While 1983's Flashdance may seem like a bit of cheesy 80s nostalgia now, it significantly influenced fashion at the time. With the resurgence of 1980s-inspired fashions, Flashdance continues to have an impact today.

The story of a young woman who works in a steel mill during the day and at a strip club at night, while dreaming of becoming a professional dancer of an entirely more respectable sort as she vies for entrance into a dance conservatory, Flashdance was one of many dance-themed pop culture moments of the 1980s. Television shows like Fame and an aerobics craze exemplified by Olivia Newton John's Let's Get Physical, helped popularize dance clothes as a part of mainstream fashion.

Flashdance helped bring legwarmers and leggings into mainstream fashion and paired them with everything from high heels to ballet flats and even the more logical sneakers. Additionally, the film helped popularize other forms of dancewear outside the dance studio such as the brightly colored leotards that were also becoming a common part of many women's wardrobes with the aerobics boom.

Flashdance's most significant fashion contribution, however, was probably the distressed, over-sized sweatshirt, which featured a cutoff neckline revealing one shoulder and often had cuts and slashes in other places. Shirts could be bought in this condition at hefty prices in many department stores and boutiques, while some savvy buyers often distressed their own. Gray jersey and other sweatshirt-like material became popular for high-fashion clothes and were heavily featured in at least one line from Norma Kamali. Wide belts designed to emphasize the waist also came into fashion with Flashdance's help.

In this decade, there has been a resurgence in dance fashion. Much of this is attributable to 1980s nostalgia, as well as a bevy of new dance films that combine street dance with professional aspirations that have come on the scene such as Take the Lead and Step Up. While color combinations and the ideal silhouette for a dancer have changed somewhat since Jennifer Beals starred in Flashdance the body conscious clothes and casual but calculated layering of the look remain popular.

Hair and makeup trends at New York Fashion Week Spring 2009!

Makeup for spring 2009 will feature dark, exotic eyes paired with rosy or neutral cheeks and lips, and hair will be streamlined, if you can believe what I saw backstage this week at New York Fashion Week. The look, ideal customer and intent is obviously going to differ from fashion show to fashion show if you're looking at Abaeté, L'Wren Scott, Carolina Herrera and Betsey Johnson, but there were a couple of common threads running through all those shows that differed merely in the details.

The makeup mastermind at Abaeté was Jeannine Lobell for Stila, and she created a dramatic eye using a Smudge Pot (gel eyeliner) in charcoal gray. The eyeliner extended around the eye in all directions, include inward (it was applied to the inner rim), and was neither smoky nor sharp but was blended to fade out like the end of a song. Jeannine let the eyes stand out by pairing them with clean skin and just a hint of rosy lips.

Carolina Herrera is the first lady of fashion, and her makeup look was positively presidential, much like that at Abaeté but slightly more ladylike and subdued. The hair at her show was slicked back but slightly textured, as shown off inimitably by Agyness Deyn.

The hair at Abaeté was created by David Cruz of Redken and featured tight buns with dimensional shine created by the application of Electric Wax. It's an elegant look anyone could wear successfully at home, and for this I applaud him!

L'Wren Scott's eyes were more rocker chick, and her hair was bed-head, but contained Bed Head, all of which was fitting for Mick Jagger's main squeeze. But the true rock star of fashion week was Betsey Johnson, and she had a look all her own, created by Fulvia of Make Up Forever and Italo of Redken. Her makeup was pure Raggedy Ann, with long faux eyelashes on top and bottom, created with Aqua Eyes eyeliner. These were paired with very rosy cheeks and lips on white skin, a look I'm about to recreate with stuff I bought at Target. Hair was synthetic wigs in bright colors with lots of shine, cut into a sharp bob to bring the eyes into focus. My good friend Italo says you need a certain personality to carry off those colors, but anyone can wear the cut.