FASHIONWomen:

• Flares• Mini skirts• Flower power influence• Big collars• Platforms

Men:

• Flares• Kipper tie• High wasted trousers • Big collars• tight shirts

Key trends

70s' fashion took on a multitude of different styles and influences. As well as the hippy style of the late sixties, there was nostalgia for the past. First for the 20s and 30s, then the 40s and 50s and finally the Edwardian era. There was also concern for the environment and strong ethnic influences. Another key trend was the desire for unisex clothing.

DRUGS

Drugs were often a big part of the rock music lifestyle. In the 1970s, psychedelic music arose; some musicians encouraged and intended listeners of psychedelic music to be under the influence of LSD or other hallucinogenic drugs as enhancements to the listening experience. Jerry Garcia of the rock band Grateful Dead said "For some people, taking LSD and going to our show’s, functions like a rite of passage....”

The popularity and promotion of recreational drug use by musicians may have influenced use of drugs and the perception of acceptability of drug use among the youth of the period. When the Beatles, once marketed as clean-cut youths, started publicly acknowledging using cannabis, many fans followed. Journalist Al Abramowitz wrote "...whatever the Beatles did was acceptable, especially for young people. Pretty soon everybody was smoking it, and it seemed to be all right." The hippie movement also encouraged the use of marijuana and other ‘herbal’ drugs thinking they were good to take as they came from the earth.

POLITICS

SMOKING

Cigarettes were a big part of life in the 70s. People smoked them in large numbers. They also started to kick the habit in large numbers too. To give up or not, and to inhale or not, were big topics of conversation.

The majority of the most popular brands were filter tipped. At the time people wanted to believe that the filter would protect them. Medical research showed otherwise, even as early as the 60s.

In 1970, 55% of men and 44% of women smoked cigarettes. The percentage smoking cigarettes had fallen from the peak of 65% in 1948 and the risks of smoking on health were beginning to slowly sink in.

FEMINISM

HIPPE CULTURE