Find your flare
The sepia filters, bold shapes and shaggy textures of the Seventies have inspired a wave of reimagined fashion throwbacks on the runways, says Kenya Hunt. We hope you like flares
The flamboyant Seventies have (once again) inspired a new wave of carameltoned, must-have pieces for AW17. Get down with it
The Seventies ranks right up there with the Forties and Eighties as one of fashion’s most referenced decades. If you were to scroll through the last 10 years’ runway photo galleries on the internet, you’d see. Every season, without fail, there’s always a baby-doll dress. Always a pair of flares. Often a shearling-trimmed coat. And, on occasion, some fringing.
And there’s a reason for the decade’s persistent popularity. The fashion during the Seventies was everything. This was the era of David Bowie, Diana Ross and Elton John.
And the style of the day was unapologetically effeminate. Decadently glamorous. Deliciously flamboyant. Brazenly political. Boldly sexed up. It was, to borrow a phrase from the era, out of sight.
This year, the decade defined by strange new dance crazes, innovative technological advances, political unrest, an economic crisis and excellent television watching (sound familiar?) got more air time than usual on the runways. Though, this time around, it was the tell-tale elements of its daywear such as the butterfly collars (Chloé), the wallpaper prints (Miu Miu), the A-line shapes (Mulberry) and the loud and proud outerwear (Marc Jacobs, Prada, Coach, Diane von Furstenberg, the list goes on and on) that designers explored the most.
Throughout the AW17 season, models walked the catwalks dressed like corduroy-clad, crochetknit extras from the Netflix series The Get Down. And, like the show, Marc Jacobs explored the decade’s latter years through the origins of hip-hop, as disco music underwent an identity crisis. Meanwhile, Miuccia Prada channelled the period’s spirit of political resistance through a mash-up of vintage textures, colours and global references. At Miu Miu, she used the era’s fun sense of flamboyance to redefine the idea of glamour. For Mulberry, Johnny Coca had a distinctly British, Thatcher-era take on the trend, with clothes that mixed desirability with prim, countryside charm by way of feminine blouses and outsized tent dresses.
All this flamboyance might feel like a shock to the senses after seasons of street wearinfluenced hyper realism. A practical puffer jacket one minute, a shaggy, pimptastic coat the next. The upside is that these clothes are incredibly fun to wear. The downside: they can also make you feel like you’re in fancy dress.
The most painless way to experiment with the trend right now is to explore the decade’s unmistakable colour palette – its amazing assortments of brown, tan, mustard, orange and rust – rather than the larger-than-life shapes. Start with the pre-fall collections that are in stores now (Ellery and Joseph have great offerings), and take your styling inspiration from the AW17 collections.
Try a tonal approach by layering varying shades of caramel or claret, as at Marc Jacobs, for example. Or you could mix in unexpected jewel tones for a bit of contrast, as with the burnt toffee-and-amethyst and tobacco-and-peridot pairings at Mulberry. It’s about summoning the feeling of the trend without going too literal. This will be the difference between looking chic, and like you’ve dressed up for a retro-themed hen do.
Best of all, the Seventies will inevitably always come back in style. Wear it now, and wear it again much later.
‘All this flamboyance might feel like a shock to the senses after seasons of streetwear’