40 Cringeworthy Men’s Fashion Ads From the 70s

[clueliss]

oh dear.  The polyester decade.  

 

[PennySycamore]

@Cleopatra7, that onesie was just a version of a women's bodysuit which so in and out of fashion.  At least with the men's version, you've got a fly instead of just the crotch snaps that women's bodysuits had/ have.  Men could take a leak at lot easier than women.

The first ad shows a guy in a union suit which have been around for years!

Two of the "ads" are not ads at all, but knitting pattern leaflets from yarn companies. Patons still exists as does Columbia.  Patons is a British company and Columbia is spun in Oregon.

[catlady]

On ‎2‎/‎24‎/‎2016 at 2:01 PM, smittykins said:

We had avocado green kitchen AND bathroom stuff in our mobile home when I was growing up.  This may be a minority opinion, but I'd much rather have avocado, mustard yellow or coppertone appliances that stainless steel.  BORing...

I'm with you on this; we must be 2 of the 6 people on the planet who hate stainless.  my house came with a beige Hotpoint electric range circa 1984, and it works fabulously.  I intend to keep it till it dies.  if only it were Harvest Gold.....

and I love love love shag carpet.

12 hours ago, Cleopatra7 said:

Some of those outfits don't even make sense. Was the men's onesie supposed to be outerwear, underwear, or sleepwear? And what about that weird knitted tunic that looked like a mini dress for men? Why were so many clothes knitted? Was the knitted poncho supposed to keep out the rain or was it just a fashion statement? Who knew 70s menswear could led to so many existential questions?

omg!  my mom made a lot of my clothes until I hit about age 10, and around 1976 she made me 2 or 3 hand-knitted ponchos with tassel-fringe all around the edges.  I loved them then, and I kind of wish I still had them.

[47of74]

3 hours ago, clueliss said:

oh dear.  The polyester decade.  

 

And the cheap wood panel decade too.

[PennySycamore]

@catlady and @smittykins,  you are far from the only people that hate stainless steel appliances.  If you hang out at Houzz or on Gardenweb when they talk about appliances, lots of folks are tired of stainless.  A few manufacturers are beginning to catch on and not just those who make premium ranges and such.

[Lady Grass Lake]

I graduated from High School in 1970.  Knitting was huge back then, and not everyone knitted so if you had something crocheted or knitted you were special.  A big thing when I was in school was a long crochet vest in a windowpane type pattern.  Easy a pie if you knew how to crochet.  My Mom made us all knitted ponchos for Christmas and we were the envy of the other kids.  

Knit was also used to describe the double knit polyester that was popular back then, no wrinkle, hard as iron, lasted forever but snagged horribly.  It was a rough yarn and to me felt like you were wearing sandpaper.  And boy could it hold in the heat, no air flow and you would quickly overheat.  

 

[Four is Enough]

Oh, Lady Grass Lake, you are bringing me flashbacks I do NOT want!! My mother LOVED to crochet. We had doilies all over the house, crocheted table cloths and covers, (those I didn't mind so much) and crocheted clothing. Even our dolls had crocheted and knitted clothing. I had several long (to the knee, and I'm tall) "sweaters" that she made, some tops, and even a Christmas sweater. The front had a "gift" knitted into it. (I gave that away when it no longer fit me. I wish I'd have kept that . I could have made a throw pillow or something from it.)

 

But the 70s crochet was pretty uniformly hideous, in terms of clothing.

And then, to make matters worse, I started doing macrame....

[Cleopatra7]

2 hours ago, Four is Enough said:

Oh, Lady Grass Lake, you are bringing me flashbacks I do NOT want!! My mother LOVED to crochet. We had doilies all over the house, crocheted table cloths and covers, (those I didn't mind so much) and crocheted clothing. Even our dolls had crocheted and knitted clothing. I had several long (to the knee, and I'm tall) "sweaters" that she made, some tops, and even a Christmas sweater. The front had a "gift" knitted into it. (I gave that away when it no longer fit me. I wish I'd have kept that . I could have made a throw pillow or something from it.)

 

But the 70s crochet was pretty uniformly hideous, in terms of clothing.

And then, to make matters worse, I started doing macrame....

Knitting I understand. Crochet I get. Macrame, however, just doesn't seem functional. I remember reading Archie digests as a kid, and there was a story from the 1970s where Betty makes Archie some extremely ugly (at least from my perspective) macrame vest, and the rest of the gang mocks her for it, until the last panel, where she somehow creates a macrame spider web to keep Archie from going to Veronica's.

