Look "New Romantic" Can anyone tell me what it really means this 80's expression? In Spain I've heard it meaning a hair style like Lionel Richie, but I'm not sure if it's correct. May be was a dress style or a cool fashion... Please, help me.
Posted by Ali_with_an_i (Member # 27) on :
Beats me....interesting question though. I hope you finad your answer.
Posted by raygunxyz (Member # 1045) on :
Hey What is "new romantic"? I guess it could mean alot of things, some people famous new wave was new romantic (such bands as Duran Duran, and Visage). Thats what I always placed it as.
Posted by fog-80 (Member # 1254) on :
I've always thought bands like Adam and the Ants, Spandau Ballet etc. are kinda 'New Romantics'.
All flouncy shirts and crap music.
Posted by paulshrimpton (Member # 1022) on :
Sorry for the long reply, but here goes:
As Punk floundered and died in the late 1970's, and the working class youth turned to either Mod or 2-Tone, the Art and Fashion college students of London began to search for something new. Many of these people had been at the vanguard of the Punk explosion, and despaired as it became 'just another youth cult with just another uniform'. So they set about creating a new scene, where they could dress as excessively as they liked, without rules or boundaries.
As these strangely dressed young people were seen walking the streets of London, a story-hungry tabloid press desperately tried to label and define them. Originally they were labelled 'Peacock Punks' or 'Blitz Kids' (after their favourite haunt, the Blitz club). Finally the press settled upon the term 'New Romantic', and it stuck.
This new scene spawned its own band, Spandau Ballet, who were famously signed to a record label without ever having played a gig; something that is perhaps not unusual in the 21st. Century, but back in 1980 this was a big deal!
The London based New Romantic scene was in full swing at the same time as electro-pop from bands such as Duran Duran, Human League and Ultravox was taking the charts by storm. Rightly or wrongly (probably wrongly), these bands were labelled New Romantic. Soon New Romantics had spread throughout the country, and the scene that had been about being an individual and standing out from the crowd had ironically spawned its own uniform; pixie boots, frilly shirts and baggy trousers.
Many from the original scene had been fashion students, and it wasn't long before the elements of New Romantic dress had filtered through into mainstream fashion. New Romanticism was dead. After all, you couldn't pretend to be weird and different if your mum and younger sister were walking around in pixie boots and frilly shirts as well.
Thank you everybody! Specially for you, paulshrimpton. You have helped me truly. Now I know for sure what it means. Certainly, I had a weakened view of that. However, these tendences arrived to Spain with a lot of own sparks, creating a new style, involved in 80's spanihs culture motion. May be here we didn't understand the full spirit of this new scene, but sometimes this mixture can be interesting. I was too young in the early 80's. I was born in 1977, and I can no understand all that I lived. Now I can re-build all this marvellous dreaming age, adding new inofomation (like this) to my memories. Thankyou again
Posted by StevenHW (Member # 509) on :
Would you believe that even The Village People once tried the "New Romantic" style? Yep, they did, for one album in 1981. And, as you probably may have guess, it didn't work!
regarding the above message from StephenHW. the village people...! To hear their album Renaissance,click below.....! Dude! THAT IS NEVER GONNA HAPPEN...!NO WAY....!
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