Out with the hippies and in with the material girls: the 1980s is a decade remembered for its mass-marketing and consumerism, big spending and bold design. And whether it was glassy, minimalist modernism or campy, theatrical frills, the key was maximalism. The big hair, big blockbuster movies and even bigger shoulder pads were all reflected in interiors too: this was a time of unapologetic design that broke away from the earth-toned trends of the 1970s. Interior design, as a quick glance through the House & Garden archive will reveal, embraced a ‘more is more’ philosophy, with vibrant colour palettes, oversized furniture, and daring combinations of textures and materials chosen for their impact.
Film and TV from the era make for handy 1980s reference points, like the big, clapboard American homes in family films like Parenthood and Home Alone, or the ‘avant-garde’ bachelor pads in Three Men and a Baby or Weekend at Bernie's. And current popular culture is rife with 1980s style references, like Sex Education's bright, playful sets and costumes. The hype around the forthcoming release of Rivals (a Disney+ adaptation of the raunchy 1980s ‘bonkbuster’ by Jilly Cooper) points to a current thirst for throwbacks, and the ostentatious country houses in the show are sure to inspire us.
We've explored some highlights from the House & Garden archive and picked out five key looks that we can learn from today, whether you're going for a minimalist modern kitchen with glass bricks and perspex furniture, or a Laura Ashley-inspired bedroom liberally draped in frills and ruffles.
Five design lessons to learn from the 1980s
Glassy modernism
From city slickers to yuppies, the mid-1980s was a time of fast and furious financial growth. This consumerism manifested in domestic spaces in the form high-tech glamour, with sleek lines and glassy finishes putting an end to the free-form, flower power of the 1960s and 70s. At best this look is sleek and chic, with Japanese and Scandinavian influences at play. At worst, the black rubber floors and ‘futuristic’ feel can edge into a racy bachelor pad look. By the mid-1980s, this modern, urban aesthetic was the epitome of cool. Tubular furniture, glass-topped tables, chrome finishes and glass bricks all became ‘must have’ items.
“The industrial aesthetic … creates a stylish and polished environment," said the interiors bible The New House Book of 1985. The author, Terence Conran, is perhaps most well known as the creator of Habitat, which from the mid 1960s sought to bring a European style to the London interiors scene, making super-cool, contemporary furniture widely available across the UK. In 1985, the homewares and lifestyle store launched its ‘City Living’ Collection, which perfectly summed up an era fixated on mass-marketed, metropolitan goods for trendy London types.
“My philosophy is best summed up by the phrase ‘plain, simple, and useful.’ Such things may not win many design prizes, but neither do they go out of fashion,” said Conran. Though it could be flashy, functionality was at the heart of this look, and Conran was right that it remained timeless. It's having a particular moment today, though, with silver finishes, black shiny floors and glass bricks all spotted recently in the pages of House & Garden, where they might not have been a few years ago. Stainless steel kitchens, industrial fixtures and materials that might previously have been reserved for professional kitchens are also making a comeback.
Camp opulence
If urban industrialism is one side of 1980s style, the parallel growth of camp, flamboyance sits at the other end of the period's interiors spectrum. This style looked back to a sort of Georgian camp, much as the New Romantics were doing in wider culture. Think Adam Ant dressed up as an 18th-century highwayman complete with eyeshadow. Opulent textures like silk, taffeta and grosgrain (that had been seen as stuffy or old-fashioned during the 1970s) made a real comeback, with British designers like Nicky Haslam on a mission to resuscitate the rich, lush and luxuriant look. The affluence of the time meant more families had cash to splash, and glamorous US TV shoes like Dynasty was used as a design playbook by many designers.
‘Another comparatively recent and highly decorative revival in ceiling embellishment is the tented ceiling,' says an article in House & Garden from 1982. ‘The first demonstration of this fashion was probably Bagatelle, in France, in the later part of the eighteenth century. In the first decades of the nineteenth century, tented rooms became a minor fad in England.’ They put the popularity down to the ‘increased availability of fabric at reasonable prices’ making a 'a spectacular tent room more viable now than ever.’ Contemporary designer Veere Grenney has added several tented ceilings to recently projects, commenting that the fabric embellishment ‘adds a sense of theatre' as well as ‘warmth, cosiness and beauty.’
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Today, young designers like Christabel MacGreevy are introducing hints of that unlikely opulence to soften hard, contemporary lines and bring an element of ironic flamboyance to the scheme. ‘Camp and theatrical without going too Liberace’ was Harry Carr's brief for Christabel, which she hit perfectly. ‘The original elevator pitch for the house was Oscar Wilde by way of a Brazilian bordello, circa 1900,’ said Max Hurd of his house in north west London, designed with friend and designer Benedict Foley, and the riotous mix would have certainly gone down well in the 1980s.
Country house maximalism
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Whilst corporate, urban life were booming during the 1980s, so too was the kind of ‘rustic family style' nostalgia that emerged as a kind of antidotal counterpoint. Led by designers and ‘homemakers’ like Laura Ashley and Martha Stewart, the ‘country cottage maximalist’ look was defined by shaker kitchens, large pine furniture, chintz or gingham textiles and decorative china. Whilst the 1990s saw the emergence of lots of smart, hidden storage, the 1980s kitchen was in the ‘if you’ve got it, flaunt it' camp. This not only included open, farmhouse style dressers in dining rooms, but pots, pans and utensils displayed in ornamental ways. Today, open shelves and hanging copper or stainless steel cookware are used to add rustic charm and depth to a kitchen.
