How '70s do these photos look to you?

[True Dough]

On a scale of 70 to 79?

[oberle]

1. Yow!

But I looked so good in the 70s in grad school. I'm sure of it.

[TomSlick]

2. Ouch!

[Solly Mack]

3. ...

[True Dough]

5. Solly...

[Solly Mack]

9. I got some pea soup. You want?

[True Dough]

11. My tummy is a little upset.

I don't think I could keep it down.

But thanks for the offer.

[Solly Mack]

12. I was a child when I first saw that movie. Three years later, the movie "Carrie" scared me more.

[regnaD kciN]

4. The first one looks more early '60s to me...

[littlemissmartypants]

21. I concur. 🤓❤️

[malthaussen]

45. Nope. Definitely 70s.

The materials, the patterns, all 70s. The tailoring is an example of the "retro 60s" style that was popular in the more conservative areas of the Nation in the 70s (and still is, really). I would bet at least a nickle the pic is from below the Mason-Dixon line or one of the dreary Midwestern states that begin with a vowel.

-- Mal

[Bayard]

56. Yes,

With that mile-high hair. Looks like my older sisters going to the prom.

[bottomofthehill]

6. Love the second picture.

If I really looked, I bet I knew some of those people. By the 80’s we were waiting for “buyers” at Nortons liquors and grabbing chow at thepemberton market and the White Hen. Miss those days drinking at Clarendon park and Ailwife Brooke

[AllaN01Bear]

7. had bell bottom pants and leisure suit!!

[LogDog75]

8. The first photo looks like it's from the late 60s

It's strange that back then we thought that was "normal" and looking back 50 years later we see those pictures and feel like vomiting. I guess all generations go through this embarrassment. I wonder what the Gen Xers today think of their styles from the 80s look like today.

[enid602]

53. SLC

They look like the ‘Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.’

[Wicked Blue]

10. So much polyester

These bring back a lot of memories

[3catwoman3]

13. Embarrassingly accurate, unfortunately.

[LastDemocratInSC]

14. Well, to identify with any of those a dense cloud of smoke would be needed.

[hibbing]

15. The belt on the lady in orange

That thing is bad ass.

[littlemissmartypants]

22. She's definitely badass. I love her hair!! ❤️

[jmbar2]

16. Everyone is so skinny!

What in the hell has happened to us?

[chicoescuela]

18. I think the skinny thing is an optical illusion when combined with the awesome hair.

That’s my theory

[littlemissmartypants]

23. High fructose corn syrup.

[Figarosmom]

17. Yeah

I even had some of those platform shoes.😊

[C Moon]

19. The first one almost looks 60's. I didn't want the list to stop. Fun!

[Warpy]

20. Sears Roebuck's hippest offerings?

I spent the 70s doing the kind of jobs that required me to climb around inside big, greasy machinery so I dressed like a derelict.

I really hated the 70s, marred by Vietnam and Nixon at one end, the oil shocks in the middle and disco at the other end. Other decades have been marred by war, Republicans, and other disasters but they've had at least something to recommend them. The 70s were just plain awful, beginning to end.

[littlemissmartypants]

24. What?! No halter tops and hip huggers?

That was my go to outfit.

Love you, True. ❤️

[Silver Gaia]

31. LOL! Me, too!

[littlemissmartypants]

32. Excellent!! Please tell me that you embroidered your jeans and made your own halter tops!

I still have some of my embroidery pieces that I cut out of my jeans to save from years ago. I'm going to have to see what I can find and digitize it for posterity.

I hope you also had some platform wedges, Mexican huaraches and a pair of wooden Dr. Scholls.

I miss those carefree days.

❤️👋

[Silver Gaia]

40. Yes, I embroidered some of my jeans. I had some I drew on with colored pens, too.

And yes, I sewed, so I made almost everything I wore, including halter tops. Do you remember "see-through pants" that were hip huggers with very wide, swishy legs made of sheer fabrics like voile. I had a pair of those, too. Oh, and "hot pants," which were tiny hip hugger short-shorts, often with cuffs. I wore those with halter tops, too. And yes, platform shoes and sandals, some were platform wedgies, others had chunky heels. Lots of those! Lots of beads. Long, straight hair.

[LeftInTX]

42. I sewed almost everything myself.

[littlemissmartypants]

49. My mother wouldn't let me wear those. Yet, somehow, the halter tops passed muster. 🤔

My dad used to joke about me making necklaces. He said that I wasn't raised to be a bead stringer.

