Mirror80 just can’t stop ogling Christian Dior’s Fall-Winter Haute Couture Collection. Not only do these fashion treasures put a modern twist on the already-modern Memphis-Milano design style that boldly emerged in the 1980s, it features alluring updates, from geometric form-hats and candy-hued eyeshadow to strappy sandals with shape-clustered heels. What’s truly amazing is the way Dior integrated the Memphis Group’s signature patterns, colors and textures with its cutting edge fashion. The Memphis Group design collective DID create jewelry and clothing, but who would’ve thought that motifs also seen on lamps, vases and tables would make it on to the runway in 2011? Then again, it isn’t THAT unexpected…
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Memphis-Milano Meets Dessert
If you’re a fan of Memphis-Milano design, perhaps you’ve noticed the candy colors, irresistible forms and texture-based patterns that items from this influential movement boast. In fact, the Memphis Group, a Milan-based collective of furniture and product designers formed in 1981, introduced its own brand of shocking color and geometry. Designers like Michele De Lucchi, Thomas Bley, and Ettore Sottsass put their creative stamp on the movement, as shown in the image above.
“Round and Round” by Ratt: Friday Video Pick
For today’s Friday Video Pick, we bring you this classic from glam metal band Ratt. The video for this 1984 hit was just as memorable as the song, featuring a wealthy family enjoying a dinner party while band members disrupt the flow of the evening by performing in the family’s attic. A subversive metal head butler, a dinner serving of live rodents and a young woman’s transformation from a dutiful dinner party-goer to a rodent-like punk are highlights of this piece.
“Club Tropicana” by Wham!: Friday Video Pick
“Pack your bags, and leave tonight…” Yeah, you’ll be singing it too in a few minutes! To tell you the truth, I’ve been waiting months to share this video as a Friday Video Pick.
“Kings of the Wild Frontier” by Adam & The Ants: Friday Video Pick
During a week when Vivienne Westwood designs took center stage at Mirror80, we had to keep the fun going with this video pick by Adam & The Ants. Westwood and partner Malcolm McLaren conceptualized the “Pirate” look embraced by early ’80s musical acts like Bow Wow Wow and the band at the center of this post!
Vivienne Westwood’s Pirate Fashion
Rewind to 2006. Yes, 2006, when the Sophia Coppola film Marie Antoinette was released in theaters. Featuring a post-punk/New Wave soundtrack of musicians like Adam & the Ants and Bow Bow Wow, the film combined 18th Century visuals with 1980s New Romantic sensibilities–excess, decadence, frills, and of course, style.
Kids Incorporated: The Best of the Musical Numbers
If you were a child in the ’80s, you will most likely remember the hit television show Kids Incorporated, which featured a cast of child and teen singers performing the pop hits of the time. But they weren’t just singing and dancing–musical numbers were integrated into an overarching story about the challenges and adventures of tweens and teens, such as making new friends and navigating that first crush. The show ran from 1984-1993 and was the star-making start of singers and actors like Martika, Fergie, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Mario Lopez.
“You Got It All” by The Jets: Friday Video Pick
The ’80s teen scene rules this week at Mirror80, so we couldn’t resist posting this gem of a video by the Wolfgramm siblings, who together formed The Jets, an ’80s pop band whose hit “Crush on You” is now a staple at hipster parties.
“Love Action (I Believe in Love)” by The Human League: Friday Video Pick
This music video from 1982 features a fictional wedding in which Human League vocalist Joanne Catherall weds her groom while lead singer Philip Oakey pines over her from the upper balcony. Yes, just like Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate. Only this is a New Wave Dustin Hoffman with killer cheekbones and a beauty mark (which seems to be a requirement for band members, as mirrored by Catherall and her blonde counterpart Susan Ann Sulley).
Friday Video Pick: “1981” by Cut Copy
I’m eagerly awaiting tonight’s Cut Copy show in Austin, Texas! This ’80s-influenced band from Melbourne, Australia has skyrocketed to indie popularity in the seven years since the release of their first album Bright Like Neon Love in 2004. I remember seeing the band at South by Southwest in 2005 with the guy I’d just started dating (now my husband), and I was heavily drawn to the upbeat, layered synthpop that captivated the crowd.