Harry’s Style – How to wear 1970s inspired fashion

Harry Styles might seem like a hobbyist when he’s not busy being one of the biggest pop stars on the planet, but he still managed to capture the 2022 Venice Film Festival in just two looks. The two Gucci collections, personally assembled by Gucci creative director Alessandro Michele, went viral over Labor Day weekend and took over the popular film festival. Styles has collaborated with Gucci for years, replacing Jared Leto as the unofficial face of the brand. While everything Gucci creates is heavily inspired by the 1970s, they’ve leaned back to that decade, especially in recent styles worn for brand campaigns and public identities.

While Gucci and Styles have the menswear community salivating at the moment, the looks they’ve put together are admittedly over-the-top for even the most fashionable casual man. However, that doesn’t mean the rest of us mere mortals can’t embrace the 1970s aesthetic. The decade offers some fun inspiration for anyone’s wardrobe: big lapels, big pants, and big ruffles. So if you’re not Harry Styles, we’ve put together this guide on how to wear 1970s fashion.

The jacket

In the year Jackets in the 1970s were all wide lapels and bold shoulders, with a form-fitting but not tight silhouette. The style offers a fresh alternative to the slim-cut, soft-shouldered, narrow-lapel look that was the norm in the 2010s. It’s also a more refined look than the 1990s-inspired bulky, baggy suiting seen recently.

The king of seventies style jackets has always been Ralph Lauren. His suits, from then and now, have squared-off shoulders as opposed to touching, and the sleeves fall to the wrists and the body sits below the hips as he prepares to embrace the arms.

Another striking trend in the 1970s was bright fabrics. Designers used common colors and large-scale patterns compared to decades like the 1960s or 2010s. Instead of sticking to gray and blue, they played with warm colors and pastels. If the jacket has a pinstripe or houndstooth pattern, it’s too big and bulky. These kinds of fun and adventurous fabrics have recently made a comeback, led by Gucci and injecting a bit of life into clothing.

Adding a 1970s-style jacket or three to your existing wardrobe is the best way to get your feet into that retro look. As the jackets are tailored to a degree, they match the current slimmer trousers. If your wardrobe consists mostly of dark colors and small patterns, a bright jacket is an easy way to spice things up. Blue pants or jeans go well with an oversized retro jacket.

Make sure you get the right size jacket. When the shoulders feel more roomy (because) you want the sleeves and body to fall where they’re used to. If you’re wearing a slim fit, you’ll want the body of the jacket to be a little softer, but still hug your figure. The shoulders should be boxy but the body and sleeves should not be baggy.

The pants

The cut of 1970s-style pants is more of a slimmer cut than 1970s-style jackets. When it comes to jeans and casual pants, menswear is slowly moving away from skin-tight pants, but wearing pants remains on the slimmer side. Some high-end fashion designers like Balenciaga have heavily modified and introduced baggy pants into the trend. The style of the 1970s is a more logical alternative to thin clothes.

The appearance is characterized by a gradual – or sometimes extreme – fire from the knee down. The waist will generally sit a little higher than you’re used to but they’ll feel the same in the seat and hips, just a bit more room. Pleats have been around for the last decade or so, but they are very common in the 1970s look, so they give you more room in the waist and seat. When the hips come down to the knees you have a fitted, streamlined look, then things get interesting. Below the knee, your pants widen until you have a leg opening that’s roughly twice the size of a regular pair of skinny pants. This means you’ll have a more complete break than what you’ve been wearing for decades – how the opening of your pants sits on your shoes. Ideally, you want a full pant in the front that sits over your shoe and the back almost touches the ground behind.

Choosing the right 1970s style pants comes down to deciding how much flare you want. Very few people can pull off the wide, exaggerated flare that Harry Styles wears. For most men, a subtle look works just fine. You want to find pants that fit your waist and hips well. The biggest difference will be below the knee and it will be determined by how the opening of the pants is placed on your shoes. You want the back to be close to the ground without touching it, and you want to cover the front laces without covering your entire shoe.

Accessories

These are the accessories you’ll have the most fun while introducing 1970s style to your look. The decade saw oversized sunglasses, oversized ties, elegant pocket squares, eloquent scarves and necklaces, and lots of jewelry. In the year Mixing in 2010 was minimal, often featuring one bold item as the cherry on top of the look. For the 1970s, as well as today, it’s about layering as much as you can make it accessible. Take all the standalone accessories from your collection and make them all at once if you want.

Sunglasses are a great place to start when it comes to adding a 1970s touch to your look. It was hard to find large framed sunglasses from high fashion brands that didn’t come at exorbitant prices. They have become very popular recently and more and more affordable brands are introducing them to their collections. Trying them on in person is the best way to see if a pair is really oversized for you, but most of us buy sunglasses online these days. The key to knowing if a pair is really big is to look at the width of the lens. When you find a pair you like, click the details and check the sizes. You want the width to be 60 or higher to get that back look.

• For ties, as always, you want to follow the same golden rule – the width of the widest part of the collar should match the width of the lapel. So if you wear a wide lapel, then you want a similarly wide tie.
• For any other collar, it should be sophisticated but sophisticated. If it looks like a necklace or a necklace that a rich grandmother would wear, it is suitable for the look.
• Pocket squares should be very decorative, showing bright patterns and detailed scenes. You want to fold them so they look like a big flower from your breast pocket.
• When it comes to jewelry, you can never wear too much and go to town.

The shoes

Slipper shoes have recently become a standard issue for men. This goes hand in hand with the 1970s look. Men’s leather shoes of that era were adorned with a soft toe and often featured large, large heels. Loafers or Chelsea boots are great places to start. Finding a pair with a large heel can be difficult so if you already have a loafer or Chelsea boot with a soft sole, that will work. Cowboy boots are a good option because they have a soft toe and a big heel.

Of course, you can wear sneakers with your seventies ensemble, as Harry likes to style. If you want to do that, you should stick to classic flat tennis shoes. Something clean and white like the adidas Stan Smith or the Nike Killshot II would be ideal. Chuck Taylors are very retro and you don’t want to wear any trendy running or basketball sneakers. Basically, you want to wear sneakers that fit the era – so if they don’t look like 1970s sneakers, don’t.

Be frugal

Gucci is single-handedly responsible for making 1970s fashion popular again, but for most people, buying Gucci is as real as walking the film festival red carpet with Harry Styles. Don’t worry though; There are many ways to get that same retro look for a fraction of the price. The best way is by going to local thrift stores and searching online resale markets. Many clothes and accessories made in the 1970s can be found on the second hand market there. The condition of the goods will not always be good but the price will be. You can easily find vintage jackets and scarves that are indistinguishable from the current Gucci line.

Browsing through local thrift shops is a fun way to support your local economy and experience circular fashion. There are many second-hand marketplaces online, but eBay is the best place to find authentic 1970s clothing. The best part is that most of the vintage products you find on eBay come from independent thrift shops around the world. Finding the right retro gear on the eBay app is more rewarding than scrolling through social media because you end up wearing new clothes.

Above: Harry Styles with Gucci creative director Alessandro Michele

Do not be afraid of the fungus

Menswear in the 1970s was fun and unique. Embracing the spirit of that decade is a way to have fun with fashion, especially clothing. The ornate textures and colors are refreshing to menswear, which was fading a bit at the end of the last decade. If you feel like your wardrobe could use a makeover, don’t be afraid to be whimsical. Ever since we got out of the 2020 lockdown, fashion is all about experimenting and finding your own unique look. You don’t have to be one of the world’s most famous pop stars to dress like a Gucci model. Even if it’s a new pair of boots and a great vintage jacket, you can inject 1970s style into your outfit. If you are comfortable with that, then add some accessories and keep building on your look. If nothing else, it’s a lot of fun to dress up like the 1970s.

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