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80s Fashion Adverts from Smash Hits Autumn 1987

One of the best ways to get a snapshot of what people were wearing back in the 80s, is to take a gander at some of the adverts, and in today's post, I have several poster ads from two Smash Hits magazines from October and November 1987, one of which featured Philip Schofield on the front cover riding a scooter.

Man in round glasses wearing a grey and white striped shirt, braces and pleated black trousers in 1987

This first poster advert is by C&A for the avanti range, and it features a guy wearing a white shirt with thick grey stripes, braces and pleated black trousers. Now, I definitely remember wearing an awful-looking shirt with thick blue stripes and braces around this time, and pleated trousers for men were very popular. This YUPPIE style was as 80s as you could get, and popular with white, middle-class men working in the financial sector of the city of London. 

Young woman wearing a dark grey and black polka dot skirt and vest top

Here is another C&A advert, this time for the Clock House range for women. The young lady featured here is wearing a dark grey mini skirt with black polka dots with net underskirt and a matching cropped vest top. Polka dots were definitely popular back in the 80s (you may remember the pop duo Strawberry Switchblade embracing the polka dot style) and the popularity of cropped tops and net underskirts surged after pops stars such as Madonna wore them on a regular basis. 

Multi-coloured Lorus watches from the 1980s

So, do you remember the Lorus Quartz Rainbow watch? It featured interchangeable links and bezels (which looked rather like Lego) and came in three colour combinations, allowing the wearer to create a totally unique watch. These were definitely an acquired taste, but I do remember lots of young girls wearing them back in the 80s.

Colourful Timex analogue watches for women

Although digital watches became huge in the first half of the 80s, there was a resurgence in the popularity of the analogue watch in the second half, with an array of cheap and cheerful plastic watches priced at around £20 or even less. There was a young and trendy Swiss watch manufacturer called Swatch (founded in 1983) that quickly became the market leader, with many other old school manufacturers like Timex trying desperately to keep up with them by releasing their own colourful designs, as featured in the advert above.

Yiung man wearing a Scandinavian style pattern jumper with red braces and blue jeans

Ah, the ugly Christmas jumper! They seem to be more popular than even these days, but you can't beat the look of the original Scandinavian pattern jumpers from the 70s and 80s. This avanti C&A ad from October 1987 features a young guy who looks uncannily like John Lydon wearing an ugly pattern sweater with red braces and jeans.

More ugly sweaters from the 80s

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