70's Fashion

70s Fashion

70s fashion picked up from the 60s flower power and Mini skirts were popular still. Trousers were flared and shirts had big collars.

As well as the hippy style of the late sixties, nostalgia from the past also influenced 70’s fashion. With concerns for the environment and ethnic influences, 70’s fashion began to take on a multitude of different styles.

Men's fashion adopted a look that would have been considered too feminine a few years earlier. (Yes that provided a lot of laughter when we looked at Dad’s old pictures) Unisex clothing became trendy, and tight fitting shirts with bright patterns blur the masculine and feminine.

Flares and platform soles

Pants, increasingly flared, were popular with men and women for everyday wear. The flare was from the knee and was so exaggerated it has outrageous proportion by middle years of the 70s. The trousers were often hipsters, sitting on the hips rather than the waist, and tight fitting. (Ah, the all famous Disco Stew look.)

It’s no wonder then that women and more fashionable men wore platform soles – what other shoes can pair up with the tent link flares? Bright colours gave the shoes a space age look, whilst two-tone 30s colours set the mood for nostalgia. It’s either all the way into tomorrow, or all the way back 40 years. Our fashionable Mom and Dad will have nothing in between back then.

Mini, midi or maxi

Next time mother questioned your skirt length, remind her of her 70’s days.

Though the mini remained popular in the early years of the 70s, women now could chose between, mini, midi, (mid-calf length) or maxi (full length) skirts. Women wore hot pants, ultra short shorts, sometimes with just a bib and braces! (Even Kylie Minogue can’t beat that!)

Maxi dresses from the 60s continue to be in fashion, with paisley or floral patterns being popular.

The 70s were of more relaxed years. For women, long dresses were often worn for formal occasions. Long hair was fashionable for both men and women.

Jeans and printed t-shirts were increasingly popular in the relax mood, as were trainers and canvas shoes.

70s Punk fashion.

The Sex Pistols. Gosh were they a kick in the fashion gut. Punk got people's attention from 1977 onwards, with the help of the publicity surrounding The Sex Pistols. Mainly for shock value, the look was based on a sexual fetish for black leather, combined with ripped t-shirts carrying slogans designed to provoke. Ripped and bleached clothes were part of the look, as was spiked hair, dyed in bright colours. Black make up and safety pins as earrings were often worn. Thank heavens, the look could easily be created from modifying second-hand clothes, which is good news (no matter how old the news) to our ears.

Punk rejected the flared jeans and cheesecloth shirts, which were the popular mainstream fashion in the 70s. It rejected the hippy style and the hippy view of the world.

Thus, once again, the world of fashion begins its revolution.