Original subtitles

Style is how you want to project yourself.

I want to be different, and I think I look good

the way I dress.

Avila: Style is what's happening in the larger society,

economy, the culture, politics.

Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.

Gunn: It's how we express ourselves, through our clothing,

how we live, the things that surround us.

In the '80s, it was a lot of excess in every way.

Reporter: The "me and more" generation, living to the max.

Man: We had our Calvin Kleins and our Ralph Laurens

and our Donna Karans.

Woman: Women that are really trying to get to the top

have to work very, very, very hard.

Steele: As women are going into the workforce,

they're looking for clothes that will make them look

like they could be the boss rather than the secretary.

Greed is good.

This is capitalism American style,

the haves and the have-nots.

Birnbach: The shabbiness of the '70s

was stylistic but also more than that.

We were in a real recession.

We had a real oil crisis.

We went to school in the dark.

New York City was a dangerous, crime-ridden gang land.

Truhler: Certainly, the drug scene got a little bit intense there,

so I think there was just rebellion

against living like that.

People were just looking for "Let's fix this country,"

like, "Let's get things back on track."

Reagan: I know that the economic program that I have proposed

for this nation, in the next few years,

is going to resolve many of the problems that trouble us today.

I think people want to get back to the basic values

that made our country strong and great.

Reagan was very effective at helping the American psyche

recover from the shocks of the '60s and '70s.

He called a timeout on all of that and said,

"We can be normal again. We can pull together again."

Avila: For the people who voted for Ronald Reagan,

they shared the optimism that Reagan himself embodied

and expressed in his speeches.

Reagan, of course, is known for

"Make America great again."

Birnbach: Ronald Reagan coasts into Washington,

and there was a sense of,

"Okay, now we're done with the earnestness and the hostages,

and now let's just have a good time.

Daddy is here."

Avila: Ronald Reagan, Nancy Reagan,

brought Hollywood glamour to the White House.

You could also say they brought bling back to the White House.

Flusser: The whole image of Nancy Reagan and Ronald Reagan

both Hollywood fixtures,

both people who had been in front of a camera,

around a camera, understood the power of image.

I've got an idea for another picture.

I've got the chainsaw.

No, and you're blocking me off.

Chopping.

Birnbach: They're from California.

They have no cares or worries.

Half of their kids don't even speak to them,

but they're having a wonderful time with their rich friends,

and they enjoyed the good life, and that was really clear.

Friedman: The Reagans were all about being stars,

and they understood incredibly well how to use image

and how to communicate through image,

which is really what fashion is about.

It's about, "Okay, what is this dress going to tell

the watching world about what this administration stands for

and what this country stands for?"

Gunn: It was the Reagan White House

that had an excessive amount of state dinners,

and they were all celebrity-studded.

It was Hollywood's east coast home.

Williams: When I was Miss America at my first state dinner,

I remember standing in the line after I was presented,

and Halston was next to me,

and then there was Martha Graham and Ginger Rogers,

and I was like, "Oh, my god." I was 20 years old

but talking about style and elegance

and presence and icons.

That brought a kind of attention to White House events

that I don't believe the White House has had

since the Kennedys.

Avila: Nancy Reagan personified this kind of new American aristocracy

that was rooted in the Republican party,

that was rooted in southern California,

and that was rooted in Hollywood.

Flusser: Nancy Reagan was a rebuttal of

what had been going on in the '70s.

I think of her in, like, Chanel-type suits

and very tailored and elegant.

Gunn: Decked out in Adolfo and having her own big hair

and lots of jewels and being a movie star.

I mean, she knew what to do.

She'd been working with stylists and makeup artists,

so she knew how to look grand, and she did.

Steele: She was instrumental in turning red

from being the color of communism

to being the color of Republicanism.

You know, she had those beautiful red dresses,

and that certainly became part of a kind of Reagan look.

The Reagan model of "Let's all be grand and beautifully dressed

and at least look like we've spent a lot of money"

certainly had a huge impact on how Americans wanted to dress

and how they wanted to live.

The '80s have this extravagance, this excessiveness.

Everyone wanted to be shiny and wear sequins

and have big hair and excessive makeup.

Jewelry was big. Earrings were big.

The bigger the hair, the smaller the hips look.

