The London Lounge

The 1970s, you either loved them or you would like to see the decade cut and pasted into the great Recycle Bin in the sky. For many it was the start of things and for others it was the beginning of the end. There was a war, protests, Orson Welles couldn't get a job as an actor much less a director, many of our heroes passed away, and dress took an unanticipated turn from the rigor of the 60s towards a more effusive style. On the positive side of the ledger, hmm, there were a few good vintages.

Seventies style for men's clothing included wide lapels, low button points, a war on the necktie, open shirts worn to the navel, and heavy yellow gold jewelry worn almost everywhere, especially round the neck nestled amidst an unashamed display of chest hair.

At least one designer of men's clothes seems to want to take us back to this kind of dress. His creations have been heralded as new and innovative, a "change" , but as is often the case in dress, it is really a return to something that ran its coarse in another cycle of fashion and is coming back.

Some of you will be excited by the revival of this style, some of you will lose sleep over it, but here it is, circa 1977.
Your thoughts?

Michael

You are right about the cycle and I know that Marcelo has a picture, dating from the late 19th Century, where the subject is wearing bell-bottomed trousers and wide coat lapels, very much like the 1970s styles, in which most people did dabble; even Roger Moore's Bond had flared trousers. Now - a one - a two - "I wanna live forever, yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah!"
The thing with these carbunkles of fashion is that they are here today and gone tomorrow (maybe to return, maybe not). All that we can do is to hope for longer and longer intervals between their appearances on the cat walks.

NJS

NJS

Even Noiret was tempted, though only his shirt collar seems to have been infected in this shot. Yes, the flared trousers and wing-like extensions of the shirt collar are characteristic of 70s style.

I suppose we should put Romy on the positive side of the ledger as well.

I was born on the 18th of December 1979, so I missed out this decade. However, part of me has wanted to live in that time period to see what the world was like in general when I was born.

As far as clothing from that time period, the style is well... funky, but some of the patterns were still classics.

A good example would be former President Gerald Ford, the lapels of the suits and ties might have been wide, but the patterns of pinstripes and repp stripes are still good today.

From what I've read over time the 70's were also the beginning of the end of some haberdasheries and tailors.

Best Regards,

Cufflink79

While I do not feel any nostalgia for flare trousers, I admit that, somehow, I like the wide lapels that were typical of the 70s, especially when I compare them to the extreme straight cuts one can see nowadays in RTW clothing...

Although i was 10 when that photo from sat night fever was made i rmeember some of my clothes and hated bell bottoms as a kid.
Glad that polyester is out of fashion as a material pants.

of course it is very much in fashion as sports outerwear (eg 'fleece' vests)

I liked some of the 70s, they were fun clothes. The 60s were interesting, too. By the 70s many ideas had come and gone for clothes that included lapels, so what was new to do? A whole generation or two missed out on the clothes with lapels so any of that can come back, and looks like it has. People do need change. Lapels are a style. How wide they are is fashion, which is any width, including medium. The way some people buy tailored clothes fashions are fine. It also gives tailors work.
The shirt collar hanging out was done in the 40s, too. So that is not new to the 70s. In 1850s more or less wide lapels were in. All the way through there has been change. In the old days tailors pushed change, now mass marketers do. When tailors did it the clothes were much better.
Plastic clothes were womens heaven- didn't have to iron like before. Then came chemicals that cotton, etc. are soaked in; some of this is to prevent clothes from catching on fire and wrinkle free. Before all of this new stuff you had to be an expert just to iron a shirt. Fire retardent is not healthy. Nor is the wrinkle free whatever and whatever else they put in. One of those additives can make fish change sexs- do you want that next to your skin? What underwear doesn't. There are forgotten reasons why clothes change.
And how many people wear a garment into ten years or more? How many do you wear. Some can't fit into them ten years later. So, being a bit fashion forward isn't bad. Way fashion forward for older guys usually doesn't work very well and best left to the young.

storeynicholas wrote:You are right about the cycle and I know that Marcelo has a picture, dating from the late 19th Century, where the subject is wearing bell-bottomed trousers and wide coat lapels, very much like the 1970s styles, in which most people did dabble; even Roger Moore's Bond had flared trousers. Now - a one - a two - "I wanna live forever, yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah!" ...
NJS

Thanks for reminding me of that image - Francis Bret Harte / 1879. Here it is:

I hate the 70s.
Hate the hairs,the suits,the trousers,the pop culture.
But some things were interesting.
In the classic side of 70s we had a return to 30s-40s silhouette (in late 60s the suits and ties were too much slim and poor).
For exemple,look a this double breasted by Ralph Lauren:

Or a these suits (Ralph Lauren):

For the rest,in my opinion, the 70s are simple trash.

Those are good looking RL suits, it's hard to believe they're from the 70's. Narrow the lapels just a hair, put some forward pleats on the trousers and they'd look great for the 21st century.

Three piece suits were big in the 70's/early 80's. Personally, I'd wear the DB suit without the vest, when it come to three piece suits I like them SB with notched or peaked lapels.

The above blue/gray DB standing alone looks as though it has soft roll, making it a 6 on 2, it's hard to tell?

The vest are worn very nicely as well, I remember watching re-runs of 70's and early 80's TV shows in which many vests were worn too short or the trousers were worn too low making for unsightly shirt puffing and pulling.

Another 70's yuck, was people wearing belts with their three piece suits.

Best Regards,

Cufflink79

The double breasted 4 buttons roll 2 is fantastic.
Seems from 30s/early 40s,not from 70s.
Is the type of suit that you can see in a Fred Astaire or Cary Grant movie,or in a Esquire fashion sketch.
Look these Ralph Lauren double breasted from 70s:




This is another 70s good suit;is from Brooks Brothers:



But remember that these are exceptions.
The real 70s things are these craps:






And those damned ugly hairs...Oh my God!

If you can handle a 90-minute festival of sartorial catastrophe, watch the movie "Anchorman". The plot is ludicrously thin but the whole movie is like an homage to the worst in 1970's fashion. The attention to every horrid detail is amazing.

An example:



I must admit I like the weatherman's suit though...

Punk, skinheads “redivivi”, artificial high-tech after the flowery hippies, Centre Pompidou, YSL Opium, disco… of course, this is just part of the story.

Costi wrote:Punk, skinheads “redivivi”, artificial high-tech after the flowery hippies, Centre Pompidou, YSL Opium, disco… of course, this is just part of the story.

The Centre Pompidou is a very good museum and its architecture, however brutalist it may seem in the context, has found its place in the fabric of the city, much more so than some mediocre buildings which try, but fail, to "blend in".
Just my two "centimes d'€" from one who lives near by .

Frog in Suit

The Centre Pompidou is a very good museum and its architecture, however brutalist it may seem in the context, has found its place in the fabric of the city, much more so than some mediocre buildings which try, but fail, to "blend in".
Just my two "centimes d'€" from one who lives near by

Here, here. It is an exceptional building.