All you need to know about 1970's Fashion

EDITOR'S PICK: From Studio 54 to Margaret Thatcher: 1970s fashion is diverse. A new Thea Porter exhibition shines a light on the decade and its style.

Studio 54
Given the recent resurgence in 70's fashion on the runways of leading designers (shearling coats at Tom Ford menswear, knee high, glittery boots at Gucci and suede patchwork coats at Derek Lam) and with the release of Inherent Vice next weekend, this is a timely exhibition.


Tom Ford, AW15

Thea Porter Couture

Thea Porter was responsible for bringing hippy to the fore of fashion. Porter took the 1960s Woodstock uniform and made it chic. A 70's fashion icon, she opened a small shop in Soho in 1966. Here she sold new fabrics and designs that she found on her travels; bringing back textiles from Switzerland, India and Turkey and sourcing fabrics more widely from the Middle East. In an age of globalised fashion, where social media means new discoveries are only ever a click away, it's difficult articulate the importance that Porter's shop had on the aesthetic of the decade.



A Thea Porter Design


Proliferator of free flowing clothing, Porter injected the 60's hippy look with some grown up elegance, cleaning up the unkempt and overgrown aesthetic into slick bohemian luxury. The sixties encouraged free love but the seventies encouraged sexy, with clothes leading the revolution.


Studio 54 and Fashion


Porter's bohemian aesthetic manifested itself most evidently in New York and the hedonism of Studio 54. The great beauty, Bianca Jagger, who rode a white horse through the nightclub on her 30th birthday often opted for Porter's designs alongside other Studio 54 regulars. The club was the locus of the jet set lifestyle and testament to a hunger for the new and exotic. Porter's discoveries catered for this glamorous clientèle who adopted a nomadic, turban clad, globe trotting existence.


Joquain Phoenix and Owen Wilson, Inherent Vice

With flares, kaftans and oversized coats now available not only on the catwalk but also in high street stores such as Topshop, here's hoping for a full seventies lifestyle revival to accompany the clothing trend.

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