In the 1960s it was about psychedelia, not just in the music but also in the clothing. The youth, empowered by their surging numbers and purchase power, were a growing force to be reckoned with and culture bowed to their whims. So when culture got freer in their eyes, culture went along for the ride.
Eventually, every era bows to another with the next generation leading the way. Part of their impetus is inspiration by what has come before them and is an extension of pre-existing beliefs and values, while another part is in spite of what has been, to forge a new voice with a new way to think and do things as they are.
So the psychedelia and modernism morphed into something new, something strange in the 70s occurred. It took the road of freedom forged in the previous decade and knocked it out of the park, both embracing and rejecting the future, and turned up the volume. Music got hard and grinding and clothes, bright and colorful, morphed along from something Sargent Pepperish to a louder, glitterier incarnation. Glam rock was born and it wanted to party hard.
Glam was both an embrace and a rejection of the 60s all at once, and the clothes were a new breed altogether. It embraced the glitziest of the glitz from the 30s right through the 50s, incorporating the camp of Weimar cabaret, Victorian flourishes and excess and an outlandish edge of futurism. Since the 30s, never before was there that much use of lame. Although this mixture of styles is a different incarnation from what we see in current collections, it reflects a similar sensibility when looking at the description, as many of those same adjectives describes elements we are seeing today.
When a decade is referenced, a lot has to do with repeats in attitudes that crop up as a culture evolves. It’s not so much a cycle as much as a spiral, kind of taking a similar path but at a different elevation. Back in the 70s when glam exploded onto the music scene and left its mark on the youth of that era, it imparted hybridization not only of styles but also entertained the idea of sexual preferences. Being bisexual was an extension of the sexual freedom inspired by the 60s, and as the culture was still exploring freedom with our bodies, it was a period where gender exploration, glamorized in entertainment, got a chance to expand and develop.
Just as glam got partial inspiration for the 30s and cabaret styles, sexuality was just as permissive and more accepted in earlier eras as well. People forget that, along with modernization, the 20s was a point which also ushered in new ways of thinking. The youth were eager to be more and be freer than their parents and created a climate where even gender expressions beyond the conventional were embraced almost as much as they were today. In fact, it was so well accepted that even in Hollywood a few film stars of the box office variety led open lives without concern for repercussion. Transgendered individuals could openly function in the more cosmopolitan centers in society and one could even live a more open life in those centers, especially in Paris and, more famously, in Berlin. And even some songs reflected the “anything goes” attitude with mere non-chalance.
It wasn’t until the 30s that conservative attitudes pushed the clock of progress back, demonizing such expressions to the point of pushing to declare homosexuality as a mentally illness. Meanwhile, it took a bit longer in Berlin, but by the mid-30s changes in that country even more conservative ended any sexual exploration and freedom cold.
The 90s was also a time where sexuality was given some room for exploration as well with the third wave for feminism and the exploitation of the male in vogue. And with current youth caught looking for vinyl and 90s club music after years of 80s revival, there was some anticipation to those who noticed this activity that the 90s were coming back, and in turn, its inspiration decade the 70s as well.
Our current pop culture recognizes that we are evolved to a point a level higher than we were before regarding sexuality, a point not lost on much of the youth who more or less could care less who you sleep with. And so, hybridization has again jumped from our closets to the bedroom, with a more mature acknowledgement that the Kinsey research data accurately reflects our preferences as a sliding scale and a mix unique to the individual.
Recognizing this sexploration is more of a 70s glam thing and as it’s been a while since we last visited this period with authenticity, it’s only fitting that something from that era comes back hand in hand with current values, and a bit of glitter and flamboyance is an apt homage. In fact there as presence of sparkly textile in recent collections from designers such as Armani, Jill Stuart, Balmain, Marc Jacobs, Nina Ricci, Jonathan Saunders, Alexander Wang, and Cynthia Rowley.
Unlike the last decade, where extremes of cut, colour and textile were all together, this generation has the ability to review past mistakes with a more critical eye for editing as well as profitability in bringing more dollar-per-wear to a savvy shopping public keen to maximize personal expenditures. They have the internet to collect a more detailed swath of information and better quality of materials that technology has developed. So incarnations are more modern and better executed with an eye for taste that reflects that the 30s and the early 70s weren’t just glamorous due to copious use of lame while acknowledging that a nod to sparkle can, like who we choose to be in our personal life, come in various amounts. Recognition of that in itself is actually quite glam.