Kicking off with a word from Vivienne Westwood, the Observer’s 1985 Youth Style Special made a statement. The queen of punk was in typically combative mood, deploring the waning energy of the street. British style, she claimed, had started promoting ‘eccentricity for its own sake. We need to grow up and look around.’
Youth culture was in an identity crisis, ‘split into 100m fragments’ according to Peter York, and displaying ‘an extravagant and aggressive diversity’. Marketing was no longer directed at the 16-24 age group but their older siblings; moneyed 25- to 35-year-olds were the target of new chains, such as Next and Principles. ‘What has changed is the assumption that youth is something special, the only fount of spending money and therefore wisdom.’
