Chillin' In The 80's

Cast of The Big Chill, 1983 - JoBeth Williams, Jeff Goldblum, Mary Kay Place, Tom Berenger, William Hurt, Meg Tilly, Glenn Close & Kevin Kline

Supermodel Icon Eva Voorhees

Eva Voorhees, born in Los Angeles, California, established a reputation in the late seventies and the eighties as one of the most captivating models of her time.  With her soft, romantic face, deep green eyes and full lips, Eva’s Pre-Raphaelite appearance (long, thick, wavy auburn hair, pale skin, and a fey demeanour) was unique in the fashion industry. Eva started modeling out of high school in her native California, signing with Nina Blanchard, the sister agency to New York’s Ford Modeling Agency.  At that time very few brunettes were successful models in Los Angeles.  Soon Eva was in New York and met Richard Avedon, and within weeks was booked for Vogue.  Thus she appeared in the U.S. edition of Vogue only three months after she first arrived in New York.  This American Vogue debut attracted the attention of photographer Eric Boman, who immediately booked her for many British Vogue shoots.  Though her exotic look could have limited her to European bookings, Eva never had to struggle elsewhere to get established; she was an overnight success in New York. Today, Eva is an archivist of the work of all the great models of the fashion industry; displaying her unparalleled collection of images on her Supermodel Icons website.  With her substantial background in fashion, dedication for her work and deep sense of gratitude, it is no wonder Eva is recognized as the world’s most prominent fashion preservationist.  Eva’s Supermodel Icons is considered to be, The best source of information regarding the work of the women who made and make the world of fashion go round – then and now.

Don Johnson & Philip Michael Thomas, Miami Vice

Miami Vice was an American television crime drama series created by Anthony Yerkovich and was produced by Michael Mann for NBC from 1984–1989.  The series starred Don Johnson as James "Sonny" Crockett and Philip Michael Thomas as Ricardo "Rico" Tubbs, two Metro-Dade Police Department detectives working undercover in Miami.  Unlike standard police procedurals, the show drew heavily upon 1980s new wave culture and music.  Of the many different production aspects of the show, no earth tones were allowed to be used.  Filmed in the South Beach section of Miami Beach, an area which, at the time (before it became The South Beach), was blighted by poverty and crime.  Some street corners of South Beach were so run down that the production crew, before filming, would repaint the exterior walls of some buildings with an abundance of pastel colors reflected Miami's Art-deco architecture. The clothes worn on Miami Vice had a significant influence on men's fashion.  They popularized, if not invented, the T-shirt under Armani jacket-style , and popularized Italian men's fashion in the United States.  Don Johnson's typical attire of Italian sport coat, T-shirt, white linen pants, and slip-on sockless loafers became a hit.  Crockett's perpetually unshaven appearance sparked a minor fashion trend, inspiring men to wear a small amount of beard stubble, also known as a five o'clock shadow (or designer stubble) at all times.  In an average episode, Crockett and Tubbs wore five to eight outfits,  appearing in shades of pink, blue, green, peach, fuchsia, and the show's other approved colors. The choice of music and cinematography borrowed heavily from the emerging new wave culture of the 1980s.  As such, segments of Miami Vice would sometimes use music-based stanzas, a technique later featured in Baywatch.  Noted for its innovative use of stereo broadcast music, particularly countless pop and rock hits of the 1980s and the distinctive, synthesized instrumental music of Jan Hammer.  While other television shows used made-for-TV music, Miami Vice would spend $10,000 or more per episode to buy the rights to original recordings.  As Lee H. Katzin, one of the show's directors, remarked- The show is written for an MTV audience, which is more interested in images, emotions and energy than plot and character and words.  These elements made the series into an instant hit, and in its first season saw an unprecedented 15 Emmy Award nominations.

Madonna, The Queen of Pop

Madonna Louise Ciccone, born in Bay City, Michigan, 16 August 1958, is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and businesswoman.  She achieved popularity by pushing the boundaries of lyrical content in mainstream popular music and imagery in her music videos, which became a fixture on MTV during the 80's.  Possessing a mezzo-soprano vocal range, Madonna has always been self-conscious about her voice, especially in comparison to her vocal idols such as Ella Fitzgerald, Prince, and Chaka Khan.  Mark Bego, author of Madonna: Blonde Ambition, called her the perfect vocalist for lighter-than-air songs, despite not being a heavyweight talent.  According to MSNBC critic Tony Sclafani, Madonna's vocals, are the key to her rock roots.  Pop vocalists usually sing songs "straight," but Madonna employs subtext, irony, aggression and all sorts of vocal idiosyncrasies in the ways John Lennon and Bob Dylan did. Madonna's look and style of dressing, her performances, and her music videos influenced young girls and women and her style became one of the female fashion trends of the 1980s.  It was created by stylist and jewelry designer Maripol and the look consisted of lace tops, skirts over capri pants, fishnet stockings, jewelry bearing the crucifix, bracelets, and bleached hair.  Madonna achieved global recognition after the release of her second studio album, Like a Virgin, in November 1984.  It topped the charts in several countries and became her first number one album on the Billboard 200.  The title track, Like a Virgin, topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for six consecutive weeks. Madonna has sold more than 300 million records worldwide and is recognized as the best-selling female recording artist of all time by Guinness World Records.  According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), she is the best-selling female rock artist of the 20th century and the second best-selling female artist in the United States, with 64.5 million certified albums.  Billboard ranked her at number two, behind only The Beatles, on the Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists, making her the most successful solo artist in the history of American singles chart.

Wanderin' Spirit
September, 2014
Chillin' in the 80's

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