First Look: The Flashy, Fabulous Ladies of the ’80s

In the eighties, photographer Mario Casilli embraced soft-focus, high-gloss, backlit backdrops of every color to immortalize the biggest stars (and styles) of the time in all of their rhinestone-covered glory. Casilli, who started off his career shooting for Playboy in the late fifties, photographed 57 Playmates before shifting gears to work for TV Guide in the eighties. Over the course of his career, he snapped the casts of Miami Vice, Knight Rider, Baywatch, and The Golden Girls and took intense, incredible glamour shots of musicians like Barbra Streisand, the Bee Gees, Dolly Parton, Lionel Richie, and more. On Thursday, Casilli’s first-ever book of portraits — a time capsule to the decade when big hair, polyester suits, shoulder pads, and blinding beading reigned supreme — will be published by Reel Art Press. Click through the slideshow for a first look at the famous eighties ladies Casilli photographed: Oprah Winfrey in a black-and-yellow sequined top, Barbra Streisand posing sans-pants next to a radiator, Linda Evans in an aerobics leotard, and more.