From female liberation and revolutionary fervor to disco and flares, references to the 1970s reverberate through womenswear season after season. In Spring 2010, British Vogue advised readers to “channel stylish Seventies mums with toffee tailoring,” taking the cue from Stella McCartney’s collection inspired by her late mother, Linda.
In 2013, audiences fell under the spell of the ‘70s in David O. Russell’s American Hustle, starring Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper, which featured vintage looks from Gucci and Halston.
In the endless dance of decade-recycling, things have also taken a post-Gatsby turn for the 1970s this year. British presenter Alexa Chung has signed on to design a ‘70s-tinged line for AG Jeans this winter, including denim dresses and blouses in a palette of pale pink, rusty red and washed army green. The Fall 2014 issue of Porter, the bi-monthly glossy powered by luxury online retailer Net-A-Porter, includes an editorial with Swedish model Frida Gustavsson in “an eclectic blend of cameo brooches, tactile kimonos and ‘70s denim,” styled in the manner of The Mamas & the Papas singer Michelle Phillips.
Woodstock Allusions
While the retro era has remained largely untouched by menswear, next year promises more overt allusions to Woodstock’s sartorial side. At London Collections: Men, Topman Design set the tone with indigo patchwork, groovy flared denim, breezy floral prints and tassled Western jackets, evoking all at once a young Bill Gates, Jimi Hendrix and Raoul Duke from Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
Nods to 90s Britpop, in the form of parkas Oasis’s Liam Gallagher would’ve worn, acted as counterpoints to the slightly psychedelic revival. According to Gordon Richardson, Topman’s design director, his own adolescence was in the frame as his team put the Spring-Summer 2015 looks together. “I had these purple embossed paisley cords,” he told the Guardian. “I wore a lot of this kind of stuff when I was younger.”
Young talent Katie Eary grounded the cheerful dissonance of ‘70s psychedelia with rodeo-like looks by updating classics such as Western shirts and bootcuts. The forward-thinking James Long also dipped into the ‘70s sporty-retro vibe with frayed triple-wash denims, and track pants and board shorts patched with wrestling mat tape. All in all, these directional British labels presented a decidedly more carefree approach to dressing, a palate cleanser from the serious tailoring that has dominated menswear in recent years.
Trouser shapes
As Porter’s Harriet Quick writes, “Fashion never happens in isolation, but constantly refers back and forth between decades and styles. Threads crisscross back through centuries, across cultures, via pop culture and politics.” It seems that designers have, for now, exhausted everything that the ‘80s and ‘90s have to offer, so it is but natural for them to delve into the mine of the louche ‘70s. The gradual shift appears to be most evident in trouser shapes for both men and women.
The skinny jean, in all its permutations, has turned from passing fancy to wardrobe staple in more or less than 10 years. Of course, this hasn’t stopped the fashion powers-that-be from contriving its downfall.
If designers and retailers had their way, we would all abandon our drainpipes — as worn by rock musicians in the 1960s — and make way for the looser, ‘70s-inspired options that made a splash on the Spring 2015 runways. Exciting as this might be, I don’t see myself cottoning on to flared trousers just yet. I already own embarrassing bootcut jeans by Paper Denim & Cloth, purchased in 2003, which I have since banished to the back of the closet.
Word of caution
A report from Bloomberg last week says that clothing merchants tried to snuff out the trend three years ago by introducing new styles to get the public “to buy new wardrobes and jolt anemic apparel sales.” A fashion emergency born out of corporate greed isn’t worth heeding now, is it?
More so, while on catwalks and in magazines, bell bottoms make the models look incredibly tall and thin, let’s be realistic: They were already incredibly tall and thin to begin with. For those of us with average measurements, wide leg pants have the ability, if not worn properly, to add bulk or make us look stumpy. Unlike skinnies, pants with legs that become wider below the knee are not designed to flatter every shape, which is why the ‘70s trend has yet to take off in the way that marketers imagine it should.
If you’re the type to be swayed easily, I would like to extend a word of caution. It’s great to have options, but tread carefully. Despite the fashion industry’s determination to bring the 1970s back in whatever way, there are certainly some things that are best left in the past.
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