"Advertising Menswear: Masculinity and Fashion in the British Media Since 1945" Paul Jobling

 Years of 1980's definitely brought a change to the men's fashion. It was also in the late 1980's when fashion was disrupting sexual meaning and questioning it. One of the main problems at the times was unemployment of over 3 million people in the US at the beginning of the year 1983.

It was in the 1972 when wrinkled suit was advertised as that the garment can stand the stress of men wearing it. It was used in the commercials as an advantage for the product. In the following year 1973, jeans were advertised as a clothing perfect to wear to the office with a suit. 

The history of unconventional jean advertisements does not finish there though. More of these were created in the 1980's by Levi's. 'Bath' and "Laundrette' are a perfect examples of this kind of commercials. Sexualization of men was an element not seen too often before and that lead this company to the 800% increase in sales at the time.

"Bath" Levi's commercial 1986

"Laundrette" Levi's commercial 1985

"Laundrette" Levi's commercial 1985 video frame

"(...) sensual product for the new man that he could mould to his body or whose material texture he could alter through stone-washing but so too is this sense of tactility imbricated with the pleasure he takes in looking at himself as he does so (viz. ‘Bath’) or looking at and being looked at by others as he does so" (viz. ‘Laundrette’) (Jobling, 2015)

An interesting point in evolution of men's fashion also happened in 1960's when synthetic fabrics became more popular and successful. They began to be used for the sportswear and supposed to be more comfortable than some natural textiles.

Conclusion

Denim was a very popular textile in the 1980's. It was even promoted to be worn with a suit to the office. That is a very strong inspiration for me to use as a reference in my collection. Two of the Levi's commercials were strongly sexual and included men taking off their jeans. Therefore underwear was shown to the public which was not a very common thing to do in this kind of advertisements. This is another inspiration for me to reference. 

Another interesting point was increased use of synthetic fabrics in the 1960's. I can see the use of this kind of textile for my garments too.

Raw, stone-washed denim, sexualization of men and synthetic fabrics are my inspirations taken from this book by P. Jobling.

Sources: 

Jobling, P., 2015. Advertising Menswear: Masculinity and Fashion in the British Media Since 1945. 1st ed. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

Levi's, 2008. Levi's 501 commercial (Bath) (1986). [video] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roBkw0RfY-Q&list=LL&index=2> [Accessed 13 February 2021].

Levi's, 2007. Levi's commercial - Laundrette. [image] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wT4DR_ae_4o&list=LL&index=16> [Accessed 13 February 2021].

Levi's, 2019. Levi’s 'Launderette'. [image] Available at: <https://www.marketingweek.com/levis-laundrette-sales-boost/> [Accessed 13 February 2021].