Volume was in with the big, puffy sleeves

and the big, pouf skirts.

The shoulder pads were bigger than

the New York Giants shoulder pads with nipped-in waist.

It was about things being overscale,

and it was vulgar in a way.

Truhler: As someone who suffered through the 1980s,

we really lost our way

from a style perspective.

Boyd: You know, you think about what's popular on television --

"Dallas," "Dynasty."

I mean, these are programs about families with a lot of money,

and they're not ashamed to show it.

"Dallas" and "Dynasty" are caricatures

but not that much of caricatures.

Truhler: Everything was just this over-the-top glamour.

Like, they were just lounging around

in evening gowns all the time,

and you couldn't have had a better villain

than Joan Collins.

-Are you insane? -Oh, no.

I'm perfectly sane, so take this junk

and your blonde tramp,

and get out of my home.

Everything is being held up.

Like, having a lot of money is the answer to everything.

That's how you need to live.

I sell very great condominiums in New York.

Reporter: What Donald Trump does, of course,

is make a lot of money and make sure everybody knows it --

a yacht, a mansion,

a bigger mansion, an airline,

two casinos, a bigger casino.

Trump: That is really incredible.

There's nothing like this place.

Gunn: The Trumps are able to achieve the real thing

and have real jewels and really big hair

and be really gross and vulgar.

Hilfiger: Everything was gold, big, loud.

More is more is more is more.

Birnbach: It was like they were at a costume party,

and we were all watching it.

We weren't really invited to the costume party.

Ivana Trump wore these clothes which struck me

as very unflattering to her, also her hairdo,

which was kind of like a drip castle, and big jewelry,

and it was as if some very shrewd salesperson had said,

"Darling, you've got to wear this,"

and she just looked absurd.

Douglas: Trump is a pure 1980s figure,

the mogul who goes far by just being brash

and getting his name put on as many buildings

as humanly possible.

Trump Tower is basically a temple

to the excess of the '80s.

It's basically gold-plated on the outside,

and they have gold toilets.

Birnbach: In the '80s, people were talking about money in a way

that wasn't pooh-poohing it, that wasn't saying,

"I'm going to work and do something meaningful now,

and maybe one day I'll have enough money to buy a house."

Oh, no. "I want a Jaguar.

I want Gucci this.

I want money, and I want it now."

It was a sort of rebellion

against the traditional American way of life,

which was to be discrete.

Birnbach: Instead of saying, "Let me go get the car,"

people would say, "Well, let me go the Beemer."

"Oh, yeah, my Chanel is in the other room."

I mean, I really saw a kind of dependence

on those labels to validate one's existence.

Even if you went to East Overshoe Falls High School

these days, you can be a preppy

because it is a mania that is sweeping the country,

thanks in large part to Lisa Birnbach.

She's the editor of "The Preppy Handbook,"

which came out eight months ago

and now has sold about a million copies.

Birnbach: In 1980, I had a meeting at Workman Publishing,

and they were looking for someone

to write a book about preppies,

and I had to tell America what preppies were

because people would say,

"Where did you find people who look like that

and dress like that?" and I said,

"Well, you've just insulted all my friends and my brothers."

So, we thought only a few people who'd graduated from Exeter

and St. Pauls would ever be interested in the book,

and the book was sold out within a week of its appearance.

It told the secrets of a way of life

that had never been spilled like that.

The book was absolutely tongue-in-cheek.

The subtitle to "The Official Preppy Handbook"

was, "Look, Muffy, a book for us."

I was trying to make funny something that could

be construed as very obnoxious,

but people took it quite seriously as their self-help.

Truhler: Growing up in the 1980s where style was just,

like, all over the map,

I was having trouble connecting with something,

and so when I saw what was considered preppy style,

I was like, "That's close. That's getting there."

Birnbach: If you wear 100% cotton shirt

and a pair of khakis and a pair of loafers,

you look like you know what you're talking about.

It's sort of an overall improvement

of one's prospects and style.

Woman: Whether it's the polo grounds of Connecticut

or the yacht clubs of Cape Cod,

Lauren's true talent lies in creating a desire

for a certain lifestyle and selling the wardrobe to match.

Gunn: American style conjures up a democracy of taste,

and Ralph Lauren is the most American American.

