With the strain of the current economic climate pulling everyone down, fashion designers have proposed a new trend that is guaranteed to make every woman feel in control and utterly magnificent. It's time to delve into your attic and reintroduce your mum's endless boxes of shoulder padded items back into the world. Shoulder pads are, would you believe it, back in fashion and bringing a lot of attitude with them. Between the 1930's and 1980's any item of clothing not fitted with shoulder pads was deemed 'unfashionable' which, I have to announce is, once again, the case today. Shoulder pads were classed by John. T. Molloy in his 1975 edition of 'Dress for Success' as the defining fashion trend for power dressing. The padded shoulder look masculinises, in an elegant way, any item of clothing and asserts an immediate sense of power and control. The craze of 'power dressing' was first popularised in the 1980's by women seeking status and power. I'm sure you won't be surprised to find out that the tren soon became a universal craze.
Joan Collins wearing a shoulder padded jacket in the 1985 hit television show, Dynasty.
Shoulder pads have been relaunched, most successfully, by Balmain and its collection of pointed, high shouldered jackets that pay tribute to the infamous 'King of Pop'-Michael Jackson. The pointed bone shoulder pads create an interesting, sharp silhouette. Balmain jackets have been seen on numerous celebrities, including Madonna and Beyonce but, unfortunately for students, they come with a triple figure price tag. Luckily, the trend has hit the high street despite the doubts of fashion critics and an ecclectic mix of pad integrated items are available.
Collection of Balmain Jackets. Spring Collection.
Black Shoulder Pad Jacket. £95. Topshop Boutique. ,
Shoulder Pad Jacket. £95. Topshop Boutique
At asos.com the shoulder pad trend has taken on a futuristic appearance with this metallic dress,
Metallic Shoulder Pad Dress. £28. Asos.com
Other high street stores such as Miss Selfridge, Dorothy Perkins and Warehouse have pulled out the pads with a variety of jackets and long sleeved dresses. Simple, plain black designs, like the one below, create fantastic, sharp, edgy silhouettes.
Black Velvet Power Dress. £30. Dorothy Perkins
If you aren't keen on going for the full-on padded effect but still like the idea of focusing on the shoulde area then look out for items with shoulder detail like the Topshop dress below with its one-shoulder structure and jewel embellished detail,
Embellished One Shoulder Dress. (£40). Topshop
Vintage shops this season will be goldmines if your on the hunt for shoulder padded items!
Power is coming your way!
Emma
Out come all my old shoulder padded jackets; I knew it was worth hoarding them in my wardrobe all these years!
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