1. The 1980s was a loud, fast, brash and bold decade. The stars of the 80s were larger than life and the fashions and trends were outlandish. As a result, the 80s fancy dress costumes are expected to be outlandish too. This allows the guests of an 1980’s costume party to be creative and prevents them form holding back with their 80s outfits.
2. The music of the decade was varied and often inspired by the fashions of the time. There’s a massive range of music-inspired 80s fancy dress costumes to choose from. Here are some ideas: Madonna, Michael Jackson, Wham, Queen, Bruce Springsteen, Duran Duran, Kylie, Pet Shop Boys, Bon Jovi, Guns ‘N’ Roses, Cyndi Lauper, Prince, George Michael, Annie Lennox.
3. There were some massive political characters in power during the 80s. Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and Mikhail Gorbachev could all inspire great 1980s fancy dress costumes.
4. There was an explosion of movies in the 80s. Lots of these have gained iconic status and lots of them are keenly associated with the 80s. I have seen the following movie-inspired outfits at 80s fancy dress parties: Ghostbusters costumes, Teen Wolf costumes, Back to the Future Costumes, Rambo costumes, ET costumes, Empire Strikes Back costumes, Blade Runner costumes, Indian Jones costumes, Pretty Woman costumes…and many more.
5. The new romantics movement was big in the 80s. Check out bands like Adam and the Ants, Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet for inspiration.

I’ve been to several great 80’s parties in the last couple of years and the range of 80s fancy dress costumes really amazed me.  Perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised given the fact that there are so many options available. You will always be able to find great 80s fancy dress costumes for an 80s themed party.

80s fancy dress accessories can come in a number of forms. First, there are the accessories that are aimed to replicate an object actually worn or used by the subject of the 80’s fancy dress costume. An example would be a skateboard or walkman for a Marty McFly, Back to the Future costume, or a toy machine gun as part of a Rambo costume. These 80’s fancy dress accessories enhance the costumes by adding detail to the look. They make it more realistic and give other guests at an 80s party additional information and clues as to the identity of the character. Anything that helps to make a fancy dress costume more recognisable is worth looking at. After all, there’s nothing worse than attending an 80’s fancy dress party, only to have other guests asking, “Who are you?”

The second type of 80s fancy dress accessory are those that would never actually be worn or used by the subject of the fancy dress costume, but still make an excellent (often amusing) addition to the outfit. Examples would include, button badges or pins that display slogans or quotes of the character (’ET phone home’, ‘I pity the fool’ (for an A-Team costume), ‘Wax on, wax off’ for a Mr Miyagi costume). Slogan T-shirts can also achieve the same effect.

If you are going for a general 80s themed costume, which isn’t based around a real person or character, then there are also lots of accessories that you could incorporate into your 80s outfit. Accessories such as, Rubick’s cube earrings, neon socks and rubber braclets would enhance most 80s fancy dress costumes.