Flusser: One of the things the American aesthetic is about

is taking lots of disparate elements

and, you know, mixing them together like our own culture.

Ralph was the first on so many fronts

in terms of just showing somebody,

"Oh, you can wear a sports jacket with a pair of jeans?"

You never saw a European pull clothes together like that ever.

Ralph embraces everything that is American,

whether it's the Old West,

whether it's Nantucket and Cape Cod,

whether it's San Francisco society,

whether it's Beverly Hills.

The one day he wants to be on safari in Africa,

and the next day, he wants to be

in the board room on Wall Street.

I worked with him, and he created movies in his mind.

He was probably the best movie director

in the history of Hollywood that never directed a movie.

Banks: Having parents who were immigrants,

they really come to embrace this country

and the freedom that they have in America,

and Ralph was one of those people.

He wasn't just selling clothes.

He was selling a lifestyle. He was selling a dream.

Flusser: The message from his world about the difference

between style and fashion and the idea

that one should have an arm's-length relationship

with fashion because fashion is something that changes,

his point of view was you should be trying to buy clothes

that are going to be with you for a long time.

He never compromises.

He is all about integrity -- integrity of product,

integrity of manufacturer, and integrity of detail.

Gunn: In a time when people of this nation were less confident

about how they were dressing, they really wanted to be led,

and, "Oh, I'm head-to-toe Ralph Lauren.

People will accept me. I must be okay."

I asked my friend, "So who do you think is

the most influential designer in the last 50 years?"

People came up with Armani or Calvin Klein

or, you know, a whole number of people, and then I said,

"Well, who do you think has more clothes being worn

that's 5 or 10 years old," and if you ask that question,

there is no other answer but Ralph Lauren.

You want to know what comes between me and my Calvins?

Nothing.

Steele: The Calvin Klein Brooke Shields ads were really revolutionary

in terms of making overt sexuality part of advertising.

He found, like, the sex in things, you know,

which is such a touchy subject for Americans, right,

and he, like, hit that button every damn time.

Calvin Klein's advertising was rather scandalous.

People were saying, "You're sexualizing this underage minor.

What are you doing?" But it woke people up.

And there were many times there would be an ad for Calvin Klein

where there weren't many clothes involved,

but it made you want to buy them.

Steele: His underwear ads stopped traffic in Times Square.

That was just revolutionary,

this image of masculine sexuality.

That was just absolutely galvanizing.

Suddenly, men's underwear became a signifier.

For the first time, that wasn't just a boring commodity

like buying white bread or milk at the grocery store.

It made every man, whether they looked like that or not,

feel like, "If I buy that underwear,

I'll look like that guy."

I was head of design at Calvin Klein,

and one day we were in the studio,

and we had these long johns, and we cut them off.

We showed it to Calvin. He thought it was amazing.

David Geffen was visiting Calvin.

He goes, "I have somebody that would be incredible,"

and he sends over Mark Wahlberg.

That was the beginning of the boxer brief.

Savage: Calvin Klein really deserves some credit

for making objectification a two-way street,

that women had been and still are objectified,

but now men are.

Truhler: This was the first time that it was done

in such a mass-advertising way.

The whole idea of a man taking care of his body,

looking good, caring about the way he looked

and the way he was groomed,

broke the mold for how goods could be advertised

and how far the envelope could be pushed.

Man: Television came along and gave us the gift of sight,

but it was cable that gave us the freedom of choice.

In the 1980s, deregulation opened up a Wild West

for media environment, which is cable television.

Man: Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll.

I'm Martha Quinn.

The music will continue nonstop on MTV Music Television,

the newest component of your stereo system.

Allen: I remember the day that MTV launched

because everybody was so eager for it

that people were throwing parties.

There was such a fervor for the new video,

and you had to see it, and what are they wearing,

and what are the backup dancers wearing?

We watched music videos avidly.

That was where you got most of your fashion news.

Picardi: Music videos allowed people to interpret fashion

completely out of this Paris,

Milan, New York, London ecosystem.

It took control away from the magazines

and gave it to a whole new legion of creatives.

Style came to be increasingly more important,

and the artist who really took advantage of this

was the King of Pop, Michael Jackson.

