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What did you wear in 1975/76

(60 Posts)
Freeandeasy Tue 30-Apr-19 19:33:41

I am writing a book and I posted a few months ago asking for advice about pregnancy in the mid-1970s. Please may I take this opportunity to thank everyone who took the time to reply. I very much appreciate it.

Now, I was 19 in 1975 and can remember some of the outfits of what I wore, but the thing is, I was quite a bit overweight then. I remember wearing long dresses in 1975, with a choker. Or a long skirt with a skinny ribbed top, which looking back, didn't do me any favours at all! I also remember wearing the "new" midi skirt? Or maybe that was earlier, I honestly can't remember. I don't have any photos of me from that era.

What I would like to know is what did YOU wear in 1975/76 for an evening out? I don't think disco became popular until maybe 1997, with Saturday Night Fever, did it? However, I may be totally wrong. I didn't go to many discos when I was younger, I met my ex-husband at our local Palais! I remember the white suit John Travolta wore, and I remember my ex-husband wearing a cream version in the early 1980s. (We lived in a small town in the North West of England, so maybe he was just behind the times!)

Would any of you be prepared to share your experience of going to a disco in the mid-1970s? What did you wear? What did your boyfriend wear? The two female characters in my book are totally different. One is tall, slim, stunningly beautiful and the other (based on myself) is short, a bit mousy and slightly overweight. What do you think the more popular girl would have worn? Would hot pants still be in fashion then? I vaguely remember when I first started work in 1974, aged 18, that an older girl wore them to work and was told off. I'm sure she wore them in the evening though. Could I be right?

As I say, I can only go off my own experience, and that is wearing long dresses and skirts, I suppose to hide my shape at the time.

I remember my boyfriend at the time having long David Cassidy like hair and wearing flared jeans, so I can imagine what my characters' boyfriends would wear. However, I'm at a loss as to how the girls would dress at the time.

Any advice would be much appreciated, particularly by all the grans who were the "cool" girls in the mid-1970s! I wasn't, by the way!

annodomini Wed 01-May-19 08:41:47

I confess to a long blue caftan-style dress (from M&S) which I wore for dinner parties and other social events. I shudder at the memory.

freesia Wed 01-May-19 09:09:39

wooden platform clogs....how did we dance in them? And Ben Sherman cheesecloth shirts. Also had a 'twinset' of pullover and cardigan with diamond pattern on...skinny rib of course!

tanith Wed 01-May-19 09:10:19

Very short maternity dresses in various floral patterns my mil must of been horrified at the shortness of them.

Nanabilly Wed 01-May-19 09:13:49

I got wed in 1977 so in 1975 we were still going to discos and following fashion trends. I remember wearing mini skirts , grey with yellow checks, brown printed corduroy with flowers on all worn with skinny rib short sleeved jumpers in various pastel colours. Pinafore dresses worn with shirts with huge cuffs and rounded collars. I remember one being white with big bright humble bees on it.
I had a fabulous brown leather Barbarella jacket that I wore til it fell off me . Shoes were always strappy platform soles but then I found the Ravel shoe shop and went a little more sophisticated and got some brown leather rounded toed shoes with three straps and tiny round buttons to fasten them with and 3 or 4 inch heels and no platform soles.
My boyfriend , now my husband , wore Oxford bag trousers with wide waist bands and tight tops but I honestly cannot remember if he wore shirts or teeshirts , shall have to sort out some photos.
At the discos we went to we listened to and danced to plenty of Tamla motown. Rod Stewart ,Bay city rollers, Roxy music, Barry White. As someone has all ready said we always wore a coat or jacket and handed it in at the cloakroom and were given a ticket to get your coat back when you left. My tipple at the time was brandy and babycham with a cherry and my then bf said to me once "that's the last you have of them it's gone up to 42 pence" .

GrandmaMoira Wed 01-May-19 09:22:23

In 1974 I was still wearing very short minis but by 75/76 skirts had become knee length. In the evenings we still wore maxi skirts/dresses. Trousers were wide flares and shoes were platform soles. Blouses had long puffed sleeves, wide cuffs and big collars. Hot pants were from a few years earlier. I bought most of my clothes in Top Shop.
Google images will give you a good idea of styles from then.

