1970s in fashion
Overview
Whilst the early 1970s were notable for the Grunge look the late 1970s saw the start of one of the most influential and long-lasting fashion movements since Dior's new look, with the emergence of Punk from the British designer Vivienne Westwood.
Early to Mid 1970s
The decade began with a continuation of the hippie look from the 1960s. Jeans remained frayed and the Tie dye was still popular. The space age look was on the wane, though tunics and Indian fabrics continued to be popular. Jeans rises shrunk to 4 inches or even less as "hip huggers" with "bell-bottoms" became the height of denim fashion. altering the appearance of jeans with bleach and tie-dye techniques, embroidery, and metal studs were popular as well. Polyester "doubleknit" fabric was coming into its own, with many clothing items for men and women being produced in this modern easy-care fabric. By the mid-Seventies, as the economy improved, silhouettes narrowed, and hemlines dropped again from mini skirt to midi--mid-calf length--to maxi, ankle length, with all three lengths enjoying almost equal popularity. Platform shoes with soles 2-4 inches thick became the style for both men and women. Men's ties broadened and became more colorful, as did dress shirt collars and suit jacket lapels. Fashion influences were peasant clothing, such as blouses with laces or off-the-shoulder necklines, inspired by those worn in the 17th century. Yves St Laurent introduced the peasant look in 1976 which became very influential. Skirts were gathered into tiers and shoulderlines dropped. Clothing became very unstructured and fluid at this point. Embroidered clothing, either self-made, or imported from Mexico or India also enjoyed favor.
Late 1970s
With the popularization of disco and the increasing availability and diversity of man-made fabrics, a drastic change occurred in mainstream fashion, the likes of which had not been seen since the 1920s. All styles of clothing were affected by the disco style, especially those of men. Men began to wear stylish three-piece suits (which became available in a bewildering variety of colors) which were characterized by wide lapels, wide legged or flared trousers and high rise vests. Neckties became wider and bolder and shirt collars became long and pointed in a style reminiscent of the "Barrymore" color that had been popular in the 1920s. The zippered jumpsuit was popular with both men and women, and clothing inspired by modern dance (wrap-around skirts of nylon or polyester knit) also became common along with close-fitting ballet leotard-style tops with spandex. Even women's blouses were available in body-suit form--close-fitting and fastening with snaps at the crotch so that the lines of the clothing would remain clean and close to the body, even while engaged in energetic disco dancing. Women's shoes began to echo the 1940s, with high-heeled lower-platform mules--"Candies" made of molded plastic with a single leather strap over the ball of the foot or "BareTraps" made of wood very popular. With the demise of disco, late in 1979, these styles (which were by then being criticized as flamboyant) quickly went out of fashion in 1980. Designer jeans and painters pants then started to come into style.
Punk
Punk as a style originated from London from the designer Vivienne Westwood and her partner Malcolm McLaren. Postmodernist and iconaclastic in essence this movement was a direct reaction to the economic situation during the economic depression of the period. Punk had at its heart a manifesto of creation through disorder. Safety pins became nose and ear jewellery, rubber fetishwear was subverted to become daywear, and images of mass murders, rapists and criminals were elevated to iconographic status.
Punk fashion can be traced to the ripped jeans, torn t-shirts, scrappy haircuts and worn and torn leather jackets sported by members of the Sex Pistols. The Sex Pistols were dressed by Malcolm McLaren, their manager, who owned a clothes store called 'Let It Rock' in the Kings Road, Chelsea area of London, when they released Anarchy in the UK in 1976. These styles can be traced back further to New York artists at the Andy Warhol Factory or bands such as the Velvet Underground or New York Dolls. By the 1980s, Punk fashion, and punk bands, had shown up in cities across the world. There was a DIY (do it yourself) quality to the fashion. Some small elements that spoke of a person's punk roots were safety pins, mohawk, spikes or harshly dyed hair, filthy tennis-shoes or pointy Beatle boots. There is an element of a makeshift, thrown together look and a sense of poverty.
See also
- Fashion
- History of Western Fashion
- Yves Saint-Laurent
- Vivienne Westwood
- Halston
- Fiorucci
- Ossie Clark
- Norma Kamali
- Le Smoking
External links
- 1970s Fashion History
- 20th Century Fashion History:1970s
- Men's Fashion History from the 1970's
- It Came from the 1971 Sears Catalog
| History of fashion | ||
|---|---|---|
| Medieval | Byzantine · Early Medieval · Anglo-Saxon · 12th century · 13th century · 14th century |  |
| Renaissance and Reformation | 15th century · 1500-1550 · 1550-1600 · 1600-1650 · 1650-1700 | |
| Enlightenment | 1700-1750 · 1750-1795 · 1795-1820 | |
| Victorian | 1820s · 1830s · 1840s · 1850s · 1860s · 1870s · 1880s · 1890s | |
| Edwardian | 1900s · 1910s | |
| Modern | 1920s · 1930-1945 | |
| Postwar and Cold War | 1945-1960 · 1960s · 1970s · 1980s | |
| Contemporary | 1990s · 2000s | |
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