The UGLIEST Decade For Men's Clothing?

[mpcsb]

Earth shoes. Good lord, I'm going to have nightmares now!

I think they're call flashbacks -

Oh - and I did have a pair for about one year - the same year I wore jeans - no embarassment here - I was a rebel -

[duster]

I agree--in the 70s the designers all went mad for a few years. Sanity did not reign until the 90s. I like that big flowery shirt, though.

An advantage to the present decade (now three-quarters over) has been that, however awful the clothing worn by most in public, it's far easier to buy upper-end clothing. Go back twenty years and the designers many of us admire either didn't exist or didn't have outlets. It was Filene's basement in Boston or nothing.

At the very high, bespoke end, things are perhaps not what they were; but we owe Ask Andy and other forums a debt of gratitude. The interest generated there may help keep some very fine bespoke and MTM manufacturers in business.

A cheer, then for AA.

[Brideshead]

As has been said, it is difficult to pinpoint a style phase to a decade. The 1970s crimes referred to above emerged in the late 60s. By the end of the 70s the Designer Decade of the 80s was already well under way (at least here in SE England). So for me the 70s is a mixed bag sartorially. Ugly in parts, yes, but not at all unattractive in others.

Mainstream style (if that's what we are considering here) is much, much worse now that at any previous time in last 100 years (as far as I can tell). Not until the mid 90s would it have been acceptable to go out in little more than a bunch of tatoos in January! Obesity is now an epidemic here and that creates ugliness all around - especially when the sufferer is sporting dirty white tee shirt and jogging bottoms.....

IMO there is no competition.

[Isaac Mickle]

Reconsider the 1980s when it comes to ugliness. Think acid-wash jeans, for example. The 80s could not even do blue jeans in a non-ugly way. And consider sweatshirts. It was the 80s that found The Gap opening all over the country with wall-to-wall piles of sweatshirts and sweatpants. And are there any items of clothing more ugly than sweats? I think not. Are wide collars and poly blend suits uglier than sweat suits? I think not. And finally, consider what they did to the sweats ... am I the only one that remembers the splatter-painted "hoodies" that so many mall moms bought for $50 and up? Sweatshirts with paint splattered all over them? Matched with acid-wash jeans?

And surely the shoes were much more garish and ugly in the 1980s as well. Sneakers in the 1970s were more or less Converse All-Stars, which are regarded today, by some Sartorialists, as a part of a classic style. Sneakers in the 1980s ... Air Jordans.

The 70s may have achieved great heights of ugliness here and there, but it was the 80s that found ugliness more or less instituitionalized everywhere. And this 80s ugliness had less claim than the 70s to artistry or daring or experimentation.

[Mitchell]

The '70s are easy to pick on. People were at least creative. People still cared about what they wore, even if it was butt ugly.

Personally, I thought the '90s were about as bad or worse. Gap-powered "fashion basics" and loads of grunge wasn't exactly the height of fashion.

That's a good point.

[The Gabba Goul]

I'd say that the 80's were worse than the 70's...but any era in which hats were commonly worn would have to be stupider than any era in which they were not...

[mafoofan]

any era in which hats were commonly worn would have to be stupider than any era in which they were not...

Are you referring to any kind of hat? I understand if you mean baseball caps. But it seems men were much more elegantly dressed in decades where wearing a proper hat was required by decorum, which applies to pretty much every decade prior to, and including some of, the 60's. All that's left would be the 70's, 80's, and the 90's through the present . . . are these decades really preferable to the decades before?

[The Gabba Goul]

no...I mean...I deffinately dont care for ballcaps, beanies, etc...but I also find that most hats (though they had their place in history) like fedoras or whatever unless worn for some specific purpose shield your eyes from the sun, etc...are...pretty stupid...

although...I must admit...I've always wanted to be in a situation where a top-hat would be considered appropriate...

[Frederick Chook]

When outside, hats are ALWAYS practical. See also: skin cancer.

[mafoofan]

When outside, hats are ALWAYS practical. See also: skin cancer.

