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General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: mystery-ak on July 15, 2012, 04:13:14 pm

Title: The 1970s: What the heck were we thinking?
Post by: mystery-ak on July 15, 2012, 04:13:14 pm: http://hotair.com/archives/2012/07/15/the-1970s-what-the-heck-were-we-thinking/#comments (http://hotair.com/archives/2012/07/15/the-1970s-what-the-heck-were-we-thinking/#comments)

The 1970s: What the heck were we thinking?
posted at 11:01 am on July 15, 2012 by Ed Morrissey

And you thought disco was the worst thing about the 1970s. In a palette-cleanser for a slow newsday Sunday, BuzzFeed takes us back 40 years to the fashion nightmare that was my youth. Believe me, this will make all of us appreciate just how far we have removed ourselves from the haute couture of the Me Generation.

For instance, feast your eyes on this advertisement of sartorial splendor (via Jonah Goldberg):

(http://media.hotair.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/carsuals.jpg)

The slacks displayed in the foreground are — I kid you not — called “Horoscope fun slacks.” Apparently, this is intended for the man who wants women in bars to know that he’s serious when he asks, “What’s your sign, baby?”

Considering the fashion trends of the time, these guys had the right idea — well, almost:

(http://media.hotair.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/70s-socks.jpg)

We have to give the 70s a little credit here … because no one would hire that bald guy at the top for a fashion shoot these days. This looks a little like the old Sesame Street game, one of these things is not like the other. If this was the Village People (another 70s atrocity), he’d be Accountant Man.

One theme seems to dominate in these advertisements, some of which I dimly recall from my youth, and that is … androgyny. It’s remarkable how the fashions for men and women look so much alike. The US in this decade experienced enormous shifts in gender-role expectations, with the liberation of women and their rapid expansion in the workforce, so it’s not surprising that this social upheaval got reflected in fashion and popular culture. As Buzzfeed puts these ads together, it’s not even very subtle. Take a look at how similar the designs are for men and women in these two separate ads:

(http://media.hotair.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/70s-androgyny.jpg)

Imagine that the models were swapped between the two photos. Would anyone notice a difference?

In a couple of these ads, the fashionistas seem aware that men might balk at looking too feminine. An ad for a men’s jumpsuit showed a model with a beard that rivaled that of Fidel Castro, aviator sunglasses, and this text to sell just how doggone masculine women would find a man who wore it. See if you can find all the sexual references in this classic (#12 on BuzzFeed’s list):

Quote
Because one is enough, when it’s you. Show where you’re headed in the ultimate fashion climax. Fits so tight it shows all you’ve got … you’re a walking turn-on. And treats your body as well as she does. Easy on, easy off, quick as a flick of her tongue. Sexy cool crinkle cloth for those hot nights to come. Designed with your desires in mind … she’ll eat you alive in it. …

Are you man enough to fill it?

Er … overcompensate much?

This one from Jon Gabriel on Twitter is more straightforward in its unisex approach, with less self-consciousness:

(http://p.twimg.com/AxxpinACAAQ0QyU.jpg)

On the other hand, another ad overtly celebrates the unisex movement in fashion, with his-or-hers see-through lace pants … but note the name of the brand at the bottom:

(http://media.hotair.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/70s-unisex.jpg)

That’s almost a parody, isn’t it? Big Steel Unisex See-Through Lace Pants. It would have taken sheer nerve to wear these in public, even in the 1970s.

Still, a lot of us wore clothes like these, and worse. I myself owned two pair of the Angels Flight slacks shown in the last ad on BuzzFeed’s list. Thankfully, they had as much lasting power as the rest of the fashions of the 1970s. Let’s hope we never see its like again.

(http://media.hotair.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/70s-me0001.jpg)

Actually, given the chance (and some adjustments in size), I’d wear this one again … especially the watchband.
Title: Re: The 1970s: What the heck were we thinking?
Post by: Oceander on July 15, 2012, 04:24:38 pm: My old man had a closet (two, actually) full of clothes from the 60s and 70s - ordinary stuff, not the Haight-Asbury nutwing stuff - and most of it was gawd-awful, especially the nylon/polyester stuff; however, some of the shirts were, and still are, nice.
Title: Re: The 1970s: What the heck were we thinking?
Post by: mystery-ak on July 15, 2012, 04:32:28 pm: I don't remember these clothes other than rock bands and their groupies wearing them...I shopped at different stores...lol.....
Title: Re: The 1970s: What the heck were we thinking?
Post by: Oceander on July 15, 2012, 04:35:34 pm: Quote from: mystery-ak on July 15, 2012, 04:32:28 pm
I don't remember these clothes other than rock bands and their groupies wearing them...I shopped at different stores...lol.....

Much of it depended on where you lived, I believe. My old man lived in DC growing up and when he first started working for the State Department, and I believe clothes like that were all the rage amongst that set.
Title: Re: The 1970s: What the heck were we thinking?
Post by: mystery-ak on July 15, 2012, 04:39:00 pm: Well I was a good Catholic girl that went to Catholic schools where you wore uniforms...lol....I did have a pair or two of bell-bottoms but that was about it.....I had a very strict mother... :terror:
Title: Re: The 1970s: What the heck were we thinking?
Post by: alicewonders on July 15, 2012, 05:15:04 pm: My husband and I got married in 1974. We had a semi-hippie no frills wedding. I got married in a mini-skirt - polyester double knit. Groovy!
Title: Re: The 1970s: What the heck were we thinking?
Post by: Chieftain on July 15, 2012, 05:21:50 pm: Quote from: Oceander on July 15, 2012, 04:24:38 pm
My old man had a closet (two, actually) full of clothes from the 60s and 70s - ordinary stuff, not the Haight-Asbury nutwing stuff - and most of it was gawd-awful, especially the nylon/polyester stuff; however, some of the shirts were, and still are, nice.