Dan: One of his jackets from "Thriller"

was, like, a super seller. -When you think of this era,

you think about someone like Prince.

He's pushing lines around race and gender.

Truhler: The hair of the hair bands was huge,

Aqua Net-ed up.

Most of them laugh about that period of time

for sure, you know?

Hauser: I think of Blondie and in new wave and punk

and just this kind of interesting marriage

of commercialism and art and fashion.

And that revolutionized the way

that the people listened to music

because now there was a visual component.

MTV came about, and whether it was Cyndi Lauper or Madonna,

the fashion business followed.

MTV was it at the time, and that really, to me,

had the biggest impact on '80s style.

Man: Are you the designer of your look,

your hairstyle, the clothing? -Oh, yeah.

Do you think someone else could come up with this?

Steele: Madonna is a creature of the '80s and of music video

because that's where she created this chameleon fashion persona.

She was trained as a dancer, not as a musician.

Truhler: Interesting to watch her start,

taking so many influences from the New York club scene

and turning that into Madonna's style

that then got emulated by girls everywhere.

She would wear mesh over a bra. You know, you had

the "Desperately Seeking Susan" period,

so you saw her lingerie.

Picardi: It's this play on her Catholic-Italian upbringing

of this, like, layering crucifixes

over these crop tops.

Steele: That was very much coming out of punk.

You were doing it yourself,

mixing up all kinds of things that didn't fit together.

And artists like Madonna never would have come

to the forefront of culture

unless she had a platform like MTV.

Madonna resonated because she helped to break stereotypes

of feminism, of female identity,

and of female sexuality, in particular.

King: This was shocking in the 1980s,

the kind of freewheeling sexuality that you see

when she's doing the performance of "Like a Virgin,"

for instance, as she's writhing on the floor,

you know, in a marital dress. This is, like,

shocking at the time to people,

"Papa Don't Preach," songs like that,

when she's talking about abortion.

In the 1980s, you wouldn't necessarily have a conversation

at your dinner table about feminism,

but you would have a huge debate about Madonna.

Madonna had her own interpretation

on what was happening that wasn't so concerned with trends

and that was deeply personal.

King: These mass-cultural artists,

these people who challenge style and establishment sensibility,

they were the people who pushed forward

the conversations on identity.

She is being compared today to Jackie Robinson.

Vanessa Williams, a college junior from New York

who has broken one of the nation's

last remaining racial barriers.

She is the first black Miss America.

Reid: When Vanessa Williams was crowned Miss America,

I mean, we were like, "What?"

You know, it was awesome.

We were very proud. We were excited.

She was beautiful. She was classy.

She looked like a beauty queen.

Vanessa Williams becoming Miss America was like

Obama becoming President of the United States.

The first black anything is a big deal,

but Miss America?

Being a black person, our beauty was never acknowledged

because of the color of our skin.

You hear it throughout time. You know,

"Black is beautiful. Black is beautiful."

You know, she validated that.

Williams: It was a huge honor and responsibility.

Women who were elderly came up to me

and thought they'd never see it in their lifetime.

It's about time we had a beautiful black girl

representing New York City.

Women that were my age kind of cheered along

because they knew that there was a color barrier

that had been broken. -I was thrilled, actually.

I couldn't stop my heart from beating when she won, yeah.

Since roughly the mid to late-1950s,

the Miss America Beauty Pageant

is the standard of American feminine beauty.

You can understand how someone like Vanessa Williams,

as incredibly beautiful as she is and was,

would still arouse resentment,

largely in racial terms.

Williams: Yes, a barrier was opened, but then there were people

who were my own African-American contemporaries that said,

"Well, it's not good enough. She's not dark enough.

She looks like she could pass. She looks like she's mixed.

It's not really a win for us,"

and that was actually more painful than the racism

that I kind of anticipated from white people that said,

"You're not good enough," because this my own community.

Boyd: Well, anytime you have a cultural shift

and part of that cultural shift involves the question of race,

there is going to be some vocal strident pushback.

Death threats, I had snipers on top of rooftops

when I would do outdoor parades.

At one particular parade, I couldn't even be outside.

I had to be inside the car because there were threats.

Boyd: She may have been accepted in terms of the pageant

and the title she won,

but that didn't mean that she was accepted throughout society.

