80s flashback

This trip (journey?) to Glasgow with the usual popping in and out of charity shops and street wear watching has triggered a memory of my young adulthood in the 80s in New York City. I have already given this decade some thought, having written a graphic novella about it (that I hope to publish, soon!). The tension between, on the one hand, the punk fad that was very much in the air, and, on the completely other end of the spectrum, the "Lady Di" look, with mid-calf floral dresses, below the knee plaid skirts, shetland sweaters, hunting coats and wellies, seems to sum up the politics pretty well. I experimented with the former ever so briefly when I was in film school for a year. My teachers and fellow students were all into punk, and I remember buying a shortish pink and black striped skirt as an attempt to look the part. 

But alas, my much more middle of the road attraction to the princess of Wales and my insecurities about my looks prompted me to adopt more of a Laura Ashley look during the greater part of the decade. 

Back to the present,  the airport bus from Glasgow Airport dropped me off right outside a Laura Ashley shop, and in my jet lagged daze, I decided to have a look. It was very disappointing, nothing to do with the youthful flower prints of my ... youth. 

Ebay yielded this small sample, pretty close to the kind of dress I seem to remember wearing for a dressy occasion, covering the skin quite thoroughly, my goodness. 

And to trigger the memory of Diana wearing this kind of "goodie two shoes" clothing, I found this photo. 

In one of the charity shops that one encounters while walking in the center of Glasgow, there was a corduroy jumper in a green print with a Laura Ashley label, and I was actually really turned off by the look. In retrospect, punk lost to the floral coverups, the anger and violence against the establishment was not strong enough to resist the new conformity,  capitalism winning against anarchy. 

Now we have young people walking the streets of Glasgow in retro-punk chic, like the woman pictured at the very top. I even spotted a young woman wearing  the trademark ironic/iconic plaid of punk paired with a Laura Ashleyesque floral skirt, died lavender hair and combat boots completing the look. 

It's called the peasant look now, an offshoot of the rural look espoused by urban youth who have never set foot on a farm.