It is a well-known fact that fashion repeats itself and this fall the biggest trend in fashion has been the revival of 1970s fashion. We saw it all from suede jackets to flare jeans. A lot changed for fashion in the seventies. This was the first time that women’s hemlines varied from piece to piece. In the previous decades, skirts and dresses usually ended around the same length. In the 60s they were miniskirts, the 50s hit just below the knee, the 40s hit at the knee, and the 30s were a bit longer than the 50s. However, in the 70s there were three prominent hemlines, so women really had a choice. The hemlines varied from miniskirts, to knee length, to maxi skirts. This was really neat because it gave women more of a choice of what to wear. If a woman was uncomfortable showing off most of their leg, they could wear a longer skirt without looking odd in comparison to others. That was a great step towards freedom of self-expression through dress, something we as a society value a lot today.
Two really common fabrics used in the seventies were suede and denim. These were seen in all aspects of dress, throughout menswear and womenswear. Each were seen on every item of clothing imaginable. Bellbottoms were a huge seventies fashion staple and they could be found in both denim and suede. Suede was also a very important fabric because it demonstrates some of the most prominent colors of the seventies. The seventies were a decade that favored fairly earthy colors, many of which were found on the suede pieces. Suede tops, pants, and jackets were more often than not a variation of brown. These colors included reddish browns, light yellow browns, tans, and more. Color is always a good indicator of what time period certain clothes have come from, so it is great to be able to link an influential fabric with a prominent color.
Other colors that were pretty common in the seventies include colors like apricot, avocado, burnt orange, dark greens, and browns. These can be seen in the widely used paisley print. Paisley was also everywhere in the seventies. It was incredibly common especially on neckties and blouses. The pattern captured the chic, easy going, bohemian trend that was popular during the 70s. Paisley made a comeback last spring and the print has been dominating the fashion scene since. The return of paisley to street style last spring was a bit of a forecast for what was to come this fall, the seventies fashions all around us, in everything from silhouettes to colors.
