To ask what you were really wearing in the Uk in 1975?

[fishcalledwonder]

Planning a 50th birthday lunch for my sister with a 70s theme. All costume ideas online are ABBA, disco or hippy. I was hoping for some ideas to make it more reflective of the UK when my sis was born. We’re doing quizzes on children’s telly and 70s music. Going to attempt to make a Black Forest gateau. Any other ideas for 70s food would also be great. Thank you!

I was a London art student in the 70s and we wore flared jeans with no waistband we often added a band of contrasting fabric on the bottom to lengthen them and inserted triangle of fabric to widen the flare. Skinny low neck tee shirts with bell bottom sleeves. Laura Ashley smocks, dungarees, men’s striped pyjamas in cotton or silk from jumble sales or charity shops, also fancy dressing gowns worn as coats or jackets. Biba too if you could afford it. I had a very smelly afghan coat and a black plastic mac. Most of the girls had long hair as did many of the boys

Flares, platforms, beads

Brown, crimplene, polo necks (which we called skinny rib jumpers), patterns/florals everywhere, very long loose hair, pinafores, A-lines, below the knee or maxi lengths.

@Qashgal Your post gave me a sharp bolt of nostalgia especially describing your mum's clothes. My mum was the same. I remember her always wearing a 'roll on' which was a type of modern girdle.

Those cheesecloth shirts always had little pictures printed on them. Mine had penny-farthing bicycles.

Patches sewn on jeans. Clothkits

I’ve seen a family photo taken early 70’s when we went on a family trip to London for a day. My dad in a suit and tie 🤣
I also remember going on a school music trip to London, we all got the train to London, arrived at Paddington station and were told by the teachers right, off you go , see you at 6.30 at the Albert Hall ! We were about 14, country kids. One of the boys had heard about HMV in Oxford street, so off we all set on the tube. No one got lost, as far as I remember! Health and safety non existent !!

An knee length A-line denim skirt with matching denim waistcoat was my absolute favourite outfit - my mum was a very young mum and was very stylish and no brown or orange in sight.
I did own an jumpsuit that had one of those elasticated claspy belts with an Elvis Presley patch on the pocket 😁 which I wore in assembly for the silver jubilee.

Everyone has to have an unlit cigarette in their hands for true authenticity.

Hot pants and pink suede knee boots. There’s no way I’d wear that kit now!

Happy Days, Scooby Doo and The Six Million Dollar man were all the rage on kid's TV in the seventies and one Christmas everyone was given a Rubik's cube.

Anyone remember, there was a sewing project, I think on Blue Peter although I could be wrong. You got a pair of jeans, cut them to shorts length then made a bib and braces from the cut off bits to sew onto them to make hot pants with a bib . Needless to say I was not allowed to do that !!

I think it's mostly been said but:
Flares / loons
cheesecloth
Patchwork skirts
1930s and 40s dresses from the second hand shop. (Vintage was for wine and cheese)
Clogs
Shawl
Desert boots
Laura Ashley for anything posh but saved for best as expensive

Food / drink:
Prawn cocktail
Chicken in the basket
Coq au Vin
Baked alaska
Boddingtons
Hirondelle
Mateus Rose

Make sure you buy cheap mild cheese - I did a 70’s buffet for a Christmas party but used mature cheddar- it was way too crumbly to get on the cocktail sticks

I'm sure that someone has mentioned it & I've missed it, but you need to have fondue. The 70's was the start of people going abroad for their holidays & those who had the money went skiing & brought back a craze for fondue. You may be able to pick up a set in a charity shop.

I understand Twister was often played at adult's parties in the 70's-and not exclusively 'that' kind of party, you can keep your clothes on LOL!

I remember but not in a good way.
I begged my mum to do this for me which she really kindly did. I was too little to work out how to undo the bib and brace bit so wet my pants in our outside toilet 🙁

Cheesecloth shirts or smocks, and lots of awful nylon/polyester in brown and yellow. Puffed sleeves. Clogs. T-bar shoes with platforms. Flower prints. Flares (like a PP I used to sew a triangle of contrast fabric in from the knee down to make them wider.)

As I lived near the home of Northern Soul all us girls had a massive circular skirt that would flare right out when you spun round. Couldn't buy them, my friend made them for us!

At the end of the decade Skinhead fashion was popular - tight jeans with turnups, braces and oxblood docs.

Look for images of students in the 1970s etc. I think it was all very brown / orange with huge lapels for men, frilly shirts and flares

My Mum in photos seems to be wearing Laura Ashley Edwardian style dresses but also cord flares, Jean flares, tight roll neck jumpers.

Oh bless you 🤭. I have a wet myself story that's slightly more embarrassing - my friend told me there was a witch in the toilet at school and I believed her.
So I was saddled with lost property from the 60's - yellow flairs with a pink top 😫.

I was a child but the cool mums wore floaty Indian print dresses and maxi skirts or denim shirt dresses. Velvet jackets were very cool. Cork or raffia platform or wedge sandals, especially with embroidered denim uppers were very cool, as were long leather boots with high stack heels. Afro curly perms were in and big hoop earrings.

Star jumpers. Wedge shoes. Midi skirts.

Oh no !!

No one has mentioned it so I want to add, head scarves. I had a tie dye head scarf that I’d made in school and wore it constantly.

I got my first bra because of the fashion for cheesecloth blouses that tied under the bust exposing a small amount of midriff between the blouse & the start of high waisted flared jeans. It would have been in about 1976, I was 14 & my mother had been passed a load of hand-me-down clothes from a relative. In this was this blouse, but, as I pointed out, it looked silly with a vest underneath. My mother went out shopping & returned with the smallest bra that she could find in M&S.

About that time mum decided that I needed to learn to budget monthly so started giving me my pocket money monthly instead of weekly. What was the first thing I did? Having only been allowed to wear sensible Clarks shoes, I went out & blew the first month's pocket money (£15) on a pair of chunky high heeled platform shoes of course!

I felt like a real grown-up wearing my outfit with bra very much in evidence underneath my blouse - even though I didn't have much inside it (& still don't) trying to walk in my ridiculous shoes. 😂

In 1975 I was but a glimmer in the milkman's eye - but I went to a 50th recently and they'd used Abigail's Party to help plan a menu (yes it was 1977, but potato - potarto!) and it was this kind of thing: https://handmedownrecipes.wordpress.com/2016/06/01/my-abigails-party-party/

You’ve also just reminded me that my primary school had an outside toilet , cold, grotty with a corrugated roof I think . I avoided it as much as possible, no wonder I learned to hang on for hours !
School also had an outdoor swimming pool which was amazing. Families could book it during school holidays too, completely unsupervised, used to spend hours in it !