A new retrospective at the Fashion and Textile Museum is getting us so excited we might even break out the legwarmers and twirl around the office! Apart from the warm glow of nostalgia from thinking about 80s dance routines, films like Flashdance and Fame live on through the videos they’ve inspired, plus West End musicals and the new generation of films like High School Musical.

In the world of fashion, brands like American Apparel have modelled their whole aesthetic on the legginsy sex appeal that refuses to die. Leggings are still very much the default setting for lots of us for both day and night and on the SS10 catwalks (step forward Alexander Wang and Ashish) luxe jogging bottoms are big news. Meanwhile grey marl jersey is one of those trends that comfortably bridge the runway and the street.

Interestingly, the brand that kick-started all of this back in the good ol’ eight-ohs – Pineapple, is enjoying a moment in the spotlight itself at the moment. The exhibition 30 Years of Pineapple at the lovely Museum in Southwark, London is opening today and will run until February 24th.

Pineapple is a business fuelled by a one-woman phenomena, Debbie Moore. After making her name as a model in the ‘60s, she opened her dance studios in a former pineapple warehouse in Covent Garden, 1979, after finding out that the last dance studios in central London had closed down. Gap in the market anyone? She followed up by starting the brand of dance clothes, noticing that all the dance students were making and adapting their work out clothes from old tights as there was nothing available to buy in the shops.

By approaching manufacturers DuPont, the fabric cotton lycra was developed, and since then her innovative pieces – leggings, bodysuits and cropped baggy sweaters have taken up residence on the fashion landscape. The exhibition is free, for more details click here.

- Naomi Attwood