1980s Hair by Nicky Clarke

1. Slicked back with ponytail Sade

Sade was this girl who came from nowhere, an Adele of the 1980s, always wearing Azzedine Alaïa and always looking classy. The hairstyle was simple enough, slicked back with loads of gel and a ponytail extension, but it had a timeless quality. It was a look made mainstream by Robert Palmer’s ‘Addicted to Love’ video.

2. Bouffant George Michael

I started doing George’s hair in the 1990s but back in the 1980s, his sister was doing it. His hair in the ‘Careless Whisper’ video has so much body because it’s naturally very curly. It was funny how many people started going to have their hair permed before a blow-dry after that video.

3. Post-punk fop Adam Ant

Adam Ant did the whole highwayman/pirate thing long before Johnny Depp — ponytails pulled to the side, plaits in the hair and ribbons weaved through. It captured that post-punk mood that was made famous by Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood — you had to have real attitude to pull it off.

4. The Yuppie Charlie Sheen

The Yuppie look, albeit a very, very good-looking version, came straight from the Brat Pack, via Charlie Sheen in Wall Street. It’s slightly preppy and grown-up jock-y, and really appealed to the mainstream. It was the haircut your mother would like, nice and neat, and it fed into the Hugh Grant fop look of the 1990s.

5. Flicky bob The Princess of Wales

Diana’s bob was the Sloane style in the 1980s, always paired with pearls. It actually dates back to the 1970s and Farrah Fawcett’s flicked-back style. The only reason it became such an iconic 1980s look was because Diana was so loyal to her hairdresser, but it always looked like a helmet.

6. Big with black roots Madonna/Cyndi Lauper/Bananarama

This look harked back to Debbie Harry in the late 1970s but Madonna has to take credit for it in the 1980s. She mixed in bits of lace and gave it that street-urchin feel. Cyndi Lauper was always wanting to push the boundaries of colour, so her hair was similar but more stylised.

7. Buzz cut Annie Lennox

Annie’s buzz cut is a great example of a hairstyle that was iconic but didn’t have mass appeal. Its relevance was in the androgyny and it had a touch of David Bowie about it. She’s been pretty true to her look ever since, but back in the 1980s people weren’t rushing out to shave their heads, which is why her look stood out.

8. The Wings a flock of seagulls

This is the one that most people see as being ‘the horror look’ of the 1980s because it’s kind of hideous; not the nicest piece of hair history. Sometimes there’s nothing more to a hairdo than just saying ‘Why not?’ Taste doesn’t come into it.

9. The mullet Simon Le Bon

The early 1980s was all about flamboyance. Simon was a Bowie kid and wanted to dress up. The mullet was combed or teased within an inch of its life and, thanks to hairspray, defied gravity. Simon had the better version of the mullet (I did it for him for the ‘Ordinary World’ cover); see footballers Chris Waddle and Glenn Hoddle for the worst.

10. Poodle perm Kylie Minogue

In the 1980s people were learning to use a diffuser and scrunch-dry their hair, and L’Oréal released its first mousse — L’Oréal Freestyle. Kylie’s look in the ‘I Should Be So Lucky’ video (above) sums it up. People wanted their hair to have loads of body but I’m sure they now say, ‘Why did I think that having shoulders like an American football player and frazzled hair was a good look?’