It's never a good idea in this society

to be the first black anything.

It is one thing to face up to a mistake

that one makes in youth,

but it is almost totally devastating

to have to share it with the American public

and the world at large as both a human being

and as Miss America.

They took away her crown for them pictures.

Them pictures ain't nothing.

Boyd: It is not at all surprising

that the first African-American Miss America

would be dethroned after the emergence of photos

that many people considered inappropriate.

Savage: A lot of racists took great satisfaction in the scandal,

taking the crown away from Vanessa Williams,

because they were able to say, "Told you so."

As we break barriers, we break hearts.

People just can't live with the fact

that somebody who doesn't look like them

is all of a sudden breaking the images

that they have placed before them.

It's amazing how far we've come as a country,

and then it's amazing how many times

we take 10-year steps backwards.

Reporter: The drug epidemic is as dangerous

as any terrorist that we face. It is serious.

It is an epidemic, and it can kill.

It's tearing the cities apart.

Black communities in the 1980s were dealing with a lot.

There was a lot of social marginalization.

This was Reagan's conservative America,

and there was an entrenched gap between the rich and the poor.

It was the haves and the have-nots.

People always talk about how great, "Oh, man, Reagan.

Great Reagan years." I said, "Pshh."

We were like, "Man, I can't tell. Not where we're from."

Right now, all around us

and so compelling you never miss the fact there's no melody,

is a music that is all beat, strong beat, and talk.

It's rap music, and it sounds like this.

♪ What you hear is not a test

♪ I'm rapping to the beat

Reid: The Sugarhill Gang song, "Rappers Delight,"

might be the most important hip-hop song,

and not just because it was the first.

Although that's a big part of it.

I just remember how excited we all were.

It helped young burgeoning rappers like us.

It allowed us to start dreaming.

Hip-hop was the authentic expression of a group of people

who didn't have a voice in any other way.

They saw it as a form of art

but also as a powerful means of self-expression

and as a means of visibility

from a segment of the population that was largely invisible.

The power of rap and hip-hop

becomes where the protest movement comes from,

and it's about speaking one's heart to oppression.

So much of the energy of hip-hop

is about inscribing yourself into culture,

whether that's using music to establish your identity

and boast and let people know who you are

and what your skills are,

whether that's through dancing, deejaying or rapping.

♪ My Adidas

♪ Walk through concert doors

♪ And roam all over coliseum floors ♪

Boyd: When you talk about hip-hop and style,

the beginning is the group, Run-DMC.

They had some cool songs,

but what was really cool about them was their style.

The CAZAL glasses that they wore,

or the Goliath frames.

If you're into the frame game, these are legendary

but also black leather, and, of course,

they made a famous song called "My Adidas."

The Adidas shell toe is, in some ways,

the legendary shoe throughout hip-hop culture.

Steele: You had oversized clothes.

You had a lot of big chains. You had gold teeth.

All of that was a kind of excessive style

What you're trying to put forth and portray is confidence,

strength, affluence.

Steele: This look at first was mocked, but believe me,

it was picked up by high fashion really early on.

For Chanel Haute Couture,

Karl Lagerfeld had the big, gold chains.

Only now, there were big double "C"s on them.

It probably was the most influential style change

in American fashion in that decade.

Big logos became very important.

Yo, this is Fab 5 Freddie.

Welcome back to "Yo! MTV Raps."

We're here hanging out in Dapper Dan's

All-Night Boutique on 125th Street in Harlem.

Tell me, who was some of the other celebrities

that come up here and get their clothes made?

LL Cool J, The Fat Boys, Salt-N-Pepa,

and, of course, Eric B. & Rakim.

Reid: Dapper Dan is a New York legend.

Dapper Dan, early on,

tapped into black culture's fascination with labels.

I started playing with logos probably around

mid-'84, '85, like that.

I had to come up with something that was unique and rare,

so I said, "If I could print on leather,"

which nobody else was doing,

"I think that would be a phenomenal thing to do."

He appropriated the fabric, some of the shapes,

and it was completely underground,

and none of it was approved by the brands.

Steele: He started making clothes that the companies themselves

hadn't thought of doing yet,

and he made this incredibly powerful,

really postmodern look.

