ABSTRACT
Flashdance-which chronicled the life of a Pittsburgh girl who was a welder by day, go-go dancer by night and full-time ballet hopeful-inspired a full-scale merchandizing bonanza during the summer of 1983. The film grossed nearly 50 million dollars in the first couple of months following its release in April 1983, and its title song, "Flashdance-What a Feeling", was the number one single for six weeks. Boutiques like Metropolis in Los Angeles and Commander Salamander in Washington specialized in Flashfashions, the latter even offering "custom ripping, either on or off the body", with the purchase of a $7.99 T-shirt. The look was gradually subsumed by a broader, watered-down form of punk fashions popularized by pop singers like Madonna and Cyndi Lauper in the mid-1980s. The new style featured rainbow hair dyes, spiked hair, and rag-tag layered clothing.
