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Hey guys, I'm going to be an extra today in a film that takes place in 1978. They were seeking men with shaggy hair and I guess I fit in.
But what clothing would be considered 1978ish?
They said no bright colors and logos.
I was thinking of wearing a dark turtleneck, with a brown flannel shirt over it, and quite possibly a black leather jacket. I don't have bell bottoms but I have jeans. And black sneakers. Would that work?
Levis, blue jean jackets, shirts with wide collars, cowboy shirts, colored T-shirts, leisure suits (yes, they were ugly as sin!), wide belts,large belt buckles, Adidas (can't remember the spelling!) sneakers, sweater vests, wide ties, wide lapels on jackets.
Think "casual"...the late 1970s were a very casual decade as to clothes. Don't think "psychodelic"...that was the early 1970s and that was out by 1976, along with fringed vests and jackets and love beads. The "Western" look came in around 1975 with studs on belts and shirts...along with decorative stitching. And who can forget the Ronco Rhinestone and Stud Setter??!!
Hair on men remained long until the early 1980s.
PS: What the title of the movie you'll be working in?
By 1978 bell bottoms were out; that was late 60's and early 70's peace, flower children, and free love movement. Liesure suits and shirts with prints and pictures all over them were in. The collars were pretty wide also.
Contrast stitching was big; I had a couple of sports coats with contrast stitching. Jeans are immortal; any time frame.
Boots with the big heels were in (ankle high zip up). Also casual shoes/earth shoes.
Check some of the trailers for movies of this era. That should give you a good idea.
Hello,
I was in College back in 1978, and at one time I made a slide show of a couple of street fairs during St-Jean Baptiste holliday in Québec. You will see a lot of divers styles, from disco, to rocker, and with a Sanyasin lady from Baghwan Rashneesh's sect (These folks were quite conspicuous in Montreal streets).
As mentionned earlyer, elephant pants, psychedelic clothing, and beads were out. In Québec, long hair was still very common in 1978, but the trendiest people had cut mid-ear, and that even included bankers, and politicians.
Not everyone liked disco in 1978, and this was the beginning of a schism in fashion, leading to today's "there are no more fashions, people go by what they like attitude". Disco fashion was very visible, with leasure suits and shorter hair, and rockers tended to wear jeans, and t-shirts.
Hippies, were unheard of, and considered a "dinosaur" in 1978, however they existed. The clothing consisted of patched up jeans, tie-dye t-shirts, and no peace signs to be seen. Many of these folks were also labeled "granolas" or "macrame". There were a few festivals like Rainbow Gatherings, and folk fairs where the "hippy type" could be encountered.
Many longhairs of the time did not want to be labeled anything, whether be hippie, rocker, or what have you. The longhaired crowd included computer geeks, people who attended rock concerts, and paradoxically ethnic folk concerts as music from the andes was quite popular, as well as African drums.
Here are a few pictures.
Hello,
I may have posted this picture before, but this gives an idea of what people wore in 1978. This doesn't include the disco crowd, except for the lady with the Farah Faucett do.
Have a nice day,
Georges in Montresl.
I wud really like to live this Era. Would like to be like David Gilmour with his Hippy style sitting on the streets with a joint in the hands............
Hello Again,
Back in 1978, there were no open container laws, and public drinking was quite common, and the consequences were quite obvious. It was not until 1981 that laws prohibitted people from drinking in the public spaces, and cops routinely emptied beer bottles in storm drains when people were caught, and progressevely more and more offenders were ticketed.
In this picture, in the foreground, is a guy in a disco type leisure suit, with no shirt underneith, and in the background, your typical beer drinking fellow from Montreal.
Like I said earlyer, in 1978, was the beginning of a fragmentation of our society and the beginning of a "tribalism", which started with disco, rockers, early punk and "new wave", "granola", and the dawn of "new age".
People still asked "What's your sign?" as a conversation starter, and belief in the paranormal was just rising, as polls revealed that a majority of people believed in reincarnation, ufo's, big foot. TV had frequent documentaries on those subjects, and bookstores carried books like Chariots of the Gods (still selling well since it came out in 1970), many books on biorhythms, and paranormal subjects were selling fast. The 1977 movie "Close Encounters" alse helped boost UFO book sales.
All in all, hair was getting shorter in the general public, but the thinking was still as wild as in the early seventies, with the paranormal trends, and recession woes made people want to "dress more conservatively", and many started to talk about a return to "traditional values", while paradoxically, more divorces were happening, and Gay men were starting to be more visible in public as San Francisco had a huge Gay Pride parade back then (Which attracted around 200,000 people).
Have a nice day,
Georges in Motnreal.
Ooops I forgot the picture
Hello again,
A lot of longhairs in 1978 were street artists, on top of being computer professionals, and musicians.
Street performers were present at street fairs, and tourist traps very much like in cities like Boston, New York and San Francisco.
Have a nice day,
Georges in Montreal.
In the 70s I liked to wear jackets of fake suede or fake velvet with big rounded collars, and the shirts also had very oversize collars. Trousers were bell bottoms, shoes had platform soles. Window pane checks were popular. Shirts often had patterns, or they were green or red if they were plain. Ties, if worn atall, were wide 'kipper' ties, often in paisley. Casual clothes were t-shirts and blue jeans, and leather jackets if you wore a jecket (not biker jackets unless you were a biker).
The funny thing is that all t-shirts back then were bright colours with logos on, so I guess they just don't want extras to stand out, as a drab t-shirt without a logo is not 70s.
OTOH, punk happened circa 1976, but with your hair punk fashion is irrelevant, as you won't be playing one.
People mock 70s fashion, but it was a lot more energetic and full of life than anything we have today. I hate drab clothes because they are boring.
I haven't even been able to find any bell bottom trousers for decades. I would wear them if I could only buy them. They do seem to be in for women only, don't know why. Makes me wonder what my waist size would equate to in women's sizes! Men's fashions have sucked for the last twenty years.
A far as I can recall, you'd probaly require flared bottom blue jeans (bigger bells were out by then) or perhaps straight legged jeans since they were coming in around then. The Jeans should be close fitting from the knee upwards. Also a long sleeved tee shirt, perhaps a woolen pullover if it is in winter and either a denim jacket over it or maybe a black leather jacket.
It depends if you are playing the role of a biker, student or musician in the film.
Search Google on the band Status Quo and you'll get an idea of the classic 70's look, especially from pictures of them in the 70s.
Charles