Mad About Jewellery Blog

Get The Look. Back To The Future – The 1970s

Posted on 15 March 2011

With every new year there’ s a retro fashion passion. And this year it seems we’re revisiting the 1970s. Marked historically by the arrival of super-sonic travel via Concorde, our entry into the EEC and the mass market introduction of central heating, which set the fashion industry free to use all manner of lighter weight fabrics, this decade was to witness major changes in fashion, music and film.

STILL HAPPY TO BE HIPPY

Following on from the Hippy, Flower Power 60s with their laissez-faire attitude to just about everything, “Anything Goes” became the fashionista’s anthem, with minis, midis and maxis all equally popular and plenty of flowers still in evidence. Kaftans were big in the 70s – and the big loved them! However, the two trends that defined the 70s were flared trousers and platform soles. Flares – usually hipster – were derived from the hippy loon pants of the late 60s and were unisex. The flare was from the knee and reached hugely exaggerated proportions in the mid-70s. Platform soles also went from sublime to ridiculous as the 1/4″ soles at the beginning of the decade, burgeoned into insane 4″ platforms by mid-70s. In order to be able to wear these heavyweights for any decent amount of time and distance, people would take them to their friendly local cobblers who would hollow out the inside of the platforms like Swiss Cheese!. Elton John, famously, wore shoes that were bigger and better than anyone else with heels and platforms sporting fake fish!

THE CLASH WITH MAINSTREAM

Then along came the Punk Revolution which rejected the hippy lifestyle and anything considered good taste or mainstream fashion. Ripped and bleached clothes suddenly flooded the fashion scene and spiked hair, dyed in bright colours became de rigeur, worn with black makeup and safety pins as earrings It was at this time that the mighty Mohican hairstyle also made its debut. . Punk came to most people’s attention from 1977 onwards through the publicity surrounding the original Punk band, The Sex Pistols. The band’s promoter, Malcolm McLaren, together with his partner, designer Vivienne Westwood, created the original Punk look and sold it through their shop “Sex” at 430 Kings Road, later to become “Seditionaries”. The look was designed to shock and was based on a sexual fetish for black leather, combined with bondage trousers and dresses and ripped t-shirts carrying slogans designed to provoke. For most Punks, many of whom were unemployed, the look could easily be created from modifying second-hand clothes rather than a trip to the Kings Road. Punk itself lasted into the early 80s and was majorly important as a catalyst for change in the fashion world.

BIBA ARRIVA

At the opposite end of the fashion spectrum, Nostalgia also played a major role in 70s fashion as Barbara Hulanicki’s Biba label popularised a look derived from the Art Deco era of the 1920s and 30s.

In 1973 Biba took over an old established London department store, Derry and Toms, and turned it into an Art Deco palace, complete with a magical rooftop garden. The Biba store became THE most fashionable meeting place in London and a complete lifestyle emporium. The Biba look was instantly recognisable – a long cotton skirt, worn with a long sleeved shirt or smock and topped with a floppy brimmed hat. Around 1972, there was also a brief love affaire with loudly-checked tweed Oxford Bags. These were usually worn with braces and platform soled shoes in 30s-style two-tone patterns. Sadly, Biba was ahead of its time in providing a complete lifestyle store. More to the point, it did not make commercial sense as it was more of a place to hang out than to shop. Indeed, a large part of the store’s floor space was not even used to sell merchandise and Big Biba – as the store became known – closed two years later, leaving Laura Ashley to take up the mantle of nostalgia and take it to new and resoundingly successful heights.

DISCO FEVER

The hit film of the 1970s was Saturday Night Fever, which spawned a fashion craze for white suits. Suddenly dancing was hip for real men as Tony Manero – aka John Travolta – took to the disco-lit floor creating a new form of uber-trendy line dancing that the nation’s young people instantly memorised and practised at every opportunity. Suddenly the world and its dog was on the dance floor because you don’t need a partner when you’re dancing in a line!

Other major musical influences on the 1970s were Abba, The Bee Gees, Simon & Garfunkel, Elton John, Rod Stewart, The Commodores, The Eagles, The Jackson 5, the Osmonds and the crimson-lipped Debbie Harry of Blondie.

GET THE 1970S LOOK IN 2011

So what’s hot and what’s not in 2011? Taking its influence from the 70s, tailoring is back with a vengeance. Extended shoulders and block shoulders feature in many jackets and dresses. Shorts – often tailored and with braces are much in evidence. Flared trousers and wide trousers are also making a comeback – again, sometimes with braces. There are lots of floral georgette tops and dresses. And oodles of all-in-one playsuits. And once again there’s a choice of mini, midi and maxi length skirts and dresses. Bright colours flooded the catwalks at all the fashion shows and it’s OK to match, contrast or clash!. The humble Polka Dot is hot. And stripes and the nautical look are totally now and wow!

As for jewellery, Swarovski rocks, it’s pearls for all girls, feathers with Biker leathers. And generally, don’t hold back on the glitz and glamour!

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