Yep...my Dad thought he was pretty hot stuff in that polyester jumpsuit of his.....

I feel so old.....

:beer:
Title: Re: The 1970s: What the heck were we thinking?
Post by: Lipstick on a Hillary on July 15, 2012, 05:36:49 pm: I got married in '78. My dad wore a pretty nifty powder-blue polyester suit. At least we thought so at the time. :thud:
Title: Re: The 1970s: What the heck were we thinking?
Post by: alicewonders on July 15, 2012, 05:37:54 pm: That polyester stuff is pretty indestructible, I don't think it will even burn.
Title: Re: The 1970s: What the heck were we thinking?
Post by: Luis Gonzalez on July 16, 2012, 05:44:33 am: (http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa32/blue3711/pink.jpg)(http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa32/blue3711/0162.jpg)

Don't laugh.

You cannot possibly imagine how long it took me to find those socks.
Title: Re: The 1970s: What the heck were we thinking?
Post by: U-238 on July 16, 2012, 06:02:51 am: Those are cool clothes. People still wear them. Slip and Slide without any warning labels on them.Sid and Marty Krofft on Saturday mornings, awesome!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHtWHRBtjUU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBoLrFIedjo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=JUxDZ0lERAE&NR=1

Its about time to bring out them out on DVD.
Title: Re: The 1970s: What the heck were we thinking?
Post by: Rapunzel on July 16, 2012, 07:04:51 am: My husband had a yellow ruffled shirt he wore with a bow tie, poly pants and jacket..... and at one point I permed his hair -- which otherwise looked very like Luis' hair in the pic above... I wore bell bottoms with bare midrift and platform shoes that were even taller than the current style... oh and the long dresses so popular -- again--- very reminiscent of what we wore in the 70's.......

(http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z187/charlan46/Lambert.jpg)

oh and did someone say "matching" outfits.......

(http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z187/charlan46/uscropped.jpg)
Title: Re: The 1970s: What the heck were we thinking?
Post by: Oceander on July 16, 2012, 11:49:05 am: You guys think your grown-up pix from the 70s look bad! I ain't even gonna show you my 'tween pix from the 70s, that's how bad it was for us in the 70s. And we all thought we were the bees' knees.

If I could get my hands on a copy of my uncle's wedding pic though: powder blue tux with lots of ruffles.
Title: Re: The 1970s: What the heck were we thinking?
Post by: NavyCanDo on July 16, 2012, 06:30:31 pm: My brothers and sisters dressed like the kids on the Brady Bunch, including the bell bottoms with stripes. Our saving grace was everyone else was doing it. I could burn the photos from my 1977 year book. Yuck!

But I would gladly go back in a time machine to the 1970s and do it all again IF I could bring along with me my fully loaded iPod. All six of the Star Wars movies on Blue Ray with my HD big screen to show them on, and my PS3, with a handful of games.

I would be the most popular kid in the school district. :beer:

Or the downside. I could be carried off to Area 51 never to be seen again, to be probed and disected like the other aleins.
Title: Re: The 1970s: What the heck were we thinking?
Post by: NavyCanDo on July 16, 2012, 06:48:28 pm: In spite of what us guys did to our appearence, which was more often that not, just plain ghastly. The girls of the 1970s and even 80s were much more attractive than today. Retro chicks rock!
Title: Re: The 1970s: What the heck were we thinking?
Post by: aligncare on July 16, 2012, 06:59:24 pm: (http://p.twimg.com/AxxpinACAAQ0QyU.jpg)

Aaaaahhhhhh! Only if the mortician had dressed me ..... would you have caught me wearing this stuff!
Title: Re: The 1970s: What the heck were we thinking?
Post by: R4 TrumPence on July 17, 2012, 02:37:19 am: I had a pair of hip hugger bell bottoms that were red and white striped with the blue back ground and stars at the bottom, sort of like these in the pic but stripes not solid red:

(http://img1.etsystatic.com/000/0/6272065/il_170x135.340731289.jpg)
Title: Re: The 1970s: What the heck were we thinking?
Post by: DCPatriot on July 17, 2012, 02:44:13 am: I mostly remember the fitted, silk-like shirts made of rayon or some other crazy sh*t....one burning seed could create a hole the size of a golf ball.

If you were at a disco you were screwed. LOL!
Title: Re: The 1970s: What the heck were we thinking?
Post by: alicewonders on July 17, 2012, 02:53:53 am: :silly:
Quote from: DCPatriot on July 17, 2012, 02:44:13 am
I mostly remember the fitted, silk-like shirts made of rayon or some other crazy sh*t....one burning seed could create a hole the size of a golf ball.

If you were at a disco you were screwed. LOL!

ROFL! You're so right! I had several clothing items ruined by a perfectly round burned hole. Dead giveaway.
Title: Re: The 1970s: What the heck were we thinking?
Post by: mountaineer on July 17, 2012, 11:13:35 pm: I had a few friends in college who were great dancers. When those guys donned the high-waisted polyester bell bottoms, slinky patterned shirts and platform shoes, there was no stopping them.
Title: Re: The 1970s: What the heck were we thinking?
Post by: truth_seeker on July 17, 2012, 11:44:29 pm: Quote from: DCPatriot on July 17, 2012, 02:44:13 am
I mostly remember the fitted, silk-like shirts made of rayon or some other crazy sh*t....one burning seed could create a hole the size of a golf ball.

If you were at a disco you were screwed. LOL!
You were not supposed to smoke the seeds; those were for planting!!