I'd definitely wear a hat if they didn't look ridiculous on me. Everyone says I just need to find the right hat, but I'm pretty sure my head is just too large for it. Oh well.

[Chase Hamilton]

I'd definitely wear a hat if they didn't look ridiculous on me. Everyone says I just need to find the right hat, but I'm pretty sure my head is just too large for it. Oh well.

Matthew, you gotta rent a 1961 movie titled One, Two, Three. James Cagney plays a Pepsi Cola Executive in Berlin who performs a make-over an a Communist lad, played by Horst Bucholtz.

Bucholtz's character complaints of the exact thing when Cagney tries hats on him!


Kind Regards,

Chase

[mafoofan]

Bucholtz's character complaints of the exact thing when Cagney tries hats on him!

Thanks for the tip! Does Bucholtz wind up findind a suitable hat, or will I have to watch the movie to find out?

[Chase Hamilton]

Thanks for the tip! Does Bucholtz wind up findind a suitable hat, or will I have to watch the movie to find out?

90% of the way into the movie, he finds a grey Top Hat that everyone agrees looks perfect on him.

--Chase

[The Gabba Goul]

When outside, hats are ALWAYS practical. See also: skin cancer.

Ummmm...might I suggest sunscreen...I realize that the tradly duke-duke-duke duke-of-earl might frown on anything invented in the past 200 years (or did they have sunscreen back then???)...it actually works better than a hat at preventing skin cancer...

[mafoofan]

Ummmm...might I suggest sunscreen...I realize that the tradly duke-duke-duke duke-of-earl might frown on anything invented in the past 200 years (or did they have sunscreen back then???)...it actually works better than a hat at preventing skin cancer...

But sunscreen won't keep the sun out of your eyes and you can't tip sunscreen to kindly acknowledge a stranger.

[The Gabba Goul]

But sunscreen won't keep the sun out of your eyes and you can't tip sunscreen to kindly acknowledge a stranger.

touche (sp?)...

[indylion]

no...I mean...I deffinately dont care for ballcaps, beanies, etc...but I also find that most hats (though they had their place in history) like fedoras or whatever unless worn for some specific purpose shield your eyes from the sun, etc...are...pretty stupid...

although...I must admit...I've always wanted to be in a situation where a top-hat would be considered appropriate...

I love my fedoras. Could you post a picture of yourself in a hat? You may not really look that stupid.

[Anthony Jordan]

Is the person who voted for the 1930s prepared to stand up and be recognised?? I showed a sad lack of individuality by voting for the 1970s, although the 1980s made a very strong showing...

[Frederick Chook]

Ummmm...might I suggest sunscreen...I realize that the tradly duke-duke-duke duke-of-earl might frown on anything invented in the past 200 years (or did they have sunscreen back then???)...it actually works better than a hat at preventing skin cancer...

But you can't wear both, or you'll DIE. Come to Australia sometime.

[Sator]

The 70's got my vote because even if the widespread proliferation of slobwear has become increasingly rampant since, it was the 1970's that set the ball in motion. Here is some Pierre Cardin:



Admittedly however, many of the garish elements of 70s style have their roots in the late 1960's.

[LondonFogey]

I don't think it's fair to overly attack the 80s. The Miami Vice look, if a little naff, did at least have a certain elegance and reinstated the linen suit; and the later eighties, in the UK at least via the Young Fogies, Sloane Rangers and Yuppies, saw a return to formal dressing which led some, including myself, to believe, that the vulgar excesses of the 60s and 70s had been consigned to the dustbin of history. Alas it was not to be...

[NewYorkBuck]

The 70s was the horrific climax of what began in the late 60s.

[english_gent]

second thoughts .. i think the 'roaring 20s' out does the 60s for style.

thats one american export i apreciate.

modettes of the 60s never got as good as this ... and oh how they tried.

louise brooks was outside of time.

[english_gent]

true male elgance and panache !

[rsmeyer]

true male elgance and panache !

I think that these are much too tight and constricting looking.