BBbevan Thu 02-May-19 01:41:38

I can 't remember what I wore in the mid 70s .I was a young mum with two children. I can remember what they wore, but nothing specific to myself. Strange that.

mimiro Thu 02-May-19 02:28:08

here in the states disco refers to the dance and songs like the ones in saturday night fever(1977) kc and the sunshine band,gloria gaynor,donna summer etc.polyster clothes ruled there.fluttery latin style dresses (knee length) and dance shoes.
places that you could dance to rock were just called bars or clubs.
being a rockers(and allergic to polyester) we hated disco.
but it started up as a fad around 1975.
we wore "gunnie sax" dresses,poet shirts,rockabilly dresses ,bell or straight legged levis, tall boots,and rock and roll t shirts.
obviously fashion was a little different here.not much but a bit.

rosecarmel Thu 02-May-19 06:11:07

Yes, concert t's, Levi jeans and cheap sneakers, flannel shirts, body suits, clogs, waffle thermals, hoodies under denim jackets, cut offs in the summer months, overalls, halters ...

I liked disco, still do, but but the subculture was a dark scene, incredibly depressing, drug-driven, careless lifestyle ...

So ...it was many general admission shows for me, with "my people" .. But plenty of small venues too .. Bands had to start out somewhere ...

grandtanteJE65 Fri 10-May-19 13:25:53

I wore maxi skirts or dresses for evenings out and midi skirts during the day.

I gave up wearing mini dresses when an elderly gentleman patted my bottom in the public library! I didn't know him from Adam, I may say.

yggdrasil Fri 10-May-19 15:21:59

BBEvan: I can 't remember what I wore in the mid 70s .I was a young mum with two children. I can remember what they wore, but nothing specific to myself.

Same here. Most of my stuff came from charity shops

allassinsane Fri 10-May-19 18:09:04

Straight leg levis with triangular inserts of multi-coloured velvet in the bottom to make them into flares, cheesecloth shirts, fruit of the loom t-shirts, wooden beads, silver ethnic style rings, suede skirts and skinny rib tops, grandad t-shirts, various velvet pieces sewn at the kitchen table on an old singer sewing machine, the manual type, clogs, huge wooden soled platform sandals with leather ties going around the leg, suede desert boots, cheesecloth dresses and laura ashley type of dresses, smocks. Remember when very wide leg jeans came 'in'. I have photos of my by then husband in some and they look so daft now! They were very wide and he was very skinny then tho tall 6ft 3in. They looked like flags on poles but it was the fashion then. I also think 1975/76 was when that type of fashion was changing and things became a bit more punk with tighter jeans and baseball/converse shoes more fashionable. So it was a bit of a mixture really. I remember making some bottle green corduroy culottes in 1976 and I wore them with t-shirts and leather boots. I loved them. Also a couple of midi-dresses from Miss Selfridge, one was bottle green velvet with round neck and three little buttons going down with long sleeves which flared out and were gathered at the cuff. It had a tie belt and had delicate silver swirls through the fabric. The other was black chiffon like material with lovely cape sleeves over the shoulders. That also had tiny silver like swirls through the fabric. I loved those dresses.

Bathsheba Fri 10-May-19 18:45:29

Silky satin blouses with long, puffy sleeves gathered at the wrist, and big, rounded collars. Often worn under a short sleeved skinny rib jumper, so the effect was kind of the opposite of the 'leg-o-mutton' sleeves popular throughout history. I would wear these with maxi skirts or flared trousers/jeans. Oh and cheesecloth shirts and wooden soled platform shoes of course!

Tedber Fri 10-May-19 19:01:31

I have said that the clothes kids wear today are not that different from what we wore in the 70's. Anything went then as it does now! Short skirts, platform shoes. I also remember wearing hot pants with a kind of 'curtain' round them too! So at front it was like just wearing knickers but at back it was like a long evening dress?

Also had boots with plastic uppers that clung to the leg (in white). PVC was in fashion so black PVC coat with mini skirt.

Blouses with super huge sleeves underneath tank tops! Flares and bell bottoms too. Denim everywhere - flared jeans.

For special occasions it was the maxi dress!

As say - not a huge difference to today.

Treebee Fri 10-May-19 19:43:04

Reading this thread brings back so many memories!
My husband and I met in 1975, and we used to go to Friars in Aylesbury where we saw bands like Curved Air and Sailor. I used to wear my Welsh wool poncho, which I still own, because I would fold it up to sit on. Nowadays I don’t go to concerts where I’m not promised a seat.

lemongrove Fri 10-May-19 19:47:39

I was wearing maternity dresses round about then, not flattering but covered up the huge bump at least.
Midi skirts were around 1970 ish, As I remember buying one and wearing it with a white Edwardian style blouse which was tucked in.Hotpants first came out round about 71
I think, but were popular for a while.
Suede platform shoes ( early 70’s) particularly in a shade of dusky pink.
1975, choker style necklaces were all the rage, as were smocked cheesecloths tunic tops and tie dye tshirts.

lemongrove Fri 10-May-19 19:49:03

In the early70’s the colour purple and also aubergine in fashion were popular.Skinny knit jumpers, and polo necks.

