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The 70s are back!
I love the 70s. It’s definitely my favourite style decade. I love everything that was stylish about the decade. I love everything that was bad taste about the decade. I just love the 1970s! As a child of the 1970s I adored the girls from Abba, having a much treasured Agnetha doll wearing that satin cat print tunic. I loved Debbie Harry singing ‘Sunday Girl’, the hairstyles of Charlie’s Angels, especially the wonderful Cheryl Ladd, and I loved sequins. I didn’t notice the style icons of the decade that I now revere – Lauren Hutton, Angelica Huston, Bianca Jagger, Tina Chow, The Great Gatsby and Halston. But I did love…
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The Rotters Club – Teen Angst in 70s Birmingham
If you asked me to name my favourite book, I could do it quite easily. ‘The Rotters Club’ by Jonathan Coe is a coming of age novel set in 1970s Birmingham, complete with teenage crushes, ‘prog rock’, meals at the Bernie Inn, and the horror of the Birmingham Pub Bombings. The Rotters Club will make you laugh, make you cry and make you smile, and it has now been bought vividly to life by The Young Rep, the Birmingham Rep’s Youth Theatre. The action starts in 1973 and follows the high school life of Ben Trotter (or Bent Rotter as he is more commonly referred to). Ben is a pupil…
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Introducing your man to manscaping
It’s no longer just the ladies that are waxing, plucking and shaving to keep body hair in check anymore. While men used to be able to sit back smugly, exempt from the body hair grooming rituals that preoccupy most women, there’s a new normal now and it’s called “manscaping.” From keeping hair trimmed to taking it all off, paying attention to body hair is the manscaping mantra now that a carpet of chest or back hair is no longer a shining beacon of masculinity. These days, male celebrities and models in movies and magazines are sporting much less body hair than they did back in the ‘70s and ‘80s, and…
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Be like Slade and enjoy a very Seventies Christmas
I’m a child of the 1970s, and love everything about the decade that some say style forgot. Platform shoes, flares, halter neck maxi dresses and glam rock are all cherished by Fashion-Mommy. And in terms of Christmas, was it ever celebrated better than in the 70s.Think about it, you could watch Christmas Top of the Pops in 1973 whilst dance away to the sounds of Slade, Wizzard and Elton John ‘Stepping into Christmas’, then enjoy the Morecambe and Wise Christmas special whilst enjoying a snowball and a selection of vol-u-vents and other delights from the hostess trolley. What’s not to love? This Christmas you can channel the best of 70s…
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Theoni V Aldredge – The Great Gatsby and Laura Mars
Costume designer Theoni V Aldredge died last week. The name may not be instantly recognisable to 21st century audiences, but this lady was responsible for the fabulous costumes in some of the most stylish and iconic films of the 1970s, Network, The Rose, The Eyes of Laura Mars, and, most famously, The Great Gatsby. The 1974 version of the Great Gatsby was a beautiful failure. Many felt that the leads of Robert Redford and Mia Farrow were totally miscast, and the great things expected of the film failed to materialise. But the costumes designed for this film are another story completely. Theoni V Aldredge was the designer of the stunning…
