The 80s called and they want their shoulder pads back, oh and their power suits, mink coats and costume jewellery. Saint Laurent, Stella McCartney and Chloé among others, took inspiration from the time that style forgot for A/W 25/26, with Succession meets Mob wife aesthetics that wouldn’t have looked out of place at the Met bar in 1989 – IYKYK.
Meanwhile during men’s A/W 25/26 Paris fashion week, Saint Laurent designer Anthony Vaccarello created Wolf of Wall Street–esque looks, Armani released a “That’s So Armani”campaign, reminiscent of the broad-shouldered, loose-fitting power suits of the ’80s and ’90s and the Amiri collection was a retro mash up of vintage glamour.
The man who gave us normcore (2014) and vibe shift (2022) Sean Monahan, has coined this new 80s inspired trend, Boom Boom. He says it is “a pure expression of excess, a world in which “male-coded values … have come roaring back. I’m always looking at what people wear around me, the one thing that sticks out. With Boom Boom, it is men who don’t work in offices wearing suits and loafers, alongside women dressed up in “expressive big silhouettes and fur”. Until recently, he says, “no one was wearing a suit unless they worked in finance. Five years ago, people would have screamed at you for wearing even leather.”
In the wake of Trump’s second term as president, an aesthetic that celebrates loud luxury and the pursuit of power seems somehow wrong. Shouldn’t the fashion industry be rallying against the anti-woke movement and championing size inclusivity, gender fluidity and climate responsibility? Instead, it seems designers have tuned into excess and tuned out of giving a s**t. Ozempic-fueled models and luxury brands ramping up prices to only appeal to the biggest of big spenders, along with sustainability being put in the “too hard” box, feels like we are going backwards in so many ways. But maybe that’s the point?
Could this cult of excess be seen as an act of rebellion. Maybe those who didn’t experience the excess of the ‘80s don’t see minimalism and a simpler life as something to aspire to? Perhaps they have had enough of austerity and just want an excuse to dress up and over indulge. If Boom Boom is about dressing for the life you want, rather than the one you have (or can afford), is the move towards power dressing an indication that consumers have had enough of austerity, rather than a sign that we have reached peak consumerism?
Popular culture tapping into the male coded values of the past, with Patrick Schwarzenegger’s Saxon in season three of The White Lotus, a remake of American Psycho and Mikey Madison in Anora wearing a Hervé Léger bandage dress and a sable coat, also signifies that we are as confused about what defines gender in 2025 as we were in 1988.
Those of us who lived through the 80s (and worked in fashion) have many tales to tell of a life of global first class travel, big bonus’s, cheap rent and social lives today’s bed rotting 20 somethings can only dream of. But over time we realised it was just stuff and conspicuous consumption gave way to quiet luxury as a more acceptable aspiration. But when did it all become so bland?
Megan Markle making gift baskets, arranging flowers and making jam, along with a £10,000 shoppable wardrobe based on the clothes she wears in her Netflix TV show defines the acceptable face of quiet luxury. Understated styling, a neutral colour palette and a cashmere sweater draped around one’s shoulders, has become the uniform of the (nouveau) rich. How could one be anything other than impressed by Megan’s Martha Stewart meets Nara Smith lifestyle. Quite easily, as it happens, as Love Megan’s world of beige seems bland, safe and totally uninspiring and makes one long for something bad taste and bling.
The $55 Sense T-shirt
So maybe it is time to embrace Boom Boom, but rather than tap into the male coded quest for power, lets take back control and embrace our inner diva. Considered clutter meets Chappell Roan, with a touch of Iris Apfel anyone?
Boom Boom is in the room. But then I do love me some mob wife style as you very well know. #showingoff