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1980-85: When Dolfins Walked the Earth |
What were Dolfins all about?
It is hard to imagine these days that only recently (well, OK, 15 years ago) women were wearing a style of shorts that revealed every inch of the leg. The Dolfin brand of four-panel running shorts were introduced in 1979 and by summer 1980 had been adopted by beach culture in California as a cover-up. The shorts made it into the classroom in fall of 1980 (California autumns are quite warm) and by spring of 1981 were all the rage in both high school and college. The two original patterns were the two-color four-panel (type 01) and solid four-panel (type 02).
1982 was much the same, with the addition of a vertical candystripe pattern in various colors. By 1983, the market was full of inferior imitations but fashionable women only wore Dolfins. A V-panel style was introduced late in the year.
By 1984, the fashion was fading somewhat; but fortunately, rapidly-expanding girl's sports programs in the high schools and colleges often adopted the Dolfin as a uniform. By 1985, the Dolfin had disappeared from the classroom -- not so much that they were out of style, but more often from school boards' new dress codes that specifically forbade girls from wearing them! The shorts survived as common summer wear once school was out, but the fashion had run its course, to be replaced first by the long "surf jams" of 1986-1989. After a brief revival with the oval-panel (type 11) in 1989, women's legs disappeared under the long, sad, saggy, baggy fashions of the 1990s.
Dolfin remains a prominent producer of sportswear and competition swimsuits, but had had no mainstream fashion hits since then. Their products remain confined to the track and the pool. No one has tried to bring back the 4-panel style; however, the pedalpushers from the same era have enjoyed a strong revival in 1999. Hemlines for women's shorts have thankfully, risen back up; however, today's designs are square cut at the leg and lack the leg-lengthening effect of the notched, tapered sides of the Dolfin leg. A pair of Dolfin shorts, properly worn, could make even an short set of legs look good.
Will Dolfins ever come back? Nope. The Dolfins defined the early 1980s -- just like poodle skirts defined the 50's -- and will be forever associated with that era. They were inextricably tied to sports. They rode a singular wave when girls and women's sports were first accepted and popularized. Since then, sports uniforms have become formalized and standardized. Some which used Dolfins at the time -- like basketball and soccer -- now use long, baggy shorts. Others, like volleyball and track now use an almost swimsuit-like leotard.
As fashion, dress codes in high schools still exist and will make a revival there impossible.
But the main reason we will not see a revival anytime soon is that "ugly" is in -- and ugly is what Dolfins are not. Ugly is "in" as fashion because of 1990s ideas of equality -- if we all can't be beautiful, then we'll hide everyone under ugly clouds of clothing so we all look the same. It is truly the decade of ugly fashion and confrontational attitudes -- where everyone has to intimidate and look tough and "bad" and "ghetto" and high school halls are filled with semigang wannabes. The beauty of woman in Dolfins is completely out of place there.
Vintage Dolfin Shorts from the early 1980's
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| LtBlu - XS - $NFS | Rd/Wht-SM -$NFS | Yel- SM - $NFS | Blu/Wht- M - $150 |
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Authentic Dolfin
Shorts from the early '80s |
| RCS-OP-M- $40 | BCS- SM - $NFS | LtBlu - XS - $NFS | NFS-Not for sale |
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Links
Info courtesy pcm17, apparel pictures by dolfinshorts@hotmail.com
