilances in kitchens. Green is a popular color for appliances which has developed from the popularity of the color in the late 70s early 80s.

Just as popular as the colors were in fashion were the colors associated with interior design trends. Greens, blues, and pastels repeated themselves in the patterns and decor of houses as well as the patterns and prints of fashion in 1982. Florals took over 1982 as well as monotone rooms. The theme between the fashion and interior design was the bold designs and statements that pulled you in.

References: Architectural Digest, January-December 1982 and October-December 1981. Interviews, and http://www.flickr.com/groups/1980houselovers/pool/

The export trading company act 1982

The Export trading Company Act by President Reagan on Oct. 6, 1982 (ETC)
For the expanding of trade, ETC allows small and medium-sized business to sell abroad and get some available capital to export their products to overseas, access to information about the foreign markets by bank, and measure of certainty for exporters' antitrust exemptions.The act encourage small and medium-size firms to expand thier business into larger scale by been allowed to offer economics of sclae in financing, including credit services, market analysis, distibution channels, compliance with American & foreign import-export regulations, advertising, accounting overseas offices, transportation, insurances and warehousing.

source: BNET Business Network(Internet)
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1052/is_v10/ai_4696402
Document: A shot in the Arm or American Export
http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=1&hid=114&sid=398d42dd-bb3c-4eaa-ac80-fabb40670fdd%40sessionmgr107&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=4790081

Start to 1982 technology research

1982 market an important year for technology, the computer was really beginning to explode and people were taking note of the new conveniences of modern technology. So many advances in computer science are being made that Times magazine names THE COMPUTER the man of the year. The first CD player is sold in Japan and the mass make a high demand for smaller cheaper electronics. Human insulin produced by bacteria is sold for the first time which launches genetic engineering into the public eye. We are advancing in space as well as in computers and the Soviets land their spaceship Vanera 13 on Venus where it sends color photos back to earth. Weather also is now available to the masses when The Weather Channel airs on cable for the first time in history.
This is the beginning of my research into the technology of 1982, so far I think that the thing they were doing with technology in 1982 were very influential on the culture as a whole. There were some major changes going on and I’m sure it found its way to the fashion aspect of the times. The computer is a huge part of our culture today so it is very interesting to see how it got its start. I am looking forward to looking into this topic further.

Sources: Websites
Computer chronicles
The People history