A joyous new Wham! documentary ushers in resurgence of ’80s fashion’s softer, sweeter side

I have never thought too deeply about Wham! and I realize now that was my mistake.

As a student and survivor of 1980s fashion, watching the new Netflix documentary on the band stirred nostalgic and heartwarming feelings that I haven’t experienced in a long while. Remember when we used to go out dancing every single night?

Yes, the curatorial snob in me prefers to think of myself in my mid-’80s suburban bedroom exclusively listening to Patti Smith and protopunk. But Wham! embodies the true spirit of the 1980s, fashionwise, and we are seeing that esthetic in fashion today, up to and including the most recent haute couture shows.

Wham! was more than an earworm, though their catchy riffs have moved into my head this week, as the kids say, rent-free. Watching the footage of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley in the documentary (titled, simply, “Wham!”), I was suffused with Tiger Beat style moments: the glorious, gravity-defying, blond-streaked hair swooping over one eye! The artful stubble! The red and yellow monochromatic track suits with teensy weensy short shorts! The crisp white shirts and moto jackets! The message T-shirts in big block letters, rolled up at the sleeve! In the nascent video era, performers of the ’80s understood better than any today that image was everything.

But what that list of trends doesn’t include is the nuance: Wham! in the ’80s embodied a sweet and wholesome dance-til-you-drop youth culture wholly without the slickness we often ascribe to the “Bonfire of the Vanities” era.

“Wham! was never gonna be middle-aged,” as Ridgeley puts it perfectly near the end of the documentary. The band’s lyrics, underneath the sunny Brit pop chords and choruses, spoke quietly about the frustrating process of growing up, transforming, becoming (especially “Freedom”). This was a youthful slice of time, and the doc is the story of two pals from London who made good and then broke up the band while they were on top.

The doc ends before we get into George Michael’s solo career and his coming out; it does not deal with the sadness around his premature death in 2016. Still, it is poignant watching the thwarted parts of his story now, so full of potential. His friend Elton John dedicated his recent Glastonbury show to the lost talent on what would have been Michael’s 60th birthday.

It is as if the sweeter, more innocent parts of the 1980s are arriving in today’s timeline to comfort us. Just look at Catherine, Princess of Wales, channelling her late mother-in-law Diana, Princess of Wales, last week at Wimbledon. Her mint-green Balmain blazer with contrasting white lapels and pleated maxi skirt, complete with white pumps, was a direct reference to Diana’s Catherine Walker outfit from the 1988 Trooping the Colour ceremony.

In fact, Town & Country magazine recently published a compilation of “50 Times Kate Middleton Dressed Like Princess Diana,” a compendium of ’80s-flavoured polka-dot outfits, houndstooth checks, peplums and big brass buttons.

The previous Princess of Wales was one of the decade’s most famous style ambassadors, and we’ve been going through a couple of big Diana revival years, what with the plethora of films and documentaries from “The Crown” to “Spencer,” and various anniversaries of her birth and her passing. The early-’80s Sloane Ranger look of Diana’s youth has also made a comeback, particularly the novelty sweaters she loved, such as the black sheep among white sheep red jumper, which spoke volumes about how she felt in the royal fold. The design has been reissued by its original brand, Warm & Wonderful, as well as by many imitators on Etsy.

The ’80s spirit is present at the tip-top of the market, too. This summer’s haute couture shows brought many memorable 1980s touches. We saw hot pants, feathers, ruffles and microminis at Valentino’s “Le Club Couture” presentation by Pierpaolo Piccioli.

Giambattista Valli’s collection was bursting with big, ornamental bows, exaggerated ruching, flounces and polka dots.

As a fashion reporter from the mid-1990s onward, I’ve watched the ’80s come back so many times that I can’t drag my fingers to type the word revival ever again. We currently live in a perpetual trend pendulum, where nearly every era careens in and out of favour, a blur of vintage ideas thrown into the Pinterest blender.

But what feels interesting this summer is that right now ’80s exuberance feels comforting, hopeful and cheerful, a reminder of how great it was to go out dancing every night in your most colourful clothes and biggest hair. Wake me up before you go-go, indeed.

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