◼ CHRIS SULLIVAN, STYLE JOURNALIST and legendary former director of Soho’s Wag club, suggests why bomber jackets transcend the notion of fashion – “which is rather unbecoming for any man over the age of 30”. . . In the UK during the second world war a cottage industry sprang up of American servicemen getting their A2s copied by English tailors. Sullivan says: “You can have a bomber jacket for 30 years and still keep wearing it because it will always look good.”
INDEX OF ALL 800+ POSTS
➢ 2009 till now : Click for everything at Shapers of the 80s...
Now in our fourteenth year.
Thanks for 2 million hits.-
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➢ Choose “View full site” to access main topics in dropdown menus along the page top MORE INTERESTING THAN MOST PEOPLE’S FANTASIES — THE SWINGING EIGHTIES 1978-1984
They didn’t call themselves New Romantics, or the Blitz Kids – but other people did.
“I’d find people at the Blitz who were possible only in my imagination. But they were real” — Stephen Jones, hatmaker, 1983. (Illustration courtesy Iain R Webb, 1983)
“The truth about those Blitz club people was more interesting than most people’s fantasies” — Steve Dagger, pop group manager, 1983PRAISE INDEED!
“See David Johnson’s fabulously detailed website Shapers of the 80s to which I am hugely indebted” – Political historian Dominic Sandbrook, in his book Who Dares Wins, 2019
“The (velvet) goldmine that is Shapers of the 80s” – Verdict of Chris O’Leary, respected author and blogger who analyses Bowie song by song at Pushing Ahead of the Dame
“The rather brilliant Shapers of the 80s website” – Dylan Jones in his Sweet Dreams paperback, 2021
A UNIQUE HISTORY
➢ WELCOME to the Swinging 80s
➢ THE BLOG POSTS on this front page report topical updates
➢ ROLL OVER THE MENU at page top to go deeper into the past
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❏ Header artwork by Kat Starchild shows Blitz Kids Darla Jane Gilroy, Elise Brazier, Judi Frankland and Steve Strange, with David Bowie at centre in his 1980 video for Ashes to AshesVINCENT ON AIR 2022
✱ Deejay legend Robbie Vincent returned to JazzFM on Sundays 1-3pm in 2021… Catch Robbie’s JazzFM August Bank Holiday 2020 session thanks to AhhhhhSoul with four hours of “nothing but essential rhythms of soul, jazz and funk”.TOLD FOR THE FIRST TIME
◆ Who was who in Spandau’s break-out year of 1980? The Invisible Hand of Shapersofthe80s draws a selective timeline for The unprecedented rise and rise of Spandau Ballet –– Turn to our inside page
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RECENT ADDITIONS
- 2022 ➤ Out of chaos comes forth Grace Jones
- 2022 ➤ Spandau seek your help to create a major new showcase
- 1982 ➤ When fans first screamed for Spandau and two climbed up to their window
- 1982 ➤ Strange takes UK clubbing mainstream
- 2022 ➤ New Romantics? Here are some who won’t own to that name
- 2021 ➤ So what’s the Bowie premium as Judi’s Ashes hat goes for sale?
- 1966 ➤ The interview that made John Lennon US public enemy number one
- 2021 ➤ Steve Norman returns with The Sleevz and a surprise royal send-off!
- 2021 ➤ The man called Seven offers his skills to the next generation of music students
- 2021 ➤ New photos to rekindle the spirit of Brummie icons Kahn and Bell
- 2021 ➤ Who can identify the face in this Bowie painting up for auction next week?
- 2021 ➤ Spandau’s Gary Kemp goes solo with a love song for the Radio 2 audience
SEARCH our 800 posts or ZOOM DOWN TO THE ARCHIVE INDEX
UNTOLD BLITZ STORIES
✱ If you thought there was no more to know about the birth of Blitz culture in 1980 then get your hands on a sensational book by an obsessive music fan called David Barrat. It is gripping, original and epic – a spooky tale of coincidence and parallel lives as mind-tingling as a Sherlock Holmes yarn. Titled both New Romantics Who Never Were and The Untold Story of Spandau Ballet! Sample this initial taster here at Shapers of the 80sCHEWING THE FAT
LANDMARK FAREWELLS. . . HIT THE INDEX TAB UP TOP FOR EVERYTHING ELSE
➢ Search for all on Bowie here
at Shapers of the 80s✱ “I’m not a rock star” Bowie often said – No, David, you were a messiah – Obituaries and key videos on the godlike one
✱ Prince Rogers Nelson RIP: ‘A funny cat’ and ‘sole authentic genius’ of the 1980s
✱ 2015 – Original Blitz Kids say farewell to Steve Strange – read exclusive tributes to the King of the PosersArchive — Many publication dates are arbitrary, so click and take pot luck!
RANDOM!