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The fashion icon at that time

It is the cover of "Popular Movies" magazine

The eighties were a decade of excitement and turmoil.

The young people at that time had an extreme desire for beauty and freedom.

The fashion benchmark at that time was the cover of Popular Film magazine.

Liu Xiaoqing once said on Weibo: "Being on the cover of Popular Films (back then) was an honor for every star second only to the Hundred Flowers Award."

Popular Film was once the most authoritative film magazine in the mainland, and also a well-known fashion barometer. In the 1980s, Popular Film was re-published and decided to make a bold and avant-garde attempt - to take pictures that no one else had taken, to be rebellious and ahead of the times. They referred to foreign magazines and picture albums, formed a unique fashion concept, and also left the most beautiful light and shadow of that era.

Zhu Lin, the "Queen of the Kingdom of Women", is gentle and generous, and her loose black and red sweater is not out of date even today.

1985 Issue 1: Young Film Actor Zhu Lin

In 1986, Brigitte Lin had not yet become a heroine. Her look as Athena was pure and lovely, with a hint of heroic spirit revealed between her brows.

1986 Issue 9: Taiwanese movie star Brigitte Lin

The title of "goddess" started with Joey Wong. She wore a pure white sling, a little makeup, and her devilish and fairy-like temperament left a deep impression on people. At that time, "A Chinese Ghost Story" was popular in both Mainland China and Hong Kong, and there was no Nie Xiaoqian after Joey Wong.

Issue 9, 1989: Another goddess, Joey Wong

The conditions were simple at that time, there was no professional studio, and the photos were taken in an ordinary room of the magazine. All the photos were taken with a Hasselblad 500C camera. The criteria for selecting "cover girls" were extremely strict. They had to have starred in more than three movies, like Liu Xiaoqing.

There is no stylist, and the makeup is done by the photographer and the actors themselves. There is no PS technology, and the photos are not processed too much. An inadvertent snapshot of tying shoelaces shows the most beautiful side of youth. This is probably the earliest forest girl.

Yang Qiangyun (played by Ren Yexiang) in the third issue of "Long Live Youth" in 1983

Round faces are the mainstream, and plump and rosy lips and cheeks are the most natural and healthy beauty. They also wear double eyelids and false eyelashes, but there are no double eyelid stickers, so they can only use a gauze-like thread to prop up their eyelids. False eyelashes are made of real human hair and glued on with homemade glue. It is very painful to remove makeup, and you can pull your real eyelashes off accidentally.

1995 Issue 3: Young Actor Chen Wei

They love beauty, but not all of them are the same. Instead, they have their own styles, some are graceful, some are smart, some are heroic, and some are sexy. They all have their own unique looks. There is no excessive pursuit of fair skin and thinness. Everyone presents a healthy and sunny state.

1996 Issue 1: Young Actor Xu Qing

Li Xiaoyan was a popular movie star in the late 1980s. Her style of pleated skirts and tank tops was no less impressive than that of today's young beauties.

1986 Issue 12: Young Actor Li Xiaoyan

The outfits of female stars were the trendsetters of the fashion world at that time, and some of them are still not outdated even now. In 1980, the heroine of "Ghost", Shao Huifang, appeared on the cover wearing tight bell-bottom pants, which set off a "bell-bottom pants" craze.

Xia Zhenglan (played by Shao Huifang) in the film "Ghost" (No. 10, 1980)

On the cover of an issue in 1987, Wan Qiong wore a lemon yellow backless bat-wing shirt with a headband of the same color on her head. She smiled sideways, warming the entire winter.

Bat Shirt 1987 Issue 2: Young Actor Wan Qiong

The street fashion has also quietly changed its appearance.

In the 1984 film "Red Skirts Are Popular on the Street", the heroine Tao Xing'er was so beautiful in a red dress that she was charming yet not vulgar.

As soon as the film was released, red skirts became popular all over the country.

With flying skirts and sweet smiles, a touch of red amazed the entire era.

1986 Issue 8: Fang Shu, Best Actress at the 9th Hundred Flowers Awards

Young women wearing brightly colored skirts on the streets of Beijing in 1985.

The "braids" and "cauliflower heads" of the 1970s have been replaced by curly hair. Hair must be permed until it is fluffy and messy, and "mousse" is used every day to style it, creating order in the chaos. Wearing large light-colored frog-shaped glasses makes the eyes confusing.

Issue 7, 1989: Famous actress Chen Chong

These fashion elements are not only popular among women. High-waisted flared pants are not only for girls, but also very popular among boys. The more floral the shirt is, the more fashionable it is. It should be printed, embroidered or striped, and the turned-out collar should be as big as the palm of your hand.

