A 1970s fashion history lesson: disco, designer denim, and the liberated woman

High fashion was in on the craze too. Halston and Stephen Burrows were the kings of glam disco, and Norman Norell’s stretch sequined gowns continued to allure women.

The previous year, in 1976, over in London, Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren had birthed the punk fashion movement with their Chelsea boutique Seditionaries, then Sex. Inspired by a more transgressive genre of music, the look was a rejection of the status quo: the political climate, the ongoing recession, the disenchantment with capitalist living. By 1977 Zandra Rhodes, who had begun the decade with romantic and folkloric chiffon gowns, went full-on punk with purposely tattered dresses, safety pins for fastenings, and intentional holes.

Top Designers of the 1970s

Yves Saint Laurent, André Courrèges, Oleg Cassini, Rudi Gernreich, Norman Norrell, Emilio Pucci, Pierre Cardin, Emanuel Ungaro, Geoffrey Beene, Ralph Lauren, Bill Blass, Stephen Burrows, Oscar de la Renta, Halston, Anne Klein, Sonia Rykiel, Missoni, Chloé, Kenzo, Issey Miyake, Giorgio Armani, Valentino, Betsey Johnson, Mary McFadden, Marc Bohan for Christian Dior, Tommy Nutter, Ossie Clark, Zandra Rhodes, Jean Muir, Bill Gibb, Vivienne Westwood, Norman Norell, James Galanos, Bob Mackie, Giorgio di Sant’ Angelo, Norma Kamali

Men’s Trends of the 1970s

More so than any decade before, men had plenty of muses in the 1970s, from James Bond to Mick Jagger to Johnny Rotten to Bob Marley to David Bowie to James Brown.

If one look took over the decade, it was the polyester leisure suit (a two-button blazer and slacks), which was marketed for its ease, comfort, and low maintenance. Shirts were worn tight, pants had a flare, and lapels were wide. Roger Moore’s James Bond popularized the safari suit.

David Bowie gave the world glam rock with his feather boas in his Ziggy Stardust era (Kansai Yamamoto designed costumes for Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust tour), while Mick Jagger wooed the world in his effeminate frilly pirate blouses.

In 1975, Italian designer Giorgio Armani founded his own label, which would set the tone for the decade to come.