Flashdance: sweatshirt, leg warmers and more. The style that resists 40 years later

The April 15, 1983 American cinemas showing for the first time FlashdanceAnd, Today cult movie (also of style) absolute that turns 40. At the audition, 18-year-old Jennifer Beals arrives in Sweatshirt, the same one he uses at Yale, the university he attends. A wrong wash in her washing machine had shrunk it and she, to continue wearing it, cuts off her neck with one stroke of scissors. A very lucky random gesture that instantly creates an iconic look.

The sweatshirt is torn and slips leaving one shoulder uncovered. But she likes it so much that not only does it contribute (probably) to the young actress having the part of the protagonist Alex, a welder by day/cabaret dancer by night, who dreams of attending a prestigious dance academy, but also becomes a boss capable of writing the history of fashion, defining a period and a lifestyle, together with leotards, leggings (indeed, at the time defined leggings) e leg warmers.

Why yes, just that Sweatshirt worn at castings is the same one that millions of people have admired for four decades now in Adrian Lyne’s highest-grossing film of the time (produced on a $7 million budget, it grossed over $200, a whopping for 1983) and winner of all possible awards: Oscar, Bafta, Golden Globe and Grammy, among others.

The modern fairy tale to the rhythm of an immortal soundtrack (impossible not to still dance to the rhythm of What a feeling by Irene Cara) told in the film we all know it, boomers, millennials and even Gen Z. A classic so absolute that it also inspired Geri Halliwell’s videos (It’s raining man), and Jennifer Lopez, (I’m Glad). Both feature some epic moments from the film, including the costumes, of course.

At the time of the film’s release, everyone was wearing stylish Flashdance and athleisure makes theupgrade. In fact, the sporty street was born at a time when, at the beginning of the 80s, punk music and its influences on costume were beginning to give way. Break dancing becomes the new fad and sportswear, stepping outside the confines of the gym, it transforms into dailywear. Moving away from lace and other classic feminine garments, the look Flashdance celebrated a new kind of woman, independent and down to earth, athletic and sexy.

Fashion brands and sports brands, the match is a winner

In the year in which adidas turns 50, the sportswear brand has activated two already sold-out alliances-à-porter with the most desired brands on the planet: Gucci and Balenciaga. But many other maisons have joined forces with the athleisure universe. Never like now, it’s collabo-mania

In addition to the sweatshirt we said, the film clears customs leg warmers, accessory symbol of the Eighties that cyclically returns to the drawers of teenagers and not.

As proof that once again in fashion a lot is created, nothing is destroyed, everything is reinvented, the Third Millennium version leg warmers represent the only item capable of causing a short circuit between the 80s and the 2000s. Gen Z has in fact rediscovered the heritage dethe leg warmers with more than 120 million views on TikTok, perhaps in a more grunge and DIY key than the vitamin colors in vogue in the aerobics boom era. Between DIY leg warmer tutorials and a scruffy allure, the revival of the trend seems to be characterized by neutral colors and contrasting textures and does not spare catwalks and celebs.

Not just leg warmers and sweatshirts. The wardrobe tomboys of Alex in the film, so contemporary, which allows the protagonist to Flashdance both to blend in at work and to move easily from place to place on his bike, that’s all we still want today: denim dungarees with leather pouch, tattered Levi’s and with frayed hems peeking out for the first time in the film, a symbol of the working class and today a glamorous garment never to be without, highly sought after on the catwalk.

And then oversized military jackets, mainstay of the wardrobe of the protagonist who sports a khaki and red version at the end of the film (en pendant with the roses she brings to Nick, (her boss, with whom she is in love, played by Micheal Nouri).

The other side of Alex’s style is revealed in the evening, when the girl hugs decidedly more sensual looks. One of her boldest outfits is unveiled during a lavish lobster dinner with Nick.

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Giorgia Meloni, the premier with trousers

The first looks of the new Prime Minister, for the swearing-in ceremony and for that of the bell: Giorgia Meloni chooses to wear a jacket and trousers. No quirks, no distractions, no footholds for useless chatter about her outfits

Upon the arrival of his ex-wife, Katie, Alex takes off his smoking jacket to reveal that the bib shirt and bow tie he’s wearing is literally just that: a sleeveless, backless, shirtless bib.

It goes without saying that this ensemble too has gone down in the history of cinema and costume, a forerunner of fluidity and looks for him that become irresistible on her, so present in contemporary catwalks.

And we smile if we think that upon its release this cult was mercilessly panned and included by the great critic Roger Ebert in the ranking of the worst films of the year. Today it is worth even just seeing it for that avalanche of leg warmers, jumpsuits, pink lace tights, acid denim short skirts with matching jackets, sweatshirts off the shoulder, Jazzercise leotard, big hair and bracelets everywhere.

And to dance, dance, dance, step by step in style. Not before you have cut the neck off our sweatshirt of the heart. So now, to do it perfectly, there are also tutorials.