I'm curious now as to what made me so motivated to strlng so many tiny seed beads. I doubt that I have the dexterity or faculties to do it now.

I'd forgotten about the drawings on jeans. I had a very artistic friend who had one of those pens with multiple ink colors who did that a lot. Very creative.

[BeneteauBum]

25. Except for the black and white photo

None of these people represent the crowd I hung with. It was all army fatigues, bare feet, and a head band…..and a little herb to keep mellow.

Peace ☮️

[LPBBEAR]

26. I never thought

any of that was normal back then. I used to wonder what was wrong with people who dressed like that. I still dress the same now as I did then. Comfortable jeans and a t-shirt usually. The only difference between now and then is I'm a bit fatter and my hair has thinned some.

[Zorro]

27. It was a groovy time

[littlemissmartypants]

33. Love beads and all. 😎✌️

❤️

[oasis]

28. Get me back to the uncomplicated 70's!

[nuxvomica]

29. People knew how to dress back then

Now they wear mostly sweatclothes.

[littlemissmartypants]

34. Less style, lots of dark monotonous unflattering uniformity.

It makes me sad.

[Silver Gaia]

30. All but the first one are most likely from the 70s.

In the first photo, the beehive hairdos and excessively teased hair definitely indicate early to mid 60s, and so do the skirt lengths. By the 70s, long, straight hair was in style, as were miniskirts.Especially with that many girls together in a photo, it's highly unlikely to have been taken in the 70s.

I am also unsure about the catalog page. I don't recall wedge heels being very popular in the 60s or the 70s. And the skirt length and pant leg width looks off, too. That one could even be from the very early 80s, but maybe could be from the late 70s.

[littlemissmartypants]

36. I had some of these. I'm short, so I loved them very much. I think i wore out at least two pairs.

[Silver Gaia]

39. Ah yes, platforms! I wore quite a few of those, too!

I am also considered short. But those are different from the wedgies shown in the photo of the catalog page with the blue cordoroy outfits. Those shoes have just a wedge heel and not much of a platform at all. We didn't wear those in the 70s that I recall, at least not until very late in the 70s. Maybe? I'm just not sure about those clothes and shoes being from the 70s.

[malthaussen]

46. You forget that there was a "retro" look in the 70s...

... and that conservatives of all stripes dressed like it was 1945 whenever possible. Permed hair was still common, especially among women who were a bit older than their 20s and had made regular trips to the beauty salon in the 60s. That kind of look would be considered more conservative and decent than the tight, brief, polyester, brightly-colored looks that were favored by the later Boomers. And the long, flowing, unstyled locks so typical of the generation would be anathema to those with a more rigid aesthetic.

The portable hair blower/dryer was a godsend to women in the 70s who didn't want to look like their pampered, manicured mothers, but not every woman in the 70s (or ever) has felt that way.

Note, also, that in the first pic most of the women appear to be older than their early 20s, and several of them have wedding rings. This pic differs from the others not in the date of the pic, but the nature of the subjects.

-- Mal

[Silver Gaia]

48. Could be. Like moms. But it's still 60s styles.

[LeftInTX]

37. omg! Never saw anything quite this hideous!

Their outfits look home made. Their shirts are all the same....hideous! Run out of the disco!

[True Dough]

38. But you could

make a nice sweater out of all that chest hair.

[littlemissmartypants]

50. Chest hair gets a bad rap.

[Silver Gaia]

41. Yeah, those are some damn ugly disco outfits!

I was never into disco, though. I was in a whole other realm of earthy existence by then, so it was foreign to me.

[some_of_us_are_sane]

43. In the SECOND picture...

the first little girl from the left in the bottom row LOOKS DEMONIC!

[underpants]

52. 😳

[malthaussen]

44. Using what criteria?

Technically? They look just fine. Not faded or color-diluted.

As historical documents? They're a fair, if incomplete, sample of the styles of the era.

General aesthetics? It was the 70s, man, we don't ask that question.

-- Mal

[Vinca]

47. Those are great! Those were the days . . .

[mahatmakanejeeves]

51. I never got anywhere near that outrageous. Thanks. NT

[True Dough]

54. It's not too late!

[Beartracks]

55. Whoa, I did NOT expect to see a family photo in there!!

And sure enough, thankfully, I did not.


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