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Fashion in the 1970s

Page history last edited by PBworks 15 years, 3 months ago

A Closer Look: Fashion In the 1970s 
 
 
What is fashion? Merriam-Webster’s dictionary describes fashion as, “a prevailing custom, usage, or style; the prevailing style (as in dress) during a particular time; a garment in such a style; social standing or prominence especially as signalized by dress or conduct” (Webster 422). The word has a few different meanings and can be used in various contexts.  One important reason the study of “fashion” is important is because it can tell us several different things that were historically going on during a specific time period. Many events took place in the 1970s that affected the different styles of dress that was happening.  Major events triggered specific trends for several reasons. These major trends included a growing disappointment of government, progress in civil rights, an increasing concern for the environment, advancements of the women's liberation movement, and improved space exploration.  The events of these times were reflected in and became the inspiration for fashion. Protests of wars, concern for the environment, strong ethnic influences, the economy, and specific movements around the world can all dictate specific fashions and trends in society. The 1970s were a chaotic time; several dramatic events were taking place throughout the world and right here in America. The Vietnam War took place and also came to an end had, there were corruption in the highest levels of American government with Watergate and Nixon’s resignation, an oil crisis, anxieties about global pollution and the exhaustion of the earth’s natural resources. The Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, many political movements were afoot, and several cultures and subcultures were becoming apparent.  All of these events were being televised and streamlined into the mainstream media like never before. These events were becoming reality like most had never seen nor experienced first hand.
 
 
 
How a trend becomes a trend
Trends are a huge part of fashion changes.  There are many trends that become popular just because, almost on accident or simply from a persons' personal preferance that catches on. For example: Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen’s recently popularized “Boho Chic” look that is basically a bunch of long layers of clothing, “hippie” like accessories, big sunglasses, and pure laziness.  The name of the trend is simply a combination of Bohemian and Homeless, made Chic (feminine and fashionable).  The word Bohemian actually comes from a widely popular style, which was actually very popular during the 1960s and carried into the 1970s.  An easy way to describe the Bohemian look is basically just a very like Gypsy style, very liberated and free with long and free flowing skirts, easy to move in, easy to travel in.  
 
 
 
 
There are also trends that become popular for specific reasons. For example: During the year 1974, the economy was the worst it had been in fourty years.  The slump in the economy had a major effect on the way people were dressing.  The last time fashion had taken a major step back due to the economy was during the Second World War in the late 1930s and early 1940s.  The homemade look was in again; purposely-mismatched clothing was okay to wear together.  Not everything had to be a set.  No more gloves, with matching hats, matching shoes, and a matching purse, it was very “hip” to be completely original.  Everything became more relaxed, jeans were increasingly popular as they were from the sixties but the style became more flared, bell-bottoms. Printed t-shirts were also increasingly popular in the 70s, as were cross-trainers and canvas tennis shoes, clogs, hip-huggers, hot pants, etc.  The majority of these new styles were all cheaper alternatives to previous department store looks.  Knits and denims were the fabrics of choice.  Leisure suits became growingly popular among men and women’s style became more open from, from ankle-length grandmother dresses to hot pants and micro-minis.  A lot of these styles were things that could be mixed and matched, re worn with different accessories for a whole new look, everything became more acceptable.
 
 
 
 
 
1970s celebrate individuality 
Several other trends in the 1970s were popular because of specific events.  Many things were happening in the Seventies and the changing fashions were all evolving because of these events.  According to the book History of 20th Century Fashion, during the seventies, “Fashion became a proclamation of individuality.  It became functional.  It became fun.  It became everything at once.  It had nothing to do with status or class any more.  There was a new orientation, a new social grouping.” It continues on saying, “fashion was not going out of fashion or ceasing to exist in a new evaluation of life which was unlike anything that had happened before.  What was happening was that fashion was becoming part of the general design for living” (230).  Basically, people were starting to dress for themselves.  The uniform like dress from the previous decades before the 1970s was getting thrown out the window.  People were beginning to express their personalities through clothing. “More and more it expressed the personal taste of the wearer, indicated the kind of person she was and where she belonged in a new orientation of the social order which was proceeding everywhere” (Ewing 231).
 
 
 
The "Me Decade" becomes the "We Decade" 
During this “Me Decade,” as the book Something Happened describes it, this was “a decade of mindless narcissism”, when people began to care a lot more about themselves.  “People cared about the well-being of their children and the stability of their communities.  What had happened was that the remedies for avoiding conflict of the postwar era, such as the extension of civil-rights protections and Keynesian economics, no longer seemed to work.  That failure did not prevent people of all types- from black residents of Roxbury, to gay citizens of Greenwich Village, to suburban housewives- from asserting their rights… In the past the growth of the economy and groups’ ability to avoid one another had helped to avert ethnic conflict.  In the seventies, neither remedy was available.  A faltering economy limited economic growth… The result was a series of conflicts in which engaged citizens confronted one another… It was an era not of narcissism but of activism, as much the “We Decade” as the “Me Decade” (Berkowitz 177).    Otherwise segregated groups began to work together during the 1970s.  People began to see that even though everything they were doing for themselves, affected the others around them.  If they wanted to make changes, make revolutions, they were going to need the support of others in their surrounding communities, not just the support of themselves.  There were three huge movements in the United States that became interrelated and inter involved in the Seventies.  The Gay community, Women’s liberation and Civil Rights movements, all had multiple commonalities.  The historical events that were happening to these groups during this time ended up, where else, but being reflected through fashion.
 
