The Image of 'New Man' in Men's Fashion in the mid-1980s

Abstract

This paper is purposed to clarify that an increase of the matter of concern about men's fashion in the mid-1980s was coincided with rapid change of images for men and diversification within the context of economy, society, culture and to analyze the characteristic of each fashion and the meaning. Findings are as follows: 'New men' played a key role creating and communicating the new male image through the media, as a new masculine appeared in the middle of 1980s. Especially it was spreaded into with British as a center between the generations of young men described as a white-collar worker about the ages from 18 to 35 specifically and appeared by the cultural background in accordance with the spread of consumerism, materialism and post modern feminism and the development of men's fashion. There were 2 types of fashion styles for 'New men' image on the media in the mid-1980s. The First is 'power suit look style' which is self-conscious, including 'corporate formal suit look' and 'soft & sexy suit look'. The Second is 'extravagant body conscious style' which characterize the decolletage and androgynous, including 'tough sports look' and 'sexy skirt look'. Lastly, the 'New men' image means a man as a visible object and a man in the image world.