Sara65 Fri 10-May-19 20:07:52

I still love those colours lemongrove, all my clothes were shades of purples and wines.

Grammaretto Fri 10-May-19 20:35:12

We moved to Scotland from the South of England in '75 and I remember being surprised that short skirts were still "in" here while mine were longer and far more flattering on me.
Laura Ashley was fashionable but also Ethnic fashions.
I bought a poncho and Indian batik printed dress and plaited my hair much to the disgust of my mum who thought I looked plain stupid.
I had platform espadrilles but came over on my side once and twisted my ankle. I wore my gorgeous baby as an accessory in a snuggli sling. He also went on the back of my bike.
DH had worn Ben Sherman fitted shirts and flares but he was never a dedicated follower of fashion. It was more the hair styles which date us. Short on top and long at the sides.

allassinsane Fri 10-May-19 21:00:58

I agree with a previous poster that there are a lot of similarities with todays fashion. We used to tie-dye our own t-shirts but this was a couple of years earlier, now tie-dye is fashionable again. We used to try to be "unique and individual" and that's what the younger generation are saying now. We were all wearing a uniform though really, telling the world which "tribe" you belonged to. Just remembered I had a pair of two tone leather shoes with a strap across and wooden stack heel which I wore for work, and a hand knitted, very long multi-coloured Dr. Who scarf, when Tom Baker was the Doctor, which was worn with everything but especially loved it with my bottle green velvet coat. That might have been a bit earlier though.

Sara65 Fri 10-May-19 21:20:46

Sadly, or maybe not! I’ve only got one surviving photo of that era, a friends wedding reception in her parents garden, the bride, her mum, her sisters, me, and almost everyone else were in Laura Ashley dresses

The groom was in a blue cord suit, no tie, my then boyfriend was in a pink flowery shirt and a leather jacket

annep1 Fri 10-May-19 21:22:19

Enjoying all these memories.
I still have two items of clothing I wore. A maxi pinafore broad blue stripes ( I called it my butcher apron). I wore it with 2 blouses -white and blue with long pointed collar and puffed shoulders. The other item is a top. It was called a gypsy top- elasticated short sleeves and waist. Could be worn with neckline off the shoulders. Had lovely embroidered flowers on the front. But...it was see through. Could see my bra! Cant believe I wore it. I wore it with a blue maxi or flared trousers. I was twenty four. Needless to say they don't fit me at alk!

Sara65 Fri 10-May-19 21:29:22

I once had a maxi dress, the only thing holding it up was a smocked top, I came out of a pub one night, tripped over my dress! Well you can imagine!
Didn’t wear that again!

BradfordLass72 Sat 11-May-19 01:32:07

You wore a skinny ribbed top? Then you were probably only notionally overweight because they just didn't make such things, or any other fashionable, pretty things, for girls who really were.

I couldn't get nice clothing to fit my Size 18 body and my mother, who still insisted on buying all my clothes, used to buy men's clothing: jerseys and t-shirts, for me.

I longed to wear jeans like my friends and once, in sheer desperation, went to a shop which specialised in work clothing.

I bought a pair of joiner's jeans spent hours unpicking the pockets at the side, the seams and waist.
Then they were re-sewn to fit my shape, all by hand.

I will never forget the sheer joy of feeling, for the first time in my life, 'normal' because with a long, white (man's) T-shirt, I looked like my skinny friends.

Of course, wearing men's clothing when you're a girl and want to look and feel like a girl is torture, so not 'normal' at all.

All my wages were turned over to my mother, but when I was given birthday money from Aunts, I bought two identical, floaty Indian skirts, unpicked them too - and made one which fit me.

So the 70's and later were not times when I could dress in clothing which reflected my personalty or character.

They were the years where I wandered round all the shops with friends and my thin sister watching as they giggled and tried on multiple choices of skirts, dresses and tops.

And aware that not one single shop had anything which fit a fat girl.

Willow500 Sat 11-May-19 07:23:28

In 1975 my eldest son was 4 and the youngest a year old and we had very little money so no nights out and I made a lot of my clothes. I can remember making a pair of brown flares which I wore with a skinny top and also having a green patterned short skirt with a green and white striped lurex top! My favorite outfit was bought from C&A as a special treat - a long black skirt with small white flowers on it and a black suede (effect) zipped jacket with cream fur collar and cuffs - worn with black platform boots. I wore that coat till it fell to bits grin

Sara65 Sat 11-May-19 08:05:25

I had a suede (affect) coat which I loved too, it was really long, had tons of faux fur all around it, and had a big hood, it did up with metal clasps

I absolutely loved it, I think it was my Christmas present one year, and I think I bought it in snob!