It was acceptable in the '80s! Stunning portraits of edgy New Romantics with dodgy hairstyles and punk attitudes offer a nostalgic snapshot of an iconic decade
- The '80s was a period of radical social change with young people expressing themselves through subcultures
- Snapper Derek Ridgers captured people from all walks of life during this period, from punks to politicians
- Ridgers has just released a new book, called The Eighties, of his most stunning portraits from that era
It was a decade defined by Margaret Thatcher, MTV, yuppies, strikes, riots and mass unemployment.
The 1980s was a period of radical social change, that saw young people express themselves through subcultures such as the New Romantics, the punks, the ravers or the emerging hip hop scene.
They were all captured on camera on the streets of London by photographer Derek Ridgers, who has now compiled a book of his most stunning portraits from that decade.
From punks with studded jackets and spiky gelled hair and ravers kissing in a nightclub to hedonistic fun at music festivals, Ridgers offers a nostalgic snapshot of a truly iconic decade with his tome In The Eighties - Portraits From Another Time.
A woman stands in chains, a tutu and skin-coloured tights that don't cover her bare bottom at a music festival in an unknown year
They could give Jedward a run for their money! A young man and women with matching mohawks look into Derek Ridger's camera in an unknown year in the 1980s
The 1980s was the decade that sub-culture as a way of life reached its zenith, which Ridger documented by taking photos of punks like this man
Two New Romantics, one in a studded biker leather jacket, kiss and cuddle while being photographed by Ridger
Two young people get hot and heavy on the floor of a nightclub underneath a bar table but the people around them don't seem to mind
This man has strange lines drawn on his face, and stares intensely into Ridger's camera sometime in the 1980s
This man leaps into a busy crowd at what appears to be a rave during the 1980s, documented by Ridger
Members of the New Romantic punk rocker subculture drink beers in a London park in the 1980s
In The Eighties - Portraits From Another Time by Derek Ridger is out this month in hardback, £24.95
In a decade of mass unemployment, strikes and riots – the poor people of London were being driven out into housing estates in the Home Counties. London was rough and lawless. Subcultures offered spaces to escape the pressures of the decade and ways out of the traditional identities that people no longer wanted to assume
Ridger took many of his portraits at music festivals, capturing the hedonistic fun that many young people had at these events during the 1980s
An eccentrically dressed androgynous member of the public stands on a street in London. An explosion of creativity took place against a backdrop of radical social change during the 1980s
An amorous man kisses a woman in a nightclub in the 1980s (left). The decade was when post-modern life began in the west, and London was at the epicenter of this shift
Two punks kiss outside a pub in London while members of the public look on
In The Eighties - Portraits From Another Time by Derek Ridgers is out this month in hardback, £24.95.
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