New Romanticism,
was a pop culture movement in the
United Kingdom that began around 1979 and peaked around 1981. Developing in
London nightclubs such as Billy's and The Blitz and spreading to other major cities in the UK, it was based around flamboyant, eccentric
fashion and
New Wave music. Several music acts from the era adopted the style of the movement and became known to epitomise it within the music and mainstream press, including
Ultravox,
Visage,
Duran Duran,
Spandau Ballet,
ABC and
Boy George.
Adam and the Ants were also labelled as New Romantic by the press, although they had no direct connection to the original scene.
A number of these bands adopted
synthesizers and helped to develop
synthpop in the early 1980s, which, combined with the distinctive New Romantic visuals helped them first to national success in the UK and, with help of
MTV to play a major part in the
Second British Invasion of the US charts. By the mid-1980s the original movement had largely dissipated and, although some of the artists associated with the scene continued their careers, they had largely abandoned the aesthetics of the movement and the synthpop sound. There were attempts to revive the movement from the 1990s, including the short-lived
romo movement.
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