Dan: Eventually, the outfits and the look and the music

all got popular at the same time.

Friedman: The way that Dan used brands fed kind of the rapper culture

that was happening at that time and coming out of Harlem.

Once again, it goes back to that hip-hop culture

wanting to be exclusive.

You know, you wanted to get an outfit from Dapper Dan

because nobody else had it.

The new designer at Gucci, Alessandro Michele,

found one of these early homages that Dapper Dan had done

and effectively remade the exact same garment.

He's now ripped off the rip-off,

and Alessandro Michele at Gucci got in touch with Dan,

and they had a collaboration together.

They've sponsored his shop,

and he's become very popular again.

Woman: I remember a time when gym class and exercise

were pretty undesirable activities for women.

Well, today, we women have realized

that a regular exercise program can make us feel better,

look better, think better,

and even keep our bodies from aging.

Women: Whoo!

Get ready to work out.

Stand with your feet parallel,

a little more than hip-distance apart.

Now, you should have your good workout shoes on now.

Jane Fonda, when she started to do her exercise videos,

it actually kind of redeemed her.

She was still dealing with the "Hanoi Jane" situation.

There were lots of people, especially veterans,

who wanted no part of Jane Fonda,

and yet, when you looked at her,

and you looked at how great-looking she was,

you know, women said, especially housewives,

"I want to look like Jane Fonda. She looks great.

I can relate to her."

This happened right at the time

when VCRs and videos started coming out.

Gunn: Suddenly, we have workout clothes,

and women are out on the streets,

not going to work out but wearing a leotard,

wearing leg warmers, wearing sneakers everywhere,

and then you think, "What's going on?"

Of course, you had to have a leotard.

You probably had some sort of tights.

You might have even had a pair of briefs over it.

You might have had a belt. You have leg warmers.

There were even, like, god help us, like, the headbands.

The cut of the leotard just kept getting higher and higher

and higher up on the hip

as women tried to adhere to a new fitter ideal.

Steele: What's interesting about exercise is,

it used to be for centuries

that your clothes would create the shape.

That corset would squeeze you into certain shapes,

and then as clothes showed off more of your body,

you couldn't rely on the clothes to push the fat around.

You had to try and do something to get rid of the fat.

I consider us a team, Tess, and as such,

we have a uniform -- simple, elegant, impeccable.

Dress shabbily, they notice the dress.

Dress impeccably, they notice the woman.

As women are going into the workforce more

at somewhat higher levels,

they're looking for clothes that will make them look

like they could be the boss rather than the secretary.

Truhler: The power suit of the '80s

was comprised of a strong shouldered jacket

that was paired with a pencil skirt

or a pair of pants, so it was basically,

"What would a man wear if he was a woman?"

This was a time when women were adopting masculine traits

because masculinity is so inextricably correlated

to power at that time.

There were no female role models in corporate America.

When we think about the '80s power suit,

it is Melanie Griffith in "Working Girl,"

big shoulders, impeccably tailored,

but also confining, and rather masculine

in a manner of speaking.

Donna Karan was the antidote to that.

Women may wear high fashion,

but they are very seldom the designers.

One exception -- Donna Karan. She's now the undisputed leader

among American women fashion designers

with a $30-million-a-year business.

I'm a woman who works.

And most working women were wearing suits, shirts, and ties,

and that wasn't really me.

I had an idea --

seven easy pieces and really simple.

The Seven Easy Pieces revolved around a centerpiece

that is a body suit.

There is a skirt and a top.

There's a draped cape of sorts.

There is a pant, and they were all made out of jersey,

either wool or silk,

so everything has a wonderful stretch.

It was separates on a very sophisticated level.

You can mix and match them. You could travel with them.

Her Seven Easy Pieces were created because she said,

"This is all you need to feel secure and confident."

Gunn: We have a new power dressing that is distinctly feminine

and, quite frankly, very alluring.

They were owning their gender.

I think I was a shock to working women,

you know, that you can feel sensual and comfortable

and tailored and day-to-night, and if you're a working woman,

you have no time to keep changing your clothes.

It's tough. I don't want to worry about,

"Oh, what am I going to wear to work today."

You got to get to work, say hello to the kids,

good night to the -- you know,

and then be able to go from work out.