[Four is Enough]

Never made macrame clothing, but I had wall hangings, a hanging table with glass insert, and hanging plants. Lots of hemp in my life then, and I didn't smoke any of it..

[roddma]

I have an old crochet book "Golden Hands Crochet" published in the early 70s . The clothing patterns are soemthing else.SOme of the goodies are a Little Girl's Cotton bikini, Striped Baby's Bathrobe and All in One Belt, Midi Dress with Bell Sleeves(Adult), Fashionably Styled Pant Suit pictured in brown, Wide Handsome Tie, Classic V neck Cardigan modeled by a man, (actually this isn't so bad looking). Some of the household patterns could still work today. But the brown pantsuit? I just can't.
Doe anyone recall the sweater dresses in the mid 80. Ouch

[Cleopatra7]

5 hours ago, roddma said:

I have an old crochet book "Golden Hands Crochet" published in the early 70s . The clothing patterns are soemthing else.SOme of the goodies are a Little Girl's Cotton bikini, Striped Baby's Bathrobe and All in One Belt, Midi Dress with Bell Sleeves(Adult), Fashionably Styled Pant Suit pictured in brown, Wide Handsome Tie, Classic V neck Cardigan modeled by a man, (actually this isn't so bad looking). Some of the household patterns could still work today. But the brown pantsuit? I just can't.
Doe anyone recall the sweater dresses in the mid 80. Ouch
 

I can't imagine crocheting a whole pantsuit. It seems that by the time you finish this project, it will probably already be out of style.

[Four is Enough]

My mother could crochet like the wind. If you could get her to sit down and do it, she could crank something out in a few days. She made me a tablecloth for my first wedding that is absolutely gorgeous, and because she didn't get the pattern until very late, she did it in less than a week.

[THERetroGamerNY]

On ‎2‎/‎27‎/‎2016 at 8:35 PM, Lady Grass Lake said:

Knit was also used to describe the double knit polyester that was popular back then, no wrinkle, hard as iron, lasted forever but snagged horribly.  It was a rough yarn and to me felt like you were wearing sandpaper.  And boy could it hold in the heat, no air flow and you would quickly overheat.  

Sooooo... basically knitted body armor.

[RandomTrivia]

5 hours ago, Four is Enough said:

My mother could crochet like the wind. If you could get her to sit down and do it, she could crank something out in a few days. She made me a tablecloth for my first wedding that is absolutely gorgeous, and because she didn't get the pattern until very late, she did it in less than a week.

I have seen some crocheted bedspreads - thread crochet, not yarn - that are stunning both from how gorgeous they are, and how much sheer work had to go into them.  I do name doilys in thread crochet, maybe 6 inches by 18 inches, and the idea of a whole king-size bedcover of any kind boggles me.

Behold the Museum of Kitschy Stitches  It's not being updated any more, but it's something to see.  I paid $1 for the book at a sale, and laughed my head off repeatedly.    There's a "fur" vest in there that is beyond words.  I crochet, but I stick to hats, scarves, things like that, with ideas of doing a vest or two at some point.  I draw the line way, way before we get to the full-body onesies.  Wish I knew someone who knitted well, actually, that was open to bartering work - I keep finding patterns for the Fair Isle sweaters that I covet, but no way could I make one myself.  And a friend of mine has a sweater her sister knitted for her - it's gorgeous, and if she wasn't half my size, I'd be tempted to distract her while I absconded with it.

[roddma]

I knit but so can't do Fair Isle

[AlysonRR]

I was born in the mid 60s, so I'm a child of the 70s.

I used to love to crochet, and so did my mom. I had an adorable (really!) white jumper. It had fairly large gaps in the pattern, so I had to wear a top and tights under it, but I wore it for several years and then my daughter wore it to a few nicer gatherings when she was that age.

I also had two crocheted ponchos. My daughter wore one of them one winter when she was about 9. I wear the other one in the winter during the day because I like to keep the room cold and it's easy to work while wearing a poncho.

I think mom sewed all my clothes, including a couple swimsuits, until I was about 4th grade - then I wanted bell bottoms and sailor pants. Oh, and winged gauzy shirts  ;-)

We had macrame plant hangers in EVERY window of my parents' house. Even when I went to university, many students had a macrame plant hanger or two in their window.

I actually think I'd like a few macrame plant holders now - maybe I'll try to hunt down some supplies!

I think kids were more crafty when there was less tv. I literally remember crocheting/macrame-ing/cross-stitching for hours when the weather was too poor to go outside. It was definitely a different time.

But, oh! The moustaches were huuuge and scary! As were our Farrah Fawcett wings. And, of course, our bell bottoms!

