Men's 1970s Fashion Guide

Fashion in the 1970s was about individuality. Instead of following brands and set trends as previous eras had, the ’70s were about freedom, identity and personal expression — and the menswear shows it. The decade began with a continuation of the late-1960s hippie look and eventually became an iconic decade for fashion, but it never settled on a single direction: subcultures multiplied, choices flooded the market, and no one trend could command the whole wardrobe the way the grey flannel suit once had. For men, that meant a decade of genuine range, from frayed denim to a three-piece disco suit, sometimes in the same week.

Read the decade in three acts. The early ’70s inherited the hippie closet and softened it into a rustic, country-tinged casual wardrobe. The middle years promoted the t-shirt from underwear to outerwear and simplified design under real material shortages. And the late ’70s split the difference spectacularly: sportswear became everyday dress at exactly the moment disco made dressing up extravagant again.

The Early 1970s: Hippie Hangover and Country Casual

The early 1970s were a continuation of late-1960s hippie fashion: for men this particularly meant bell-bottom jeans, tie-dye shirts and military surplus clothing. Around those anchors sat a broader casual wardrobe — tweed sports jackets, khaki chinos, chunky sweaters, storm coats, battle jackets, peacoats, flannel shirts, pleated pants, baseball jackets, corduroy pants, pullover sweaters and sweater vests, cardigans and hip-huggers. The most popular accessories of the early 1970s were homemade, with necklaces, headbands and bracelets made from natural materials such as wood, hemp, flowers, leather, shells, stones and Indian beads; unisex hippie accessories included headbands, floppy hats and flowing scarves. On the feet: flip-flops, oxfords, Birkenstocks, platform shoes, earth shoes and cowboy boots — a list that by itself captures the decade’s cheerful incoherence.

Mid-Decade: The T-Shirt Is Promoted

By 1974, the T-shirt was no longer considered underwear, and was made in elaborate designs — slogans, sports teams and graphics of every kind. By the mid-1970s the hippie look had completely disappeared, although casual looks continued; and for the first time in decades there was a significant shortage of raw materials and fabrics, including synthetics like vinyl and nylon, so everyday designers kept things simple. The result was a plainer, more practical mid-decade wardrobe: the statement had moved from the silhouette to the print on the chest.

Disco, Sportswear and the Three-Piece Suit

By the late 1970s, most men and women were wearing sports clothing as everyday apparel — tracksuits, jumpsuits, velour or terry-cloth shirts (often striped and low-cut), sweaters, cardigans, sweatshirts, puffer vests, flare jeans, straight-leg jeans and collared shirts; around this time it also became fashionable for men to leave their shirts un-tucked, a habit that continued into the 1980s. Late-’70s accessories included low-top sneakers, tennis headbands, puka shell necklaces and wristbands — the founding wardrobe of the athleisure era, assembled forty years early.

At night, disco reversed all that understatement. Disco fashion featured fancy clothes made from man-made materials, and all styles of clothing were affected by it, especially men’s. Men wore stylish three-piece suits — available in a bewildering variety of colors — characterized by wide lapels, wide-legged or flared trousers and high-rise waistcoats; neckties became wider and bolder, shirt collars became long and pointed, and the popularity of aviator sunglasses led many men to wear clear prescription lenses in aviator frames. The same man could spend Saturday in a tracksuit and Saturday night in a white three-piece suit, and the decade saw no contradiction in it.

Wearing the 1970s Today

The ’70s returns in cycles, and its safest modern forms are the casual ones: a corduroy jacket, a camp-collar shirt, straight or gently flared jeans. The disco suit is best kept whole and worn knowingly — wide lapels are a commitment, not an accident. Vintage shopping is generous for this decade because so much was made of durable synthetics, but check platform soles for crumbling foam and velour for worn pile, and remember that period trousers sit high and flare honestly: there is no disguising either, so buy the fit you actually want.