Educate me on 70s 80s Silk beaded Clothing

Jenny

Jenny

Registered Guest
I noticed there was a silk beaded sequined clothing trend during the 80s. People told me it is because 80s does 20s. I also did noticed late 70s had silk beaded disco clothing.

I never lived through that time so I have no idea about it.
My questions are: How did this trend start? What's the story behind this trend? When/how did this trend fade?
 
Hi Jenny, that's a good question I'd also like to know the answer to, as I have a lot of beaded garments from this period. I do know this fashion trend featured in popular TV series of the time globally, such as Dynasty and Dallas, and that sort of publicity always fuels the fire.
 
there really wasn't much beaded clothing in the 70s. some sequined, because it caught the lights well at discos.

the 60s had a lot of beaded and sequined clothing, and the 80s had a strong 60s revival, so that was part of it. also the 80s was very over the top in general: glitzy, materialistic.
 
I remember in the early days of QVC ('89-'90) one of their staples were these heavily beaded dresses, tops, and skirts. That's my first experience with them. No, I didn't purchase one, but I did purchase a 6-qt. T-fal (another staple) Dutch oven that I still use :). I was also a faithful 'Dynasty' fan in the 80s and remember Alexis Carrington was always glitzy and glimmery. Perhaps that's how the trend started on QVC? I've also noticed a LOT of them end up in thrift stores.
 
I remember the beaded tops and dresses of the '60s and agree with Joan that the '80s revived it in an over-the-top way. I have a few pieces by Gene Shelly who, for some reason, is not in the label resource. Check ebay for current listings of his work, they're stunning! Unfortunately, I don't know anything about this 60s designer.
 
There were a lot of beaded dresses in the 1980s - the department stores had racks of them! Many with padded shoulders of the time, plus the drop waist that was popular. Some of the work was very nice and hand done, some was very , well, gaudy. In a way it makes sense as a revisit of the 60s drop waist and beaded dresses, which in turn was a revisit of the 1920s dropped waist and beaded dress. What the 80s brought to it was the padded shoulder. And not all were drop waisted. Many of the 1980s dresses were made in India and were labeled that way. A lot in the 60s were Hong Kong made, and if you see a label in a 20s beaded dress, it's likely made in France.

As to why? Well the 80s were a very materialistic, glitzy decade. Big hair, big shoulders, big style.
 
Agree that beaded styles are a feature of '60s evening wear (made in Hong Kong) and the late '80s to mid '90s. Haven't seen much beadwork in '70s fashions. The late '80s styles were influenced by Dynasty TV show, and that's when you get the beaded silks. The '60s ones were generally on either knitted lambswool/angora/cashmere or on shantung or alaskine.

Beadwork needs cheap labour as it's very time-consuming.

Beadwork is heavy so it's not well suited to disco or any other kind of dancing, plus it's likely to get damaged as it's fragile - best suited for evening gowns.
 
Interesting. I never saw or heard ofDynasty TV show. Funny that my family actually lives in Denver too. I never saw 60s beaded clothing. Anyone got a picture of that? :D
 
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Here's the gang from "Dynasty" in all their shoulder-padded, big-haired, glitzy glory. Never watched that show. Or Dallas, either. Didn't care who shot J.R.

dynastyGroup.jpg
 
According to L.A. Frock Stars, Fabrice Simon started whole sew on beads dress trend in the 80s.
 
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