The most successful designer of 1972 was Halston. Actually, the wide range of choices represented the cost-conscious consumer’s triumph over the couturier. Critics blamed designers for failing to provide fashion direction. They turned up in everything from floor-length dresses to faded blue jeans. Such designers as Yves Saint Laurent showed most of their daytime styles at mid-knee level, but they included several mid-calf and ankle-length skirts.įemale delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Miami illustrated the variety of attire available to the American woman. It was the year’s most important fashion ingredient, cropping up as a beach cover-up, the basis of city costumes, the bodice of haute-couture satin evening gowns.Īfter sweaters, a woman could choose between long or short dresses, skirts or pants, belted waists or no waists, bare halters or covered-up caftans. The sweater was a pivotal point of this effortless effect. An important aspect of being fashionable in 1972 was not to look as if one had spent either too much time or money on clothes. Liza Minnelli wearing Halston (1972)Fashion relaxed a bit in 1972, worrying less about hemlines and waistlines, shifting into the casual mood of sportswear for both daytime and evening styles.Īccording to designers, the busy modern woman wanted to look at ease, uncontrived, and certainly never obvious after years of self-consciousness. She remains to this day one of the most important fashion designers in history.
Her rigorous discipline to the very end helped her maintain an unheard of 50+ years of relevancy and influence on the fashion world. The fashion world was saddened by the passing of legendary designer, Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel, better known as “Coco,” at age 87. Plaid was a popular choice for a day at the office or on the farm and pants remained flared. Clothes were snugly fit, tailored and double knit. Men’s fashion started to shed the flamboyant styles of recent years, but they retained a sense of fun and freedom. Yves Saint Laurent instigated the 1940s revival in his spring Paris collection that was widely panned by critics but embraced by young trendsetters. A quick glance through a 1971 catalog backs this up, for it is hard to miss the countless pages of his & hers matching sets. Sporting a tailored look, young couples liked to dress in similar, if not identical clothing. Another trend that popped up among the wealthy was Chinese-inspired evening gowns.
Another, more extreme, backlash were “hot pants”, which had nothing to do with the so-called fashion world.Ī taste for nostalgia brought back people’s desire for nautical insignia and 1940s movie star glamour.
Skirts that grazed the ankle, that were intended to be evening gowns, were being worn out on the town. It seemed at times the two were fighting each other like siblings.ĭesigners declared the hemline would be at the knee in 1971, but the public had other plans. In 1971 there was a huge impasse between what designers made and what people wanted to wear. Capes striped like bedspreads, along with folk-embroidered Hungarian peasant blouses gave fashion in 1970 a distinctly ethnic flavor.ġ971 Fashion: Brigitte Bardot wearing Hot Pants Mid-calf length culottes called gaucho pants were the hit of many a fall fashion show. Ponchos, gauchos and capes afforded a fashionable alternative to the midi. How the leg met the hem was its most critical feature. It flattered the young and thin most, because it emphasized a small midriff, waist and hips.
It was slit and slashed, laced-up or zipped-up, strapped or wrapped to one side and sometimes buttoned down the front. The midi was slightly different than long skirts from the 1950s. Whatever the reason, the midi skirt was a debacle that sent the fashion industry spiraling downward. Others thought the longer skirt aged them. After years of building short skirted wardrobes, they weren’t about to change now. Miniskirt lovers picketed New York City shops that carried the new length. Across the fashion industry, designers dropped skirt lengths anywhere between the knee and ankle and called it the Midi Look or midi skirt. 1970 Fashion: “Stop the Midi” PinHemlines were the headlines in 1970.