By Brooke Kamenoff
’70s style is coming back on to the runways. During the month of October, the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) celebrates Fashion Month, offering a series of lectures titled “The Look: Fashion, Photography, and Film.” Each week, the museum highlights a different era, last weeks was the 1970s.
“Street-style was essentially an anti-fashion movement [in the ’70s],” said Lauren Whitley, the curator and lecturer at the event.
Runway fashion of the 1970s did not include bell-bottom pants, platform shoes or jogging suits. Everyday people started this trends, like people who were affected by the short recession, war and even the new-found sexual revolution.
Today, similar issues affect the country and, once again, are influencing mainstream style. Jargon like “recessionista” and “chiconomics” have been popping up in magazine stories.
Just as people in the 1970s did, utilizing vintage shops may be a less-expensive alternative to finding new clothing.
“The importance of street style is there are no rules. People can be creative and innovate the trends,” said Bianca Gracie, the treasurer of Haute Fashion, Northeastern’s fashion club.
During the MFA lecture, Whitley focused on three main styles of the ’70s: hippie, punk and androgyny.
This fall, high-waist flared trousers were seen on the runways. For the spring, designers like Proenza Schouler included tie-dye in many of their looks, a nod to the care-free hippie frocks of the 1970s.
The punk style additionally inspired design houses like Balmain and Balenciaga for the upcoming spring 2011 season. They sent clothes with rips, tears and an abundance of safety pins down the runways.
Notions of androgyny were something of a new concept for the 1970s, like John Travolta’s garb in “Saturday Night Fever,” but it’s increasingly appearing in modern style, as well as on the runways. More men experiment with form-fitting clothes while women are turning to blazers and boyfriend jeans.
“Style repeats itself so it is always important to look for inspiration in past eras,” Gracie said. “To make it more modern though, do not over do it. Take key pieces from the trends and make it your own.”