 
 
Dressing For Yourself 
A monumental event that took place in the 1970s that deeply affected a large culture in our society, as well as a large culture in the fashion world, was the first Gay Pride march.  On June 28, 1970, the first Gay Pride march was held in New York City.  After the first large movement of Gay Pride during this “Me Decade”, according to the book Fashion: The Twentieth Century, “homosexuals, for example, came out determined to express their identity, especially in the Anglo-Saxon world where they were less liable to persecution.  The anti-fashion trend summed up the aspirations of the whole section of society who wanted more flexible attitudes and more scope for their imagination.  As a general rule, the seismic upheavals in fashion were no longer perceived during this decade as inevitable swings of the pendulum of taste, but rather as progress, as concrete achievements, even revolutions.”  Because people during this decade began dressing for themselves, personalities and beliefs began to come through these means of self-expression.
 
 
 
 
 Women's Liberation
The sexual advances that were made possible by the homosexual cultures in the 1970s coincided with two other very important cultures in the 1970s, the women’s liberation and civil rights movements. The movie Annie Hall (1977) even inspired a fashion trend with women sporting traditional men's clothing such as derby hats, tweed jackets, and neckties worn with baggy pants or skirts. According to the book Fashion and its Social Agendas, “feminists in the 1970s proposed alternative modes of dress to substitute for fashionable styles, specifically various forms of trousers, worn with other simple and casual clothes, such as T-shirts and low-heeled shoes.  In the United States, lesbian feminists were the most committed to rejecting any attempt at personal adornment or body display.  They wore loose-fitting jeans or baggy workmen’s denim overalls, with men’s T-shirts or work shirts and men’s work boots or sneakers, and avoided cosmetics, jewelry, or conventional haircuts” (Crane 124).  These statements the women’s liberation movement were trying to make became fashionable and desirable.  While Women’s liberation was breaking free from the old-fashioned ideals of a woman, it was also being reflected through mainstream trends and homosexuals that were trying to be anything but mainstream.  In the book Fashion the Twentieth Century, Baudot describes how these fashions were being interpreted, 'Is it a girl of is it a boy/A boy with long hair or a girl in trousers’, was the gist of the song by that knowing Lolita, France Gall.  The fashion for unisex mushroomed, with young couples wanting to share everything.  As secondhand that fought it out with homemade clothes, a crude sort of fashion evolved, a mishmash of traditional craft techniques and ethnic influences.  A generation of backpackers developed a taste for travel and suddenly various world cultures- the remoter the better- found themselves represented in districts inhabited by students and by dissident minorities dreaming of a happier tomorrow” (Baudot 226).  This trend became popular then for a specific groundbreaking reason, and parts of these trends still get repeated often in fashion we see today. The stance the women’s liberation movement was taking was noticed worldwide. The year 1975 was declared International Year of the Woman by the United Nations, making this movement extremely successful.
 
 
 
 Disco
Finally, The Gay pride movement and the Civil Rights movement become interelated through Disco.  The book Fashion the Twentieth Century describes exactly how they reflected upon each other. “Coming hard on the heels of the hippie culture, soul music from the United States and a vast movement claiming civil rights for blacks created a sensibility that combined nostalgia for Africa with the norms of American culture.  A radical chic emerged, influenced by Angela Davis, James Brown, Diana Ross and the Black Panthers, in everything from the rock scene to political demonstrations, from Afro hairstyles to platform soles.  There were fashions for glitz, with Elton John providing a prime example of the white, gay version” (Baudot 229).  In the mid 1970s, Disco emerges from funk music.  It was popular both with black culture and with gay culture. Disco had a political incentive often forgotten because of the glitzy image, as well as for it’s referencing of funk and soul. This was a movement that changed fashion forever. Designers took whole new outlooks on these fashion, from the free flowing, mismatched relaxed look. The rhinestones, sequins, the hot pants, the short skirts, the vinyl suits, the textures, the jewels, the psychedelic designs were seldom boring.  This type of eclectic dress carried on to the late 70s with the punk and glam movements.
In conclusion, Fashion is more than just a type of dress.  It is a historic overview of a time period.  It is a means of expression, a direct defiance of a tired tradition, a protest, a matter of comfort, a change in income, or simply a misunderstanding.  Fashion affects everyone’s life whether they realize or not.  The 1970s is a wonderful decade filled with examples of how, what’s going on around us dictates something as small as the type of pants your wearing.  The study of fashion is an easy way to identify a decade or an era.  By being able to see a garment, a picture, or even a fabric, and be able to associate that with important movements from our history is an exciting thing.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Works Cited
Baudot, Francois. Fashion: The Twentieth Century. Grand Rapids: Universe, 2006.
 
Berkowitz, Edward D. Something Happened: A Political and Cultural Overview of the Seventies. New York: Columbia UP, 2005.
 
Crane, Diana. Fashion and Its Social Agendas: Class, Gender, and Identity in Clothing. New York: University of Chicago P, 2001.
 
Ewing, Elizabeth. History of 20th Century Fashion. New York: Rowman & Littlefield, Incorporated, 1992.
 
Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary: Thumb-Indexed. Danbury: Merriam-Webster, Incorporated, 1993.
 
 
Pictures Cited
motherpie.typepad.com/.../11/06/1970sfashion.jpg

images-cdn01.associatedcontent.com/image/A146

www.retro-housewife.com/1970-fashion.html

img1.photographersdirect.com/.../wm/pd758077.jpg

www.timelinefashion.de/bilder/1970s-3.gif

www.dkimages.com/.../previews/1245/20079086.JPG

newsimg.bbc.co.uk/.../_43023881_flares_203.jpg

www.fiftyplussurfers.co.uk/.../libl70.jpg
www.streetswing.com/histmain/histitl/1snf1.jpg
 
 
img2.timeinc.net/people/i/2006/celebdatabase/


 
Video Cited
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TRgokZLIwA

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