Furstenberg: Donna Karan, very important,

female designers make clothes for women.

They think about the body and the woman

and the comfort and use jersey.

I did. Donna did. Norma Kamali did.

It was the perfect timing.

It was the perfect zeitgeist moment,

and women loved it and embraced it.

And the next thing I know, I'm in Bergdorf Goodman,

and there I am.

My seven little pieces are in the windows,

and it was an amazing success.

I didn't expect it. I really didn't.

Gunn: I say that there are three seminal moments

in 20th-century fashion,

and each one of them was created by a woman --

Chanel, McCardell, and Donna Karan.

In the '80s, mens clothes still had an IBM culture of dress.

Big corporations were still mandating the white shirts,

blue suits, red-type ties.

On Wall Street, you always had a kind of a maverick breed

that did a little bit of their own thing.

People in the investment world made money.

They wanted to look like they made money,

and in those days, the way to look like you made money

was to wear tailored clothing and maybe suspenders.

There were all these kind of, like, symbols of having made it,

something that you couldn't buy ready-to-wear.

So, Wall Street had always been an interesting place

because at some point, people make enough money,

and they can really dress how they want to dress

in that own little circle.

Win a few, you lose a few,

but you keep on fighting,

and if you need a friend, get a dog.

Flusser: When I did the "Wall Street" movie,

I went to visit Michael Douglas

on his Upper West Side apartment.

I was wearing what I was typically wearing in those days,

which was a double-breasted suit,

horizontal-striped shirt, handkerchief, whatever,

and he just looked and said,

"Yeah, that's exactly how I want to dress, just like that,"

so it was kind of easy, in a sense.

Money itself isn't lost or made.

It's simply, uh, transferred.

We made him a wardrobe that a dresser would wear.

In some cases, the shirts were a little bolder,

maybe the patterns a little bit stronger,

just so on camera, they would read that way.

The ring, what kind of ring he was going to wear,

those were all chosen with thought in mind of how to,

again, project this guy who could do whatever he wanted

and was beholden to nobody.

Somehow it hit such a nerve,

we had people coming in from Europe, from California,

who literally just wanted to look like Gordon Gekko --

intimidating, strong,

and they said they wanted clothes.

Greed, for lack of a better word,

is good.

Greed is right.

Greed works,

and greed, you mark my words,

will not only save Teldar Paper,

but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA.

Thank you very much.

Boyd: In the film, Gordon Gekko is saying basically,

"Look, I'm rich,

and I'm not ashamed of the fact that I'm rich,

and you should want to be rich, too,

and if you really want to be rich,

you should follow my lead."

This, in a lot of ways,

summarizes certain aspects of the 1980s,

this sort of ego-driven pursuit of fame, status,

wealth, and material possessions.

It's sort of capitalism run amok.

Reporter: In trading rooms on Wall Street, there was panic.

Reporter: The stock market went into a free fall.

Reporter: The worst one-day decline ever.

But it's the chickens coming home to roost.

Douglas: In the late '80s in this unregulated environment,

we get hedge-fund operators and phony companies

and people that are pirating things,

and it becomes too mainstream,

that you're allowed to find ways to circumvent the law.

Our bipartisan bill gives a 25% reduction over three years.

Douglas: Reagan used optimism as an oxygen.

"Just tell people things are great

and people will believe it."

The problem with it is,

there was a callousness to Reaganism

which belies the kind of feel-good smile

that he always projected.

Friedman: In the '80s, there was a lot of "I want this.

I'm as good as you, and I can do it,

and I'm bigger than you, and I got this,

and Gucci, Gucci, Gucci."

Avila: People convey political ideals, political positions,

political strategies through style.

The '80s youth culture is almost always a music culture.

Music videos revolutionized the presentation of music.

Hip-hop was thought to be a fad that would pass,

but its influence has been profound

throughout culture in America and eventually across the globe.

Steele: Sexual and gender dynamics are becoming much more complicated

as both men and women, for different reasons,

are exploring other aspects of the sex-gender continuum.

Douglas: With the Cold War over, the sky was the limit.

We were number one.

We were the world's only superpower.

Gunn: The currents that existing in the '80s

were suddenly not there,

and American fashion didn't know what it wanted to be.