Especially when it comes to office dress. For instance, looking at Wall Street photos from back then vs. now, there’s a stark contrast in color, flair, and “creativity”.
Especially when it comes to office dress. For instance, looking at Wall Street photos from back then vs. now, there’s a stark contrast in color, flair, and “creativity”.
Comments
Please do not comment directly to this post unless you are Gen X or older (born 1980 or before). See this post, the rules, and the sidebar for details. Thank you for your submission, SeniorCitrus007.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
Drugs
You could call it experimenting and you could also call it confusion. I’ll speak to men’s fashion only. There were several styles that all intersected around that time –
Older men wore suits like you saw in the 50s, maybe with wider lapels and a wider tie but that was about all they changed.
A big fashion trend was the “leisure suit” which was just god-awful ugly – polyester with no tie and huge lapels. My dad loved it and always bemoaned that they went out of style. He’s the only person that ever said that I think.
There was also plenty of remnants from the Hippy movement and plenty of Vietnam veterans. They both basically refused to dress up except for maybe church or a funeral. Exactly the stereotype you think of today. There was a lot of pushback against both groups in the suburban community where I lived. Their fashion was in many was a middle finger to that criticism.
The 1970s were weird, mostly because the 1960s were fucked up. really, even the early 1970s.
Early 1970s, Vietnam, Kent State, Attica Prison riot, Watergate.
But late 1960s? MLK, RFK (not junior…), race riots. Vietnam tet offensive. Late 1960s were insane.
The feeling of freedom I would suppose, the freedom to express oneself in a manner not ordained by the Victorians
Society was kinder and social media didn’t exist.
Flares were the uniform, any kind of straight leg trousers would single you out as a square and punk drainpipes are unlikely to be permitted in an office setting
I haven’t seen the photos you’re talking about however
All those “new” synthetic fabrics like Polyester and Rayon seemed futuristic and interesting and people experimenting with fashion was more accepted. It seemed like the future.
I think it’s all forms of visual expression. Living by algorithms, we now attempt to offend the fewest people rather than delight a few people. It’s why coffee shops are all have the same haunted mental institution palette. All the home design shows feature a mix of muted colors and whites.
Even though polyester was invented earlier, a big marketing push happened with it in the 70s. At that time polyester could hold color better than natural fibers. So, I’m guessing fashion designers were playing with new fabrics and bolder colors. Polyester was also less expensive, so designers and buyers were possible more willing to try new daring things, because it if didn’t work there wasn’t as much of a sunk cost.
Society was becoming more accepting of such things as well.
Money. In the 1950s-1970s every level of society had money to spare. It was not unheard of for a blue-collar worker to afford a fancy sports car. These funds brought about opportunities for leisure and creativity.
Starting in the 1980s laws were changed to constrict the flow of money to the lower and middle classes. The rich got richer and the poor got poorer. There were less opportunities for creativity and frankly, more misery.
A few months ago a young Star Trek fan posted about how in Classic and Next Gen Trek people had time for leisure and hobbies “To show us what life would be like in a utopia!” I had to point out that when those shows aired in the 1960s and 1980s most viewers had time for leisure and hobbies in the regular lives.
The color thing is actually interesting. As 1980’s and 90’s TV and movies started focusing on the glory days of business and the office, (1940’s – Vietnam) most films and pictures were still black and white. So media wanted to be authentic and copy those films.
Problem was, people through out time wore vibrant colors. Tv and film gave off the idea that they didn’t. As people wanted to look more professional, they copied what they saw in film. So a lot of the color in office clothes went away.
I read a book on the history of clothing and fashion. The author explains how films trying to be historically accurate actually botched this badly. And how Western clothing and business attire changed greatly with the film and Tv boom.
Watch modern films about the past, almost everyone is wearing drab dark clothing. But if you look at journals, paintings and articles from almost anytime before the 1960’s there was a lot of color.
I remember when my mom bought my dad some non-white work shirts in the early 70’s, man that was an earth shaking event.
My mom was a graphic artist, and took great joy in that moment. My dad, not so much, but he did wear them.
In the 70s, the “man in the grey flannel suit” became an outdated target of derision, even in business settings. You were expected to get with the times and ditch the bland, conformist look of the 1950s. Everyone was experimenting with new fabrics (especially synthetics). People tried on the colors and patterns of different, newly assertive cultures and ethnicities. Space flight was in the news, and people were fascinated and hopeful about the future. Everybody grew their hair out. As Jimi Hendrix said, “Let your freak flag fly.”