THE DAY I knew I was about to made editor of Vogue, I went shopping for something to wear. As the then editor of GQ magazine, I had to look reasonable; but I felt that for Vogue, I needed to take myself up a style-notch and appear more substantial and businesslike.
This reasoning was partly to deal with the expected comment, when the news broke, that someone who hadn’t worked in fashion was getting the job.
I bought a black suit with an asymmetric zip fastening, a narrow skirt and serious shoulder pads. When I look back at pictures of me in that suit, I now think I looked pretty awful and, of course, terribly dated.
It was 16 years ago, though, and shoulder pads were soon to be retired from the scene in favour of a softer silhouette, with bias-cut slip dresses and fine woollen cardigans taking the lead.
Even if, as a working woman, you couldn’t get away with a slip dress, you could still wear the cardi and look as if you meant business.
Nobody with any fashion nous wore stiff, shoulder padded jackets, apart from the Blair Babe intake of women in Parliament, who obviously felt that since they were lucky enough to have broken into the male-dominated political arena, they weren’t about to take risks with any cardigan nonsense on the back bench.
But now, substantial shoulders are back in fashion.
Extreme shoulder pads and extreme fashion.
There’s been a continual under-the-radar shoulder movement for years, but it was usually to be found in the hands of more avant garde designers such as the Boudicca duo, who mixed theirs with gothic overtones and highly inventive skirt shapes — certainly not the kind of thing found in most offices.
But recently, like so many underground trends, the big shoulder look has emerged into the daylight of the High Street.
They’ve changed, of course.
Shoulder pads can be huge and sloped — as in the structured jackets shown on the last Balenciaga catwalk; or vast and angular like the ones dreamed up by maverick Goth Gareth Pugh, one of the British fashion industry’s most admired young bloods. Shoulders with Spocklike overtones are employed on 2008 very plain sculpted dresses this autumn, adding sharpness and detailing to an otherwise simple neckline.
But shoulder pads are more than just a fashion point. They make you feel different.
They endow you with a degree of emotional protection — your natural sloping shoulder line encased in a covering — although I draw the line at empowerment.
Any woman who feels empowered by a shoulder pad has got real confidence problems. BIG shoulders also change how your hair should be styled. Back in the Eighties, ambitious young women were caricatured by the combination of sharp suits, very short skirts and girlishly long hair.
This time around, a neat head is the way to go. A quick look at all the new fashion stories and advertising campaigns shows that slicked-back locks tied into a pony tail or cropped close to the head are the look of the moment.
It’s leaner and meaner, and can add a boyish touch to the fitted silhouettes and high heels that should accompany your shoulder pads.
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