70's fashion

[Amithatbad1]

Going to a 70's party next month.
I was born at the end of the 70's so cannot remember the fashion and I would have been in nappies and baby gros anyway!
Anyone who remembers the 70's, can you tell me what people were wearing?
I've seen some cute floral mini dresses with matching headbands but have been told they were more 60's.
All ideas gratefully received!

Just watching changing rooms and started following Whinnie Williams on Instagram, she dresses in 70s fashion so her page might have some inspiration

@Amithatbad1
I was around in the 70s. We started off the 80s with maxi dresses. Quite often ditsy prints. Biba was very influential too so look at what they produced around 1970. I liked Bus Stop in Kensington! Mini dresses were 60s. 100%.

Then we moved on to loon pants. Tight at the the top and to the knee and then very flared at the bottom. Worn with towering platform shoes. I had some in mint metallic leather. Men wore fairisle tank tops.

Later on huge influences were Slade and glam rock. Plus David Bowie. So look up glam rock and the make up. Angie Bowie was a style icon. You could not go wrong with channeling Debbie Harry either. Style icon but never really punk. You could go the whole bin bag look! We also had wide Oxford bags and shirts. Studio 54 pix will give you the New York look at the time.

Wd used to wear jeans to parties and lurex tops! Always heels! Big clip on earrings! Laura Ashley ditsy prints were popular for the more staid girls! If you were punk then you definitely did leather and ripped the shirts.
You could also look at Saturday Night Fever (the white suit), Fame and Pineapple Dance Studio!!
Have fun!

Aaah!!! Started off the 70s with maxi dresses!!

Punk rock was in the 70s. We went to a 70s style party and punk/ hippy/ Jackson5 were all represented

I was a teenager in the 70s. We all wore wide leg, flared jeans, tight cheese cloth shirts with tear drop collars, and high platform shoes. Hair was in a Farah flick (tonged to within an inch of its life) and we wore blue eyeshadow and strawberry lip gloss. Look at ABBA for inspiration.

In the later 70s we all turned our flared jeans into drainpipe jeans and wore big baggy mohair jumpers. My hair was pink and stuck in a sort of spiky top knot with copious amounts of sugar water. Make up consisted of lots of black eyeliner. Look at souxie and the banshees.

It was all great fun.

@CountFoscoslittlewhitemice
oh yes. Forgot the cheesecloth shirts.

Hippy was very early 70s. It slightly morphed into West Coast California jeans look. A few people hung on to the 60s hippie look but glam took over and then punk.

Thanks everyone for your help so far!
So the floral/swirl mini dresses I've seen with matching hairbands, when I googled 70's dresses, aren't really accurate then?

I was born same time as you so don't have personal memories but in family photos everyone was wearing flares or maxi dresses (in hideous patterns). However, for a party I would go disco! See Saturday Night Fever for inspiration.

Or ABBA!

Can you watch some British films of the time? Or old episodes of Top of the Pops etc? That's quite a good source

I was under 12 in the 70s and vividly remember wearing sky blue polyester flares with a seam at the front and pale brown and cream flare insets at the bottom. People really wore that sort of thing and the really 70s thing was that you might were completely clashing colours and patterns on the top, say a purple paisley blouse with said trousers and then, even better, a green and cream striped tank top. That sort of thing. Big collars and a thrown together drunk look.

Plus don't forget flicked hair and pale blue eyeshadow covering the whole lid and plucked to near extinction eyebrows.

*Wear not were

This is what people wore in the 70s.

@Amithatbad1
Well there was the Abba look but no one saw this as clothes they would buy. They were seen as stage clothes. As the pix above shows, wide jeans and neat shirts. Having spent all the 70s going to parties, Abba was considered fancy dress. That’s why you will find these types of outfits now when you Google. However the look of those dresses is pure 60s but associated with Abba. You could do the full catsuit Abba look! ?

If you look at an episode of Top of the Pops of that era there's a huge difference between what the performers wear compared to the audience.

@toobe That’s because most of us didn’t have stage costume designers! The high street shops like Chelsea Girl did a good job though. I used to go to Kensington Market. Slightly hippy clothes there and smelly Afghan coats!

platinum blonde wig, white t shirt, black blazer, tight jeans, loads of kohl eyeliner = Debbie Harry :)

OP, those mini dress pics are 1960s ‘fancy dress’ - not even accurate for that era. I think loon the loon pants, cheesecloth top and platforms suggested would be a good choice, you can probably find some in vintage shops as 70s retro seems quite fashionable at the moment.

Oh, and add some face glitter a la Marc Bolan. Which makes me think, actually, that satin flares would be good!

I would just channel Stevie Nicks from that era if it were me, love her wardrobe from back then

Mmm, something not right about that vibe. Maybe a bit 60s.

I did! I thought she was great.
I played that Rumours album on repeat.

I remember we had those shirts with massive collars, the bigger the better. Some girls in my class loved The Bay City Rollers, so google them.
Also, some of Abba's stage clothing - the tight satin clothing, face glitter.

I sewed myself a pair of wet look PVC hotpants in 1975. Similar to these...

hotpants

@thenightsky - oh yes, I had a pair of hot pants with a bib. They were red polyester. I wore a yellow skinny rib sweater underneath.
The fabrics were so uncomfortable compared to now, weren't they? Our school blouses were Bri-nylon. I feel sweaty just thinking about them...

I remember gypsy skirts. Mine was similar to this but had more fullness in the skirt and more broderie anglaise edging . I even had a broderie anglaise underskirt. Lots of people wore them with matching head scarves and off the shoulder lacy tops.