The Seventies, whatever you like

Exhibition 28.03.13 > 02.03.14

During a temporary exhibition, the 1970s made a comeback in Brussels. Visitors to the Brussels Fashion & Lace Museum came to admire the iconic pieces of the seventies. Platform shoes. Animal-skin dresses. Lurex jumpsuit. This exhibition focused on the day-to-day clothes of a decade during which anything was possible.

Or almost.

1970s fashion takes its inspiration from the street

The 1970s was the time of disco. Hippie influences. Colour television. The emancipation of women who gained control over their bodies. In these times, young people became the source of inspiration in fashion. Mothers began to copy the look of their daughters. Not the other way around. But the seventies was also about the first oil crisis. Car-free Sundays. Rising unemployment. For the first time in history, the street influenced fashion and used it as a source of creativity.

Exposition Seventies, Chacun ses audaces ©Musée Mode & Dentelle

Fashion liberated in the Seventies

In the 1970s, boots were worn with shorts. “Chic” dresses became blouses. Bras were more and more discrete, even disappearing altogether. Perfecto motorcycle jackets were pulled on over T-shirts and outfits by designers such as Sonia Rykiel overshadowed haute couture.

However, some leading designers managed to adapt their classics: Yves Saint Laurent produced a jeans version of his suit.

The 1970s was the era of bell-bottoms and long bohemian skirts. During the temporary exhibition, the Fashion & Lace Museum exhibited beautiful iconic pieces from the 1970s.

Seventies, the trailer

Flashy colours, new materials, bell bottoms, everything, or nearly everything, was tried in the ‘70s… The street took over fashion.

Discover the exhibition trailer!