Phoebe Philo's take on the seventies has certainly inspired a generation of grown-up women to swing their flared pants but having recently read Just Kids by Patti Smith, visited the Hendrix in Britain exhibition (where, as well as hand-written lyrics and doodles, you can see one of the guitarist's velvet jackets), and become obsessed with Bowie's Station to Station all over again - it's the post-hippie/pre-punk/androgynous look that I'm into right now. The seventies was a time when the mainstream was rejected, fashion looked back, and dressing up in second-hand clothes from the thirties and forties was the way forward.
Smith's evocative memoir brilliantly describes the New York scene of the seventies and her relationship with lover, friend and artistic inspiration, Robert Mapplethorpe.
When asked if she's a folk singer and told her hair is very Joan Baez, Smith goes home and starts 'machete-ing my way out of the folk era.' Her new Keith Richards' haircut causes quite a stir,' I couldn't believe all the fuss over it. Though I was still the same person, my social status suddenly elevated....someone asked me if I was androgynous, I asked what that meant. "You know, like Mick Jagger." I figured that must be cool. I thought the word meant both beautiful and ugly at the same time. Whatever it meant, with just a haircut, I miraculously turned androgynous overnight.'
Hendrix in Britain is on at the Handel House Museum till 7 November 2010
Fashion photos: Solve Sundbo, Vogue Italia, August 2010
Thanks for sharing the book, it's just gone down on my birthday list. What cool photos. xxx
ReplyDeleteSuch an interesting post. I am more an 80s lover, but interested in the 70s.
ReplyDeleteSo glad to be back and well, neraly walking...
Un abrazo from rainy Spain, about time...
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I love this era and you summed it up perfectly here.
ReplyDeleteWell observed - my parents dressed like this upon a weekend!
ReplyDeleteI love the first image! One of my favourite eras. I have bought Kids but it's still sitting in the huge pile by my bed. I was hoping to take it on holiday but that hasn't happened. Have a fabulous weekend xx
ReplyDeleteOh yes, I loved that side of the 70's. My style bible at the time was Caterine Milinaire and Carol Troy's "Cheap Chic". I'd love to find another copy someday-- wish I'd kept the one I had, they are outrageously expensive now!
ReplyDeleteYou manage to make the 70s sound fashionable, even the flares.
ReplyDeleteHi my dear-fabulous pictures and a great decade for sure. Hope you have a good week ahead! x
ReplyDeleteVix & Christina - read the book, it's fantastic. Beautifully written.
ReplyDeleteMDS - groovy parents. Mine were still dressed in fifties garb.
Madame - the seventies are no longer the decade that style forgot!
Love the androgynous look. Every year in our office we all dress up for Hallowe'en - you have to be in fancy dress all day or pay a forfeit. The theme this year is rock stars. Going to try to pull an outfit together based on this seventies theme I think. xx
ReplyDeletehttp://www.weshopthereforeweare.co.uk/
Thanks for this post and love these images.
ReplyDeleteThose 1st shots are great. Inspiring indeed. Xxxx
ReplyDeleteLove these photographs... but not perhaps loving the fact that I can remember all this... what is it they say about not dressing the same way again if you can remember it the first time around?!! Good week to you TNMA. x
ReplyDeleteI need to read this Patti Smith memoir; sounds fantastic. What a lady. For another great fix of flamboyant 70s style, I thought the recently released movie "The Runaways" was great.
ReplyDeleteLe Club - I really wanted to see The Runaways before I wrote this but seem to have missed it at the cinema.
ReplyDelete"The seventies was a time when the mainstream was rejected, fashion looked back, and dressing up in second-hand clothes from the thirties and forties was the way forward." Interesting point, I tend to overlook the 70's I guess because I was too small to remember it and spent time as a toddler in cringeworthy yellow flares I'd rather forget. I wasn't aware that vintage clothes from those eras had been part of the "look".
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