70s Costume
Dressing in a 70s costume can make you the hit of the party. If you lived through the 70s as a young person, you may have a collection of genuine clothing from the time period. Over 30 years later, the chances of your fitting into those clothes are slim.
So if you aren't such a pack rat to save clothes for 30+ years, or what you have doesn’t fit, you need to make your own Seventies costume from the glory days that were the 70s. Remember, That 70s Show wasn't made in the 1970s.
70s Halloween Costume Ideas
A simple way to come up with 70s Halloween costume ides is to remember the past. To jog your memory, find photos of era-appropriate clothing. Check the Internet or visit the library for archived magazines. If you were young at the time, you probably won’t need any help in remembering the way you and your friends looked.
70s Disco Costumes
There are several sub-cultures from the 70's you might keep in mind: hippies left over from the Sixties, blaxploitation icons and, of course, the controversial Disco Era has spun its own set of popular 70s disco costumes. These are just a few of the cultural movements from the 70's you can mine for costume ideas.
70's Hippies Costumes
Young hippies of the time dressed for the counterculture. Freedom was the buzz word and manifested itself as well-worn clothing suitable for folks who didn’t have two nickels to rub together. Men and women shared common features in their clothing style but still dressed gender appropriate. Think Sonny & Cher.
Here’s what you’ll need to round out your authentic 70s costume. The first item is the shirt. A blue denim work shirt was commonplace for men.
This shirt was commonly left open with a patterned tank top worn underneath. A good alternative was the white muslin pull-over shirt with large sleeves and embroidered flowers along the front. Women enjoyed bright leisure dresses or opted for a feminine top and jeans.
Bell Bottoms in the 70's
Bell bottom jeans were standard fare. The oversized bell bottoms were long enough to drag on the ground and (often) the last couple inches on the back sides of the legs of the jeans were worn off and frayed.
Also, folks in the 70s loved to wear leather sandals. The more guru-styled the sandal, the better. Brown work boots were popular and allowed to look as scruffy as possible. Patches on the jeans became a fashion in the second half of the decade, at least.
70s Headgear
Head wear consisted of brightly colored headbands. The bands were wrapped around the head once and the ends dangled off to the side. Some men wore large denim wide-brimmed hats or 1950s era dress hats with the grooved top pushed out into a rounded position.
70's Hairstyles
No good 70s costume for men will lack a long-haired wig. Shoulder length hair was very common and many young men let it hang down between their shoulder blades. Curly hair was also long and if it was a tight afro, usually had a big plastic pick sticking out of the top.
Women usually worked at having long, straight hair. Curly hair was allowed to grow long and left flowing. Facial hair on men manifested as thick mustaches and sideburns. If all else fails, you can never go wrong with an afro.
70s Accessories
Jewelry was worn freely and often took the form of leather thongs around the neck with peace symbol emblems hanging low in the front. These tokens of the time are described as broken crosses or crow’s feet and were symbolically anti-establishment. Dangling earrings adorned the ladies’ ears.
Stylish dressers wore small-rimmed Ben Franklin-style eyeglasses. These set the youth apart from the larger spectacles of the status quo. As far as other 70's accessories go, people were not averse to tambourines in the 70's. Keep that in mind.
70's Costume Ideas
A quick list of 70's costume ideas include the Village People, Richard Nixon, the cast of The Love Boat, the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, Mr. Rourke and Tattoo, Luke Skywalker in desert attire, David Cassidy, The Brady Bunch, Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, Young Michael Jackson, John Travolta (Saturday Night Fever), Farrah Fawcett, The Six-Million Dollar Man, Dr. J., J.R. Ewing, Captain & Tennille, The Planet of the Apes, James Bond (Roger Moore), the Bandit (Burt Reynolds), Arab sheiks, Shaft, Alice Cooper, KISS, Ayatollah Khomeini, Blondie, the Sex Pistols, the Ramones, Bob Marley, Idi Amin, Archie Bunker, Bruce Lee, The Godfather, Jaws, the cast of Grease, the cast of The Rocky Horror Picture Show and, of course, the fat version of Elvis.
KISS - The Authentic Demon Adult Costume
Or you can carry a hand-scrawled sign with a destination printed on it, to fit right in with the hitchhiking crowd.
70's Costumes Are Fun
If your old clothing doesn’t fit, you’ll have to do a little adjusting. If you’re starting from scratch, you’ll need a sewing machine. Anyway you look at it, a 70s costume is a lot of fun to wear.
See also: Adult Batman Costumes and Best Superman Costumes, but only if you're interested in superhero costumes.