Bedrooms were similarly dressed up to the nines with rustic, homey schemes featuring country-cute ruffles, ruching and ribbons. ‘Even city dwellers could dream they were sleeping in pastoral England, thanks to Laura Ashley’s matching floral bedding with enough coordinated sheets, duvets, pillowcases, shams, dust ruffles, and throw pillows to fill your white enamel frame bed a thousand times over,’ said Architectural Digest of the era. In the kitchen below, a lot of the nostalgic warmth was actually established through ‘delightful tricks upon the eye’ or trompe l’oeil, from the contents of the larder painted and the china plates (which are actually just paintings), to the ‘slate flagstones’ which are really just painted plywood. Trompe l'oeil was a fairly common technique of the period, which indicates a certain partiality towards wit and cheek in design. Here, the technique creates what the writer describes as ‘warmth, activity and homeliness - with just a touch of mischief.’
‘Laura Ashley was a romantic, a sentimentalist, a traditionalist,’ say writers Iain Gale and Susan Irvine in their book Laura Ashley Style. ‘Unashamed of her taste for nostalgia, she brought poetry and fantasy back into ordinary domestic life.’ Today, frills and flounce are popular options in country cottages or urban houses looking for a rural edge, it's no secret that scalloped edging, chintz patterns, draped four poster beds and café curtains are all at peak popularity. Just as the movers and shakers of the 1980s were searching for a corporate remedy, is it any wonder (given today's technological, industrial and urban growth) that we're similarly craving more nostalgia and ‘poetry’ in our homes than ever?
Ferny folly
In a recent decoration scheme, our Style Director Ruth Sleightholme described this wonderful combination of vibrant plants and bamboo furniture as the ‘ferny folly’ aesthetic. A big look in America, USA and Europe in the 1980s, the look brings together textured, organic furniture and palm prints with plenty of plants to create a luxurious scheme that brings the outside in.
Wicker furniture was popular at the start of the 20th century, and made a big comeback during the 1980s. Bamboo, rattan and seagrass were also part of the ‘ferny folly’ package, all coming together to create a look that lay somewhere between tropical resort and traditional English greenhouse. The earthy materials were a notable deviation from the slick, chrome finishes popular elsewhere.
Rattan, sisal and similar woody materials have all made huge comebacks recently, with high end and high street interiors featuring earthy furniture and accessories, from IKEA jute rugs to Zara Home bamboo furniture. Indoor plants boomed in the 1970s and grew in popularity (and size) during the 1980s; from glossy palms to frothy ferns, indoor plants are synonymous with the era. We don't need to tell you how popular indoor plants are today. To get the real ‘1980s’ look we recommend going large and avoiding small, dainty plants. Though you might have seen more vibrant walls in the 1980s, lime washing (as seen in both contemporary examples of the look) provides a more neutral and subtle backdrop to your indoor-outdoor scheme. If you want to go full 1980s greenhouse, you might include some kitsch Grecian busts on plinths (which, by the way, are making a comeback too).
Memphis Milano
If theatrical textiles were one reaction to 1980s functionalism, Memphis Milano was another. “When I was young, all we ever heard about was functionalism, functionalism, functionalism. It's not enough. Design should also be sensual and exciting,” said Memphis founder Ettore Sottsass. ‘Memphis burst into the Milan Furniture Fair in 1981 in an explosion of colour amid acres of skeletal black steel chairs and tables,’ reads Nonie Niesewand's 2021 H&G article on the movement. Driven by the desire to challenge the strict rules of modernism, Memphis Milano was a radical architecture and design movement that is now synonymous with the 1980s. Taking the foundations of the Bauhaus movement and turning them on their head, Memphis were known for their bright, clashing colours and geometric shapes. They also used unconventional materials, like plastic laminates, terrazzo and metal, in unlikely combinations, often creating whimsically unfuntional products in the name of ‘design’ over ‘function’.
The name "Memphis" is said to have been inspired by a Bob Dylan song ("Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again"), which was playing during one of the group’s first meetings. The movement was highly influential in the 1980s, shaping design, fashion, and pop culture, though it was also controversial. Some saw it as a joyful rebellion against staid norms, while others criticised it as garish and impractical.
Irony and postmodernism is making a comeback in today's interiors, with many designers choosing to include subversive techniques and ‘high/low’ material combinations to create dynamic schemes. The Memphis products themselves are also increasing in popularity, fetching more money than ever at auction. Despite its relatively short lifespan (the Memphis group disbanded in 1987), its influence remains strong in contemporary design, and many pieces created during this era are now considered iconic.
“There are no lessons to be learnt!” Was the answer that met me from quite a few people that lived through the 1980s. The heavy eye-makeup, extreme haircuts and bold colours are all quite persuasive evidence that the period was a strong flavour. Despite our contemporaries' horror, however, many young creatives are turning to the 1980s for design lessons. Materials like chrome, marble and glassy bricks are making a strong return, celebrated for their marrying of functionality and beauty. So too are the rich, extravagant textures of the era, like taffeta and frilly silks.
Many artist and designers of the 1980s didn't believe in looking back, instead focusing on a high-tech, glassy future with bright lights, rubber floors and space-age home-tech. Today, though, we love the kind of fake-futuristic irony that infuses 1980s designs. Whether in the functionality of Conran and his spartan design cronies, or in the flamboyance of Liberace disciples, the 1980s are rich with inspiration.
