Fashion: Yesterday, Today and Tomorroware popularly associated with the 1960s, in fact they became more important
in the 1970s than ever before. Even as jeans became “co-opted” by the fashion
system (with the appearance of various fashion jeans), their signifying value
grew more powerful, as they symbolized youth, freedom, and sex appeal.
“Let us grant to the seventies its claim to antifashion, for the freedom to
wear what you want, where and when you want, is finally here,” declared
journalist Clara Pierre in her 1976 book, Looking Good: The Liberation of
Fashion. The hippies had destroyed every rule, except the injunction to please
oneself. Now the arbiters of fashion, editors and designers alike, risked being
dismissed as “fashion fascists” if they dared tell women what was “in” or
“out”. As a result, fashion journalists quickly adopted a new language of
“freedom” and “choice”. They constantly reassured readers that “fashion
now is the expression of women who are free, happy, and doing what they
want to be doing”. As British Vogue put it: “The real star of the fashion
picture is the wearer... you.”
Certain designers understood the mood of the time. Yves Saint Laurent is
“today’s Chanel”, declared Women’s Wear Daily in 1972. Like Chanel, he
pioneered the masculine look in women’s fashion, but he did not neglect
erotic allure. According to actress Catherine Deneuve: “Saint Laurent designs
for women with double lives. His day clothes help a woman confront the
world of strangers. They permit her to go everywhere without drawing
unwelcome attention and, with their somewhat masculine quality, they give
her a certain force, prepare her for encounters that may become a conflict of
wills. In the evening when a woman chooses to be with those she is fond of,
he makes her seductive.”
Seduction took many forms in the 1970s, however. Many young people
adopted “wild styles”, such as hot pants and platform shoes. Traditional
rules of taste and propriety were deliberately violated. “Trashy” styles
proliferated, including see-through blouses, crushed vinyl burgundy maxi-
coats, electric blue lycra “second-skin” bodystockings, and silver lurex halter
tops. Polyester shirts were open to the waist, and dresses were slit up to the
crotch. “Is bad taste a bad thing?” demanded British Vogue in 1971, with
the clear implication that the freedom to violate social conventions was
liberating. No wonder the 1970s have been called “The Decade that Taste
Forgot”.
At the same time, however, fashion designers such as Halston and Calvin
Klein spear-headed a new kind of minimalist modernism. Simple cashmere
or Ultrasuede dresses gave women a sensuous but grown-up appearance. In
the evening, sex came out of the closet and music continued to be a major
influence on fashion. Disco was originally a gay phenomenon, but soon it
had spread to the wider society. Disco dressing emphasized materials that