1970s Fashion Statements for Women

Many of the fashions of the 1970’s are now making a comeback. How do I know this? Simple, almost every time some new fashion craze is advertised in our local department store ads my mother will say “we use to wear that when I was a teenager. The tie dye t-shirt craze is one I remember my mother saying her favorite phrase.

I decided to find out more about woman’s fashions of the 1970’s and who better to ask than my own parents who were both teenagers in high school in the mid 1970’s. The information they provided proved to be interesting if not a look backward in time.

Bellbottom pants
Bellbottom pants made their debut in the 70’s. They were not only shaped like a bell at the bottom of the leg some of them even had bells sewn into the side seam. My mother was about 14 when her mother bought her a pair of paisley blue colored bellbottomed pants with little bells (the closed in bell, just like sleigh bells) sewn down the side seams at the lower part of the leg.

Jean Jackets
The short Wrangler type jean jackets were all the craze at her high school. To be different you had to have patches sewn all over them. Some of them had studs attached to them. You could buy the stud attaching tool at the local craft store. Both women and men wore them.

Platform shoes
Shoes with a very thick sole of 2 inches or more hit her school as a craze around 1973. They stayed in vogue for about 3 years. To be more noticed and thus more popular you had to have the highest platform shoes.

Tie Dye
Of course tie dye was an early 1970’s trend. She told me that she learned how to do tie dye at school in Home Ec class. Everything was tie dyed from tops to pheasant dresses. Jeans were not tie dyed but bleached out and my mother had a pair of blue bleached jeans that looked like they had been tie dyed.

Chokers
The jewelry item that every girl/woman just had to have was a choker. The 1970’s version was a flat wide ribbon that fastened with a chain and hook. My mother’s favorite one was made of brown suede with a small bead design in the center. Macramé was also an influence at that time so many wore chokers that were hand made and knotted Macramé style.

Hair styles
Hair styles ranged from the straight long, parted in the middle to the famous Farrah. The straight hair styles were leftovers from the 1960 hippie culture. My mother had a “shag” which was the shorter version of the Farrah. She told me that as it grew out it became the Farrah. The Farrah was named after Farrah Fawcett of the TV show Charlie’s Angels.

Fashion influences came from the music culture, TV shows as well as the Native American. A short walk down memory lane will have you realize that everything shows up again when it comes to fashion.