I personally like shoulder pads in women’s clothing. Know they were big in the 1980s, I hardly ever saw my mom walk out to work without them in a fancy suit. They have recently made a come back but, are they here to stay?

I was sitting in textile class talking about how different fabric does different things for women’s wear and shoulder pads came up. We started chatting about if in ten years, we’ll look back and say absolutely not. I know that mohawks and shaving half of your head will definitely be a thing of the 2010’s but shoulder pads, I don’t know.

Elsa Schiaparelli, an Italian designer of the 1930s and 1940s inspired by Surrealists like Dali, is noted to have introduced shoulder pads in women’s clothing. She seemed to be into form and structure like what we are seeing in some of the newer designs today. Like, for instance, this skeleton dress with shoulder pads below.

Check out the detail on the shoulders of this dress worn by Mrs. Reginald Fellowes in 1933. Schiaparelli and Prada were featured and compared at The Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met) last year for their spring exhibition.

Schiaparelli had some great vision for her time. I think there might be periods when the shoulder pad will be more prevalent in fashion than others, like the 1940s and 1980s. But, my prediction is that the shoulder pad is here to stay.

Yours,

“Fashionably-Late”

Malinda Knowles