It seems that everything old is new again. Or
at best history repeats itself. Suddenly it's the
seventies all over again. Most of America is
following our President's impeachment trial.
As a guy who has literally been there, done
that I'm consumed with deja vu. But that's the
least of my frequent blasts from the past. This
week new Vogue, Bazaar, and Architectural
Digest issues arrived. Filled with page after
page of all too familiar seventies style. Hence
while experts advise that should one be able
to remember it... one shouldn't wear it comes
into question. Should I go back to the future?
Nowadays a walk down the aisles at Target
is akin to a stroll down memory lane. Their
mannequins garbed in floral crepe de chine
frocks that could have been pulled from my
Mother's closet. That plus a bevy of belted
safari jackets a la Yves Saint Laurent couture.
In the home department seventies boho chic
competes with Joanna Gaines' barn redux.
Thus it's obvious that granny's dusty rose,
apricot, and misty water-colored hues are
de rigueur once more. Yet this style veteran