Fashions from the early 70's

[discoboy2008]

I've been noticing the fashions from the early 70's on video and clothes catalog posted online... I can't believe the variety of colors and styles.. seems to unbelievable that at one time people were so adventurous..
People wore color you wouldn't dream of wearing today .. so much more interesting than today's black, white, red, and blue colors
I especially like the bell sleeves and really wide bell bottoms


From what I see, It seems like people tamed down in the late 70's.. Is that true?

[SandraDee]

I always find it strange that today's world is so tolerant & free in some ways but in other ways people seem more repressed! In the 70 & early 80s men wore skin-tight jeans, short shorts, hot pants or make-up and nobody seemed to be bothered what others thought, they just did it, whereas today everyone seems so uptight with wearing colours or anything outrageous or different or sexy (certainly men do anyway) - why is this?

[DiscoMan]

It's a different USA today. The young people are vastly different than the "baby boom generation". The young seem to be so repressed. Or is it that we, their parents, have coddled them so much they are affraid to risk their comfort level for a bit of non-conformity...?

IMO, a huge part of the current situation is the rise of the power of the multi-nationals, the destruction of U.S. manufacturing with it's well paid urban job base and the destruction of the individual that the corporations demand. All aspects of our lives are marketed, manufactured, packaged and fed to us without question and without alternatives. Movies all look the same, music all sounds the same. Everyone dresses the same. Our society has no soul. Religion has become the panacea.

The last two nightclubs in my hometown have recently closed because the young people there don't have the disposable income to spend on dancing the weekends away. That city has ALWAYS had nightclubs! But - few jobs, little money, no nightclubs...

I am very seriously concerned about the economic future of the USA - when we must buy our daily necessities from the enemy (Red China) we become his slave.

I'm glad I don't have that many more years to work because I don't like what I see. I will be criticised for what I say here, but I am firmly convinced that the USA needs new economic and political direction. Both parties have failed the people miserably and have turned the country over to the corporations.

[buckaroo]

Originally Posted by SandraDee

I always find it strange that today's world is so tolerant & free in some ways but in other ways people seem more repressed! In the 70 & early 80s men wore skin-tight jeans, short shorts, hot pants or make-up and nobody seemed to be bothered what others thought, they just did it, whereas today everyone seems so uptight with wearing colours or anything outrageous or different or sexy (certainly men do anyway) - why is this?

I disagree Sandy. Not everyone had the cash to spend on designer clothes back then, or wanted to stand out as it were. There were homophobic/racist attacks against so called different looking people then also. What you wore also depended on what music you were into. A soulboy would dress a certain way, wear a certain brand of jeans etc, for example. They wouldn't dream of wearing flairs, even if it was 1977.

Originally Posted by DiscoMan

It's a different USA today. The young people are vastly different than the "baby boom generation". The young seem to be so repressed. Or is it that we, their parents, have coddled them so much they are affraid to risk their comfort level for a bit of non-conformity...?

It's a world-wide problem. Here (The UK) we seem to have a lost generation of teens who are stabbing each other to death almost on a weekly basis, and roam the streets because many of the youth clubs that catered to the likes of moi during the '70s and '80s have been closed. We're living in a capitalist and materialistic world, where a lot of people hanker for mobile phones and ipods, but don't concern themselves with the issues you've mentioned. It is frightening.

[Simon White]

Two sides to every story I suppose...I look back on what I wore in the 70's and 80's and wonder how I got away with it ! But then I saw some pictures of nighclubbers today and wonder how they get away with it !

But to go back to Discoboy2008's original post... I do think there's a bit of a myth (certainly in the UK) about how 'colourful' clothes IN GENERAL were in the '70's and and how people dressed.. but sometimes definately yes, a mix of colours was the thing. But people didn't go round looking like ABBA or Marc Bolan with guys wearing make up all the time but the influences were there. Media pictures are rarely representive of fashion as a whole, just interesting aspects of it, like 'New Romantics' as if they were thronging the streets..they weren't. But they had a big fashion influence, just not as OTT.

I remember from the Sixties how they were always saying paper clothes would be the thing, and men in skirts...never happened really ! As for catalogues...hmmm I'd like to see them !

As for the US.... the rise of the religious Right seems to be killing any joy to be had. The UK is awash with fashion as far as I can see, all different types and styles, but then I do live in London which at the moment is the most fantastic city in the world ...apart from todays bomb scares, sadly.

[DiscoMan]

London may very well be the most fantastic city in the world. The northeastern US cities have deteriorated into dirty, dank, depressing, broken down mill towns. I left Massachusetts for sunny Florida and we have plenty of bars, nightclubs, sun and beaches. Unlike Massachusetts where the weather sucks for 7 or 8 months out of the year.

[Simon White]

Originally Posted by DiscoMan

London may very well be the most fantastic city in the world. The northeastern US cities have deteriorated into dirty, dank, depressing, broken down mill towns. I left Massachusetts for sunny Florida and we have plenty of bars, nightclubs, sun and beaches. Unlike Massachusetts where the weather sucks for 7 or 8 months out of the year.

Didn't the Bee Gees leave their teeth in Massachusetts or something ?

[Videoskooter]

Well I really hated shirts like this BITD (and I still do):



I wore and digged stuff like this (and I still do)








And black suit, white shirt, black tie.

Hey, I'm Italian, we dress the planet in style!

[Simon White]

OOWWWWW ! Now my eyes hurt !

[DiscoMan]

"Didn't the Bee Gees leave their teeth in Massachusetts or something"

"Massachusetts" was the Bee Gees first big hit in the States ('68?). It's a very different place now than it was in '68. When I finished high school in '70 jobs literally dropped into your lap in Massachusetts. Today, alas, you can't even b**w someone for a job.

[Nano]

hi discoboy, if you think those bell-buttoms are out of the ordinary you should rent the film IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, with Daniel Day-Lewis, it has a very funny scene set in the Sixties. Daniel and his friend "find" a lot of money and being boys, they spend it in the most "in" clothes they can think of. see and believe!