Ladies yo-yo heel platforms, ca. mid 1970s   Men's suede platforms   Laughing gas night at Studio 54     Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols (top with glasses) The Ramones, bottom     The ever cool 'Mood Ring'     Click for more 70s fun!

For those not comfortable with completely adopting a man’s head-to-toe look, women found a fashion vacation in men’s shirts, vests and maybe a tie. Women weren’t trying to take away men’s fashion; they just wanted to walk in their shoes for a moment, try them on for size. After all, a nice pair of wingtips are a little more comfortable than a pair of stilettos. Although the movie was released in 1977, this menswear-inspired fashion was at its strongest in the early 80's. New Romantic girls adorned themselves with men's shirts and skinny leather ties, topped men's vests with shiny brooches, and paired canvas sneakers with fedora hats, but that's another story for another history page.... Late in the decade, the film Saturday Night Fever propelled the disco movement into the mainstream in a HUGE way, creating massive demand for strappy platform heels once again for women and platform loafers or tie ups for men. The disco movement was short lived (it truly only lasted about 5 years), but its effect was so far-reaching it became an indelible symbol of the 70s decade. Disco clubs opened up on street corners from San Diego to Santa Fe, from Denver to Detroit, with New York having the king of all clubs in its' midst; Studio 54. Known for its velvet rope treatment and celebrity kingpins, Studio 54 was the epicenter of all the disco scene's decadence. Drugs, sex, rampant nudity, if you wanted it, Studio 54 had it. And the clothes! Anything or nothing at all was the usual costume of choice at 54.... __________________________________ “I AM AN ANTICHRIST, I AM AN ANARCHIST, DON'T KNOW WHAT I WANT BUT I KNOW HOW TO GET IT, I WANNA DESTROY PASSERBY.." If the Sex Pistols “Anarchy in the UK” was (is?) music to your ears and if Abba’s “Dancing Queen” made you squirm with disgust, then you just might be punk. Punk rock counterculture was the most shocking youth movement the world had seen yet. In the wake of the peace and love hippies of the 60s, the punks defiled decency and snarled at courtesy. They were loud, angry, repugnant, and darn proud of it. Just as the hippies rejected the mods plastic existence, punk culture scorned the hippies and their brotherly love. Punks practiced brotherly hate, or at least universal disgust and turned against the past, our history and embraced the urban decay they witnessed as an aftermath of war. In America, the initial rumblings occurred as an extension to the psychedelic mod music movement, with ‘proto-punk’ groups like the Velvet Underground and Iggy Pop’s the Stooges. Andy Warhol’s Factory, and the Electric Circus (where all the beautiful had gathered for the psychedelia and listened to Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix were hangouts for this new aggressive and confrontational scene. Change was in the air, but it was overshadowed by the hippie culture, and punk continued to stew on the back burner...waiting to blow its top. It wasn’t until 1971 that the godparents of London’s punk movement, Malcolm McClaren and Vivienne Westwood, opened a small shop for Teddy Boy revival style, Let It Rock. The shop’s success, even with its placement on the wrong side of King’s End (as opposed to the end dominated by the swinging 60’s shops), proved that there was a counterculture world desperate for an expression of rage, angst and hopelessness. As Kings Road became ‘World’s End,’ as the punk shops were known, McClaren and Westwood transformed their rocker style to fetish wear with Too Fast to Live, Too Young to Die fetish wear, then settled firmly into punk’s grasp with SEX in 1975. This was it. The beginning of the end. Punks were the scourge of society: they were confrontational, and they demanded attention with their shaved heads, day-glo colored Mohawks, silver studded and spiked leather jackets, torn stockings, combat boots and body piercing. This was unlike anything the civilized world had ever seen! And then came McClaren’s gathering of itinerant youth: the Sex Pistols. Four brash kids who used to hang around SEX were turned into the preeminent punk band in 1975 when McClaren, who became their manager, dubbed them the Sex Pistols. The ultimate in shock rock, the Pistols were about as foul and famous as punk rock could be. Sid Vicious, the infamous bassist who died of a heroin overdose in the midst of his prime, wore heavy chain padlocked dog collars, practiced self-mutilation, and had a characteristic snarl that the fans (and media) loved. The punk contingent followed the example of the self-made Pistols: don’t know how to play an instrument or sing? Do it anyway. DIY -do it yourself- became the only way to be punk. There was no collective, only anarchy and destruction (and deconstruction when it came to fashion) to fuel the fires of the punk lifestyle. Making your own clothes didn’t mean working with patterns and sewing machines; it meant ripping, tearing, shredding and then safety pinning them back together. Pantyhose and fishnets were purposely ripped, then paired with Scottish kilts, torn disco skirts, or even garbage bags. Jeans joined rubber and leather fetish wear, and t-shirts were spray-painted or scribbled on with markers, forming vulgar slogans or anarchy symbols. Safety pins took the place of buttons, razor blades became jewelry, and combat boots were the shoe of choice. Black leather jackets painted with punk slogans and studded with spikes and safety pins were a necessary part of the uniform for both boys and girls, as was a scowl and a bad attitude. Not even hair escaped the DIY belief, as razors sheared heads, gelatin dyed hair, and glue stiffened hair into tall liberty spikes. Mohawks were dyed crazy colors like purple, green or pink by the likes of Jell-O or Rit-dye. Anything that reeked of luxury was scorned, then blatantly mocked and destroyed. The first punk kids were the young working class, but as the restlessness felt by the rest of the generation was understood, even middle class kids became slaves to punk. Kids finally had an outlet for their anger and confusion, and they expressed it through their tattered clothes and aggressive looks. The year was 1975, and punk in the U.S. was officially alive and kicking. Punk rock was more than music or clothes-it was an attitude for the new way of life. Punk gave a voice to the restlessness, despair and anger the new generation was experiencing. They felt hopeless about the future and their lives. They just didn’t care about the stuff their parents did, but they did care about their music and their alienation. By the early 80’s, punk was fading, evolving and dissolving into gothic, new romantic, and even skater subcultures. But forms of punk will never truly die..... By 1980 though, with punk on the way 'out', a new voice was burning to be heard and a young woman from Michigan had found her way to New York with a new style, a fresh face, and a legion of wannabes just waiting for that new fashionable 'look'....