1989 Issue 6: Famous actor Fei Xiang

Loose coats are the first choice, try all kinds of colors and styles.

It gives people a "strange" feeling of being uninhibited due to youth, yet reserved due to tradition.

Issue 7, 1990: Young actor Jia Hongsheng

Guys in bell bottoms and shirts

Young people in the 1980s grew up in a time of nothingness but excitement. At that time, there were no mobile phones, computers or televisions, but there were Shan Tianfang's storytelling, Cui Jian singing "Nothing" with his guitar and long hair, and young people breakdancing in the park in flowered shirts. Spinning, swinging, rebellious, uninhibited, and free and easy are the youth memories of a generation influenced by Western pop culture.

In the mid-to-late 1980s, "Popular Movies" took a sexy approach.

Cherie Chung was the leading female star in the Hong Kong film industry in the 1980s. She was known as the "Marilyn Monroe of Hong Kong" for her sexiness and was the "dream lover" of countless people at that time.

1989 Issue 3: Goddess Cherie Chung

Gong Li wore a red one-piece swimsuit and held sunglasses in her hand. She looked sexy and youthful, and not at all vulgar.

1989 Issue 10: Young actress Gong Li

Not every mainland actress can be "relaxed". Taking sexy photos is entirely up to the actress's wishes, and the photographer will not force them. For example, Pan Hong always looks dignified and generous.

Wanrong (played by Pan Hong) in "The Last Empress and Imperial Concubine" Issue 9, 1985

If the photographer encounters actors who are "open-minded", he will encourage them to show themselves boldly. On the cover of the first issue in 1988, actress Zhang Xiaomin stood on the beach wearing a belly-baring outfit with her long hair loose. Metal accessories and smoky makeup added a punk feel.

1988 Issue 1: Young Actor Zhang Xiaomin

Later, she also shot a cover photo in which she was holding hands with a white horse, with exaggerated accessories and neutral clothing, looking handsome and free and easy.

1990 Issue 1: Young Actor Zhang Xiaomin

On the cover of the first issue in 1993, Ma Ling wore a silver dress covered with sequins, with a low-cut neckline and high slits. She raised her face slightly, confidently showing off her impressive figure. The diamond necklace on her neck attracted people's attention to her chest. Before taking this photo, the editorial department discussed and reached a consensus: "It's meant to be provocative! It's meant to increase circulation!" This cover caused a large-scale controversy, but it still did not affect the magazine's sales.

1993 Issue 1: Young Actor Ma Ling

The cover of the second issue in 1993 was even more "exaggerated". The cover girl was Shi Lan, a two-time winner of the Hundred Flowers Awards. In the photo, she had long hair and looked both sexy and pure. The magazine was sold out on the day it was released. One fan once said that he still has this magazine in his collection, "When I was young and ignorant, I couldn't sleep all night because I read it."

Issue 11, 1993: Young Actor Fu Lili

It is said that fashion is a cycle, and what was popular once will become popular again. Many of the popular elements we have now can be found in the last century. Polka dots, pleated skirts, bell-bottom sleeves, bell-bottom pants, ruffles... these retro elements have been transformed by designers and gradually formed another style.

1990 Issue 9: Taiwanese movie star Brigitte Lin

Off-the-shoulder tops paired with high-waisted jeans have been popular since that era.

You can wear the trend in your own style without complicated matching.

Issue 5, 1994: Young Actor Yu Hui

The goddesses' earrings are either exaggerated, simple, passionate and sexy, or ladylike and cute, perfectly suiting each person's personality.

Issue 8, 1988: Young actor Mao Amin

1988 Issue 6: Young Actor Xu Lili

The various headbands that are popular nowadays seem to have come from Korean dramas, but in fact they are just leftovers from the actresses of that era.

Issue 5, 1988: Young Actor Saren Gaowa

Fashion may come and go, but that noisy era will never come back.

The once household name cover girl and the dream lover of countless people have gradually faded out of the film industry.

"Popular Movies" magazine is no longer as glorious as it used to be. It captured the fleeting images of female stars and froze a generation's memories of fashion and youth.

Beijing General Political Department Swimming Pool in the 1980s, photographed by Ren Shulin

Looking at the cover of Popular Movies magazine today, you may feel it is old-fashioned, but you still can't help but recall the era of fluttering white clothes and the era of lingering love. You thought your youth was gone, but when you look back, you find that your youth is still there, just sealed in the film and hidden in your heart.

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