[THERetroGamerNY]

Yeah, those 'staches are alive with personality almost; as if they must be formally introduced.

[samira_catlover]

*raises hand fearfully*  Graduated from a US high school in 1976.  Not knitting/crochet. but does anyone else remember when smock-tops were SOOOO incredibly popular, in the 1973-1975 timezone?  Never mind if they made a size 2 look pregnant, but they were TRENDY?

(Shouldn't kvell too much: my embroidery on the Fashion Show home ec smock=top got the attention of a cute redheaded boy---and I still have him, 37+ years later. You know, of course, the warranty runs out after 10 years, after 15 years the BlueBook value drops insanely, and after 20 years, it's not just finding parts---it's that parts start falling off?)

[DaisyD]

I think I was born a few decades late or something. I learned macrame from my mom, and have even used that skill recently. I crochet, and have one or two of those books from the 70s. I even think I have a few bikini patterns. I use them for the stitch patterns, not to make the clothes though.

I don't mind avocado, but harvest gold annoys me to no end. I like stainless, but it's hard to keep clean so I only have it for accents. All of my appliances are black. The absolute worst color combo to me though is the 80s pink and turquoise. I hate it. I always hated it.

[Mercer]

I live in an older apartment building where some of the decor hasn't been updated since the 70's. I have green shag carpet on one of my walls. Shag carpet. On a wall. But just the one wall.

There isn't any practical purpose for it. It's an interior wall, so I don't think it was for soundproofing or retaining heat or anything like that. 

Someone for whatever reason just thought that looked nice...

[clueliss]

11 hours ago, samira_catlover said:

*raises hand fearfully*  Graduated from a US high school in 1976.  Not knitting/crochet. but does anyone else remember when smock-tops were SOOOO incredibly popular, in the 1973-1975 timezone?  Never mind if they made a size 2 look pregnant, but they were TRENDY?

(Shouldn't kvell too much: my embroidery on the Fashion Show home ec smock=top got the attention of a cute redheaded boy---and I still have him, 37+ years later. You know, of course, the warranty runs out after 10 years, after 15 years the BlueBook value drops insanely, and after 20 years, it's not just finding parts---it's that parts start falling off?)

I remember them.  I was in late grade school then.  My mother made us smock tops.  Loved them.  

[SilverBeach]

On 2/24/2016 at 5:07 AM, SnazzyNazzy said:

I think the 70s, was the ugliest decade by far. There was just so much, mustard, orange, and olive green combos back then. I remember my nana having all olive green kitchen appliances, in her kitchen that had wood panelling and orange shag carpet.

Avocado green and harvest gold! I was in HS and college in the 70s, ugliest clothes ever, and the mens were worse than the womens! Except the platform and chunky sandals I wore then have made a resurgence, those are not too bad but you can twist an ankle falling off those babies!

[RandomTrivia]

9 hours ago, daisyd681 said:

I think I was born a few decades late or something. I learned macrame from my mom, and have even used that skill recently. I crochet, and have one or two of those books from the 70s. I even think I have a few bikini patterns. I use them for the stitch patterns, not to make the clothes though.

I don't mind avocado, but harvest gold annoys me to no end. I like stainless, but it's hard to keep clean so I only have it for accents. All of my appliances are black. The absolute worst color combo to me though is the 80s pink and turquoise. I hate it. I always hated it.

I have a growing stash of vintage craft magazines and books, including some Workbasket issues from the 40s.  They're right up there with the pre-war Nat Geo for getting a look at how things were back then.  (The home nursing section of a 1940s Girl Scout handbook was also an eye-opener.)  The old craft mags are good for some patterns, but also good for a laugh at times - more in the 60s-80s, the 40s and 50s aren't as out there for some reason. 

I've also got some home decorating books from the 70s and 80s.  Kept them for the hilarious pictures - shag carpet so deep you must need a rake, because any vacuum would choke on it.  And I do have a couple of macrame books, and I'm thinking of making a couple of plant hangers. 

It's a side benefit of working with the book donations at the Friends of the Library - we get all kinds of crazy stuff, and I grab stuff out of the recycling when I see something neat. 

ETA: The genius who gave us the Gallery of Regrettable Food has another book - Interior Desecrations: Hideous Homes from the '70s.  Must see if the library has this one.  And there's a website to go with it. 

[nausicaa]

11 hours ago, daisyd681 said:

The absolute worst color combo to me though is the 80s pink and turquoise. I hate it. I always hated it.

I don't remember if you were around for Alyssa's wedding, but I'm guessing it wasn't your favorite then?

[DaisyD]

I haven't followed her, no. If those were her colors though.