Alena Murrell

Although the 80′s bought wealth the decade also came with high unemployment rates. In the 70′s money was spent on items with rising prices that the government couldn’t afford, these include oil prices rising and the living wage being used to a higher amount. To tackle the money troubles in the UK the government increased interest rates, reduced spending and made major cutbacks. These changes caused many people unable to get  job as companies couldn’t afford to employ them due to this recession and wages being increased. Main sectors that suffered from unemployment include miners and transport workers, others took hits but not as bad these two sectors.

Other cases of unemployment include the closing down of businesses, jobs becoming more modern meaning people weren’t up to date thus not having the correct skills for a certain job, geographical unemployment; different parts of the UK had more jobs to offer however house prices were high in the 80′s so people might not have been able to afford a new house. 

By the 1990′s house prices dropped to an all time low within the first few years to then jump back up again in the recession within the 90′s.  Unemployment levels were still high in the 90′s but lowered slightly.

Couture fashion in the 1980′s was on the rise with the amount of millionaires doubling in Britain, more money was injected into fashion and designer brands. An example of the type of money being thrown around is the Hermès leather bottle holding bag, only big enough to fit a branded bottle of mineral water. At the start of the decade mineral water just 12 million bottles were sold at the end of the decade 152 million bottles of mineral water were sold in a year. The leader of the mineral water brand was Perrier, a bottle of Perrier showed your level in society, it meant that you had health and knew what was going on throughout the world around you. Evian also played on the publics high demand of bottled water, their adverts persuaded viewers that if you drink Evian water you will become healthier and a more gorgeous person. The adverts used people who were working out in the gym or had just finished in the gym, making them sweaty in their skintight clothes that showed off their perfectly sculpted bodies. this made a strong link between bottled water being healthy for you making the industry boom as more people wanted to be better than the next.

So to find this 80′s dress I rummaged through my Mum’s Wardrobe, where I found this dress shoved at the back along with a few other 80′s and 90′s pieces. I actually quite like the movement of the pleats on this dress they flow nicely due to the light fabric they have been made from. I can safely say I’m not a fan of the pink bow however it was relevant to the time and incorporated bright colours of the 80′s into a more formal fashion. I wish I could see some photos of my mum wearing this dress in the 80′s with her hair permed and big earrings as now she’s the complete opposite to her former self. As well as this I think it would be interesting to see this dress in the atmosphere of the 80′s, for example at a dinner and dance or at a occasion.