Flamboyance, creativity, club culture – and no smart phones: why the 1980s are all the rage again

A series of major exhibitions focusing on the era has unleashed a wave of nostalgia for those who were there and curiosity from the young who envy its freedom

In the future everyone will blame the eighties for all societal ills, in the same way that people have previously blamed the sixties,” Peter York, the quintessential observer of 1980s’ style and cultural trends, said recently. He was referring to what he called the “big bangs” of monetarism, deregulation and libertarianism which “have been working their way through the culture ever since”.

Curiously, he did not mention one of the eighties’ equally enduring, but more positive “big bangs” – the “style culture”, which began in that much-maligned decade and continues to echo through contemporary culture in an altogether less malign way. It is currently being celebrated in three exhibitions across London.