1970s

New fashion tribes evolve from youth cultures and their music, from which designers take their inspiration. Anarchy and experimentation, art and fashion amalgamated. While Ungaro, Valentino and a few continue to produce elegant haute couture, others evolve in the ready-to-wear market: Jean Muir, Diane von Furstenburg, Bruce Oldfield, Louis Ferraud, Janice Wainwright, Zandra Rhodes, Bill Gibb, Ossie Clark and Celia Birtwell. Vivienne Westwood, rooted in punk, put rips, zips, bondage and safety-pins into fashion, inspiring the funkier looks that appear later in the decade. Label names like Sex, Granny Takes a Trip, Bus Stop, Miss Mouse and Mr Freedom reflect the trippy 70’s vibe and the rebellion of establishment.

Biba spearheads the boutique ‘experience’ with affordable, accessible outfits. The folksy and bohemian, hippie style is commercialised, and vintage looks are embraced: embroidery, embellishments, animal prints and ethnic blending. Free-form clothes: smocks, kaftans, long hemlines, big collars and ever-widening flares (until they were skinny again by the end of the decade). Suede, leather and denim, velvet and lurex. The enduring trousers suit, unisex looks and Glam Rock reflect blurring genders. 

Japanese visionary designers - Kansai Yamamoto, Issey Miyake and Kenzo Takada - add a new dimension in cutting and construction. Fashion goes disco with leotards, leggings and boob tubes and the draped and glittering gowns of Halston in the Studio 54 heyday. The slick glamour of a re-invented Dior. Emerging American influence of Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein, a lesson in brand building and designer denim. As fashion’s most revolutionary decade tails away, shoulders begin to broaden and Thierry Muglar and Karl Lagerfeld ensure male tailoring is set to become a major female trend.