|
American fashions in the 1970s had generally approached the culmination of the trend for casual clothing began in the early 20th century. Boys no longer commonly wore suits. By the end of the decade suits were no longer very common except for the more formal occassions. Some boys did not even have proper suits. Rather casual clothes are what most boys wore for both school and everyday wear. Virtually the only headwear was baseball caps, although we see other headwear during the winter, especially in the north. We see boys increasingly wearing shirts without collars, such as T-shirts. For some boys, a collared shirt was their idea of dressing up. Polo shirts and rugby shiets were very popular. We notice both buttioned-down and regular collars. We also notice turtle-necks. A range of sweaters and jackets were popular. Boys mostly wore long pants. Jeans became increasingly accepted for school and semi-casual wear. Designer jeans became the height of fashion. Short pants became mostly casual summer wear. OP corduroy shorts were popular as well as other shoets with sports styles. A factor here was the growing popularity of basketball and soccer. This in part explains the popularitry of athletic tube socks with colored bands. Sneakers became a majir fashion item for the firsr time.
Virtually the only headwear was baseball caps, although we see other headwear during the winter, especially in the north.
Little American boys dressed up in shortalls and Eton suits. Some boys at about 7 years of age would wear short pants suits, but in such clothes were rarely seen on boys
older than 10. Most American boys by 7 or 8 were dressing in suits
little different from their fathers. Mostly they wore casual clothes with
shorts becoming increasingly common. One popular American fashion
was to dress sisters and smaller brothers in matching outfits, but rarely
were brothers and younger sisters dressed alike.
The "T" shirt emerged as a major fashion, especially ones with statesments, logos, or athletic or music group images.
We see boys increasingly wearing shirts without collars, such as T-shirts. For some boys, a collared shirt was their idea of dressing up. Polo shirts and rugby shirts were very popular. We notice both buttioned-down and regular collars. We also notice turtle-necks.
Boys wore many different types of pants in the early 20th century, includung short pants, knee pants, knickerrs, and long pants. By the 1970s there were onky two basic types of pants, short and long pants. We see capri pants/peddle pushers, but very few boys wore them. The most commom type of pants for all occassions were long pants. This included casual wear, play, school, and dressing up. Short pants by tghe 1970s were relrgted primarily for summer casual/play wear. There were a variety of factirs involving pants in the 1970s, including age, seasony, region, and social class. Long pants were standard boys wear in the 19h century until the late-19th century when knee pants becam common. We see knee pants, knickers, and short pants in the early, 20th century, but by mid century, long pants were becoming standard again except for really young boys. This was the case in the 1970s, although short pants were becoming increasiongly common for casual summer wear. Dressing up in short pants suits was becoming less and lss commom by the 70s, especially the late-70s. Alhough suits were becoming less common, boys who wore them, including younger boys commonly wore long pants suits. A lot of boys in the early 1970s wore bib overhalls. They were not like the baggy ones that you see farmers and industrial workers wear. These were more on the dressy side, they came in several colors: denim blue, gray, and light blue. The legs had a slight flare on them. Flared pants were very popular and could were striped or brightly colored. Most boys ended the decade wearing jeans or corduroys when they had to wear long pants. All kinds of jeans were worn and they emerged as fashion statements. Jeans compltd fashiob transition. Jeans acwquired a kind of reble image thanks to Hoollywood movies. Many high (secondary) schools banned them (1950s). Then in the rebellion and protest became trendy (1960s). Levi Straus and other jean manufacturers after pushing clean-cut image (1960s) adopted the rather edgy imaghe for jeans in their marketing (970s). Girls eventually demanded designer jeans. Other insisted on buying jeans that looked worn or even torn. Denim came to dominate the fashion scene in America and for that matter around the world. Interestingly, jeans even played a role in the Cold War.
Knee length tube socks with colored bands at the top were very popular, whether boys wore short or long pants.
Addias, Puma, etc brand sneakers became very desired, replacing the old standards, such as Keds, Converse and the like.
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[About Us]
[Introduction]
[Activities]
[Biographies]
[Chronology]
[Clothing styles]
[Countries]
[Girls]
[Theatricals]
[Topics]
[Bibliographies]
[Contributions]
[FAQs]
[Glossaries]
[Images]
[Links]
[Registration]
[Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site related pages:
[Jeans]
[Bib-front overalls]
[Camp shorts]
[Cut-offs]
[T-shirts]
[Shortalls]
[Eton suits]
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing U.S. pages
[Return to the Main U.S. 1970s page]
[Return to the Main U.S. late 20th century]
[Return to the Main United States page]
[Return to the Main 1970s page]
[Return to the 1970s U.S. catalogs]
[the 1900s]
[the 1910s]
[the 1920s]
[the 1930s]
[the 1940s]
[the 1950s]
[the 1960s]
[the 1980s]
[the 1990s]
[The 2000s]
