Girl's Cotton Dress, circa 1988
Lent by Emily Arntson
and Joanna Hussey

Yves St. Laurent created this classic blue and white striped dress for a fashionable little lady. Many designers found children's wear and home accessories to be more lucrative as more and more women eschewed impractical fashion edicts.

It was during the mid-eighties that a peculiar thing happened to fashion. Whereas costume trends had been generated by design houses and had then "trickled down" to the populace, women suddenly took a long look at the whimsical, often ridiculous runway fashions and turned the other way. The notion of wearing anything that did not fit with the hectic lifestyle of the 1980s busy family was summarily rejected. Costume was in the hands of the people. The entire system was thrown upside down and fashion "bubbled up" from the street. Casualwear, leisurewear, and sportswear became universally acceptable in all but the most formal situations.