Fashion Terms — the Apparel Search fashion terminology directory
According to fashion-era.com, “yuppie” was a 1980s acronym for a young upwardly mobile professional person — a work hard, play hard, ambitious-minded city career person whose rare free time was spent on conspicuous, self-indulgent consumption. The scuppie, a socially conscious upwardly mobile person, kept the ambition and the spending power but added a socially responsible mentality: a yuppie with a heart, in the phrase used on this page.
Yuppies and Scuppies by Apparel Search: Fashion Terms by Apparel Search
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According to fashion-era.com, "yuppie" was a
1980s
acronym for 'Young Upwardly Mobile Professional Person'. The word was
coined by the advertising industry to capture the essence of a particular
type of work hard, play hard, ambitious-minded, city career person of
either sex. The hectic lifestyle of a yuppie meant that after long hours
of work, rare free time was spent in a self indulgent way frittering away
the cash earned on anything, from expensive
make up and
perfume, to a bottle of fine champagne. Conspicuous wastage was part
of the attitude. For day yuppies sported wide-shouldered jackets and for
weekends they wore a Barbour to effect a country aesthetic or a ball-gown
to assume the appearance of a more advantaged lifestyle. One of the strongest looks of the
1980s was power
dressing. After John Molloy wrote his book "Women Dress For Success" in
1975, corporate America took it to heart and women began to abandon the
incomplete look of mismatched
skirt,
sweater or
blouse
for a full-jacketed sober suit. Soon the concept came to Britain and the
rest of Europe followed. Fashion history records the power suit and dressing
for success as the symbol of the 1980s. The best know icons of 1980s
fashion for power dressing were Mrs. Thatcher and The Princess of Wales,
Diana. Designer labels and branding gained impetus. Brand names
became status symbols for sports gear and sportswear, perfumes, electrical
equipment, cars and fashion designer goods such as clothing, bags,
luggage, scarves and spectacles. The appearance of affluence was
reinforced by access to designer label goods. By the mid-eighties tills
rang not with cash, but the increasing use of credit cards. It was all
such a relief to the consumer to be able to spend and actively be
encouraged to consume after years of recession. Clothing purchases soared.
Interiors were decorated. Showing wealth was superficially powerful. Apparel Search discovered another term that
relates to today's lifestyle and economic climate. According to
Stylelist.com, yuppies have been on the way out. The other, more timely
term is the "scuppie." A scuppie is defined as a "socially-conscious,
upwardly mobile person," someone who combines a taste for the high-life,
social climbing, and wealth with a socially-responsible mentality, kind
of like a yuppie with a heart. Like their predecessors, scuppies are into
conspicuous consumption, but the status symbols in the scuppie universe
aren't limited to a Rolex and
tailored suits. For scuppies, a hybrid car is just as good as a Chanel
handbag.
The term scuppie defines that guy at Whole Foods who is wearing a Tonic
Generation t-shirt and filling a reusable canvas bag with fair-trade
coffee while he talks to his broker about how his "green stocks" are
doing. Unlike yuppie-ism, the scuppie mentality seems to have a sense of
karma, altruism, and 'doing good.' Some scuppies might actually do the
unthinkable and volunteer for things.
The term scuppie didn't just come out of nowhere, it was invented by
scuppie guru Chuck Falia, who noticed that yuppies all over were starting
to change into something new. His work-in-progress "The
Scuppie Handbook: A Practical guide to Living Well While Doing Good
Written for Apparel Search by Regina Cooper October 2010.
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The yuppie look was a uniform with a purpose. After John Molloy wrote his book “Women Dress For Success” in 1975, corporate America took it to heart and women began to abandon the incomplete look of a mismatched skirt, sweater or blouse for a full-jacketed sober suit; soon the concept came to Britain and the rest of Europe followed. For the day, yuppies sported wide-shouldered jackets, and for weekends they wore a Barbour jacket to effect a country aesthetic or a ball-gown to assume the appearance of a more advantaged lifestyle. Designer labels and branding gained impetus through the decade: brand names became status symbols for sports gear and sportswear, perfumes, electrical equipment, cars and fashion designer goods such as clothing, bags, luggage, scarves and spectacles, and the appearance of affluence was reinforced by access to designer label goods. By the mid-eighties the tills rang not with cash but with the increasing use of credit cards, clothing purchases soared, and showing wealth was, superficially, powerful.
The scuppie term answers a change in what status means. Where the yuppie displayed success through expense alone, the scuppie displays it through expense with a conscience: the same eye for quality and the same upwardly mobile career, pointed at goods and habits that also do good. The example given when the term was new still explains it best — the shopper at Whole Foods wearing a Tonic Generation t-shirt, filling a reusable canvas bag with fair-trade coffee while talking to a broker about green stocks. Unlike yuppie-ism, the scuppie mentality carries a sense of karma, altruism and doing good, and some scuppies might actually do the unthinkable and volunteer for things. The term was invented by Chuck Falia, who noticed yuppies changing into something new, and his work-in-progress “The Scuppie Handbook: A Practical Guide to Living Well While Doing Good” set out the finer points of the scuppie lifestyle and style.
Yuppie and scuppie are not garment terms, but they earn their place in a fashion directory because each label named a customer the industry designed, branded and sold to. The yuppie made the designer label itself the product: a logo or a famous name signalled the career success the clothes were bought to display, and the power suit became the decade's working uniform for women entering corporate life in numbers. The scuppie marks the point at which responsibility itself became a selling point — organic, fair-trade, recycled and locally made goods could carry status precisely because of how they were made, a shift that still shapes fashion marketing. Readers tracing the period can follow the 1980s fashion page in the number directory, and the fashion history section of this directory, for the decade in which both labels were born. This page was written for Apparel Search by Regina Cooper in October 2010.
Yuppie was a 1980s acronym for “Young Upwardly Mobile Professional Person”, coined by the advertising industry for a particular type of work hard, play hard, ambitious-minded city career person of either sex, whose hectic lifestyle and conspicuous spending made designer labels and power dressing the look of the decade.
A scuppie is a “socially-conscious, upwardly mobile person” — someone who combines a taste for the high life, social climbing and wealth with a socially responsible mentality. Scuppies still enjoy conspicuous consumption, but their status symbols are not limited to tailored suits: for a scuppie, a hybrid car is just as good as a designer handbag.
Power dressing was one of the strongest looks of the 1980s: the full-jacketed sober suit, with wide-shouldered jackets, that corporate America adopted after John Molloy's 1975 book on dressing for success. Fashion history records the power suit and dressing for success as the symbol of the 1980s, with Margaret Thatcher and Diana, Princess of Wales, as its best-known icons.