Join Mentee Miray on Her Trip to Outlaws: Fashion Renegades of 80s London
Join Mentee Miray on Her Trip to Outlaws: Fashion Renegades of 80s London
Written by Miray Akbaş
As someone born at the end of the ’90s, attending Outlaws: Fashion Renegades of 80s London at the Fashion Textile Museum felt like stepping into a time machine. Fashion carries the zeitgeist of an era, and through its fabrics and forms, the spirit of a decade comes alive.
Entering the exhibition , I was greeted by fashion magazine pages spread out on a table, capturing the voices of London’s creative minds of the time. Leading the charge was Leigh Bowery, the Australian performance artist and fashion designer known for his flamboyant costumes and provocative live performances. Though Bowery’s life was tragically short, his legacy of bold ideas and boundary-pushing inspiration lives on.
In 1985, Bowery founded the nightclub Taboo, creating a space where people could express themselves freely, unbound by society’s rigid standards. True to its name, the club aimed to challenge taboos surrounding subcultures and individuality.
As I wandered through the exhibition, a quote by artist Helen David stopped me in my tracks: “There was nothing. There were no jobs. There was nothing after college. It was like a kind of void. So, we just had no choice but to do it ourselves.” I couldn’t help but reflect on how relevant her words remain today. The creative and fashion industries still demand immense perseverance—long hours, underpayment (if paid at all), and the constant hope of securing a stable role.
The exhibition also illuminated a stark difference between then and now: the loss of individuality in modern fashion. Today, there’s a pervasive tendency to conform—muted colours, uniform trends, and the dominance of the “Clean Girl Aesthetic.” While the recent rise of styles like the “Mob Wife Aesthetic” hints at some rebellion, personal expression is often overshadowed by societal pressure to blend in. It’s not inherently bad, but it’s disheartening to see individuality dismissed when fashion is such a powerful medium for self-expression. What we wear can make a statement, reflect our identity, and even change how we feel.
Speaking of self-expression, clothes, like words, carry messages through time. Take Katherine Hamnett’s iconic 1985 slogan t-shirt that proclaimed, “Stay Alive in 85”—a powerful statement inspired by anti-nuclear protests. The ’80s were turbulent, chaotic, and charged with activism, much like today.
Ultimately, what stayed with me from the exhibition is this: while we are undeniably shaped by the times we live in, we also hold the power to shape them in return. Fashion is more than just fabric; it’s a canvas for who we are and who we aspire to be.
