https://www.etsy.com/listing/238394067/exotic-large-sterling-lizard-brooch-c

Why did people wear these?

Was it just a fad or did it have some hidden meaning -- like women wearing a red blazer...

I don't remember it. I don't remember brooches being highly popular back then. Women were wearing gold chains, hoop earrings, shell necklaces, and maybe some Mexican silver. I know that charm holder necklaces were huge at one point, and I want to say it was in the 80s.

I think you have to go back to the 40s and 50s to find a lot of brooches, including animal brooches. The lizard was a popular motif. I think that women just thought the designs were cute and fun.

In 80s era videos or movies you sometimes see this on a woman in a power suit with shoulder pads, etc.

https://www.farfetch.com/shopping/women/oscar-de-la-renta-lizard-brooch-item-12585820.aspx



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/22/2018 02:54AM by anybody.

IMO most younger working women would have considered them dowdy at that point. I know I did (I had one or two that I never wore.) My friends working on Wall St. wearing the power suits did. Perhaps elderly women were still wearing brooches. And yes, brooches are worn on the lapel or just above the breast. Some can serve as a pendant on a necklace or be detached to be worn as a brooch.

I have a nice collection of my mom's brooches. I've passed some of them down to my niece. She likes retro things.

WWI era midi skirts and 70s wide flare pants are back
https://onlinemba.unc.edu/blog/Feminist-History-in-Womens-Work-Suits/

http://www.bauchlefashion.com/2017/03/80s-power-dressing.html

https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/gallery/2014/oct/19/from-monobosoms-to-shoulder-pads-the-best-of-women-fashion-power-in-pictures

But Alexis from "Dynasty" not so much :P

https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2014/oct/23/women-fashion-power-clothes-design-museum-exhibition



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/22/2018 10:14AM by anybody.

Ouch! To me the 80s were a fashion disaster. Women were just starting to wear pantsuits, so for many of us, skirts were the order of the day. That meant you spent a minor fortune on pantyhose. In the morning I would put on my blouse with padded shoulders, a sweater with padded shoulders, and then my coat with padded shoulders. By the time I finished, I looked like a football player.

There was also the trend of small-print wrap rayon dresses (which were rather nice, Diane Von Furstenberg was known for them,) that were unfortunately paired with white or light pastel pantyhose, and often, patent leather shoes. Very girly.

Also you had lots of Laura Ashley and a brand called Gunne Sax that borrowed heavily from prairie, Edwardian, and Victorian looks.

And don't get me started on the big hair! That was truly awful. lol

Not all of it but some if it is OK -- but then I like the western/boho look with boots.

The skirts are realllly long which is great for me since I'm tall.

It's a lot like a Russian brand called "Artka"


https://www.pinterest.com/pin/451978512581242413/

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/315603886367174976/

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/365284219749885631/


I remember Laura Ashley dresses from when I was a kid. My mother made us wear that to church. I thought they looked like curtains or upholstery...

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/67624431881784741/



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/22/2018 12:59PM by anybody.

I take your meaning, but to me it was all too girly at a time when women were trying to empower themselves and break through glass ceilings.

To me, some of those Laura Ashley dresses have a FLDS vibe, only they're not in a solid color.

Okay google didn't help. Whats up with the red blazers?

http://adarepublicanwomen.com/events/red-jacket-luncheon/2017-red-jacket-days-capitol/

http://magicvalley.com/news/local/the-women-in-red/article_b9bffac0-ef36-5e29-b7ef-af88dcdacf60.html

http://www.hilarydefreitas.com/what-you-do-to-wear-the-mary-kay-red-jacket/



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/22/2018 09:45AM by anybody.

I think it goes back to Nancy Reagan and her fondness for red -- "Reagan red." The china that she selected for the White House is banded in red.

I have a medium sized 14kt gold lizard pin.

Didn't even know it had a special significance to some people.

Never thought of it as a Salamander either but that's funny now.

I am reminded of Escher: http://dalesdesigns.net/escher/reptiles2.jpg


Here's a catalog of his oeuvre: http://dalesdesigns.net/escher_gallery.htm

I doesn't mean a thing unless the salamander is white. Then you have to check with Mark Hofmann.

Insects, frogs, crabs, snakes, predatory cats--things that no sane woman would go near in real life, make it out of gold and gems, and they'll happily wear it. My grandmother had a spider brooch in spite of the fact that they was terrified of the real things.

Salamander Pin meant:

$ ($65) in someone else's pocket!


Ta Da!

At MIT for a fiftieth class reunion the wear for everyone has been a red jacket.