Why isn't 80's design more popular?  

The 80s are back in a big way.
A stroll through Shoreditch and other areas of east London where you find ghettos of young creative artistic minds will be like stepping back to Soho circa 1984.
Popular music has been dreadging up 80s styles for a few years now. Basic 80s synth sounds are to be heard in lots of the so called `alternative` indie bands, LCD Soundsytem being a very good case in point, a band that along with others started using this sound about 10 years ago.
Even the logo for the London 2012 Olympics has a very 80s aesthetic.
I don`t know what is happening in the States, often fashions take a bit longer to get a foot hold there, but hear in the UK you can`t get away from it.

80's fashion is back accordin...
80's fashion is back according to Bloomingdales... batwing sweaters, neon and aviators!
70's interior design is hot right now but 80s may have awhile to make a comeback

Amsterdam armoire
I think Established and Sons are trying to revive the 80s here, no?
http://www.bonluxat.com/a/scholten-and-baijings-the-amsterdam-armoire.html

r.e above, have Aviator...
r.e above, have Aviator sunglasses ever been out of fashion? Probably the most common sunglasses amongst young British Men I would say...

For the sake of argument, aviator sunglasses had their heyday in the '70's.
The sunglass style that best defines the 80's is the Wayfarer (a la Tom Cruise in Risky Business).

Fashion and Design
Are worlds apart when it comes to trends. Fashion tends to go in roughly 20-25 year cycles, with the current cycle being slightly adapted and modified version of the previous. Believe it or not, 90s fashion is starting to make a resurgence.
Design on the other hand, probably follows more closely to art in that it isn't really cyclical. I would argue that there really isn't a massive design "trend" (e.g. for interiors) at the moment, except for maybe what people call "contemporary". Which as we all know can't really be classified as a "style" at all, because it is virtually devoid of any style.

I'm personally waiting for...
I'm personally waiting for the early 70s fashion era to roll back around, so I can start to look late-groovy again, kind of like I did when I was fourteen in the early 70s. But I fear I may be too old by then.

I think the 80s are pretty...
I think the 80s are pretty popular these days, but it's just the natural cycle of recycled fashion. And the fact people tend to reach back in times of political and economical strife.
I wouldn't say they are as popular as say the 60s in the 90s. But I also suspect it does not have quite as much to offer in terms of "realness." A very glittery, made up decade whereas the 60s and 70s taunted honest expression for the most part.
IMO the furniture and interiors were just shit. And that's why they haven't come back as hardcore as MCM. The public just doesn't respond to it as well. MCM is just more human, and while POP is not it has a large element of fun. The 80s were just bizarre, and moreso out of sarcasm than fun methinks. Pushing the evelope that was already pushed to the limit. Nowhere else to go but awful. Just my thoughts... don't know what they are worth.

Very well put Whitespike.
I was a kid in the 80s but even then I had a fairly good idea that the styles both in fashion and design were sh*t.
Having said all that, not everything that came out of the 80s was bad, there were some incredibly important bands that were born during the decade, The Stone Roses for one.
I can never see a situation where people will be selling off their MCM furniture to replace it with Black Ash finished chip board.

The 80's can't be compared...
The 80's can't be compared to any other time. It was wonderfully uniquely creative period...even if there were lots of misses. I don't think it's fair to discount the positive impact the 80's contributed to society.
The 90's though...seemed stagnant. It seemed like it's sole purpose was a prelude to the new millennium.
80's Musically, there was far far more than just Modern English. Yes, some horrid crap that's no different from the creative outpouring from other periods. If you'd like, I have plenty of recommendations

The pop cultural bridge...
The pop cultural bridge between then now was signaled, to me at least, with Apples IPod campaign.

Why is it, to this day, we...
Why is it, to this day, we attach so much fashion importance to decades?
Is what I think I was trying to say.
Fashion clueless, ME.

?
"I can never see a situation where people will be selling off their MCM furniture..."
Isn't that what people are doing and have been?

I love many 80s bands ......
I love many 80s bands ... Psychedelic Furs, XTC, The Cure, The B-52s and so on...
I think the 90s were influential very early on but it died with Cobain? Grunge was a real movement. SO was gangsta rap. Whether or not we like it.

This is a g-g-g-good discussion
as Max would say.
(note the Ray Ban Wayfarers)