Get Big Shoulders and Get Noticed

1980s Fashion history shows that as the fashion for female identity in the workplace took hold, so shoulder width grew.  Increasingly large shoulder pads were used to support the wider cut of sleeves. 
Right - Big Shoulders of the 1980s - Quite mannish suits and appliqué shoulder padded knitwear for women were both softened with ties, bow ties and floppy scarves tied in artist bows all often worn with long boots. 
 Women's shoulders had started to actually look like designers had once drawn them at the  start of the 80s decade.  Designers had tried to promote wide shoulders of American footballer dimensions in the early 1980s and although women initially laughed, eventually shoulder width had a rounded coat hanger effect just like those early designs and reached dimensions not seen before in the 20^th century.
Left - The big jacket look was also transferred to evening wear. Wide shouldered, rich jewel shaded brocades or gold lame or lace jackets were made up following day styles. 
To soften the masculine effect the sleeves of jackets and blouses were worn pushed up or rolled up to reveal attractive satinised contrast jacket linings which in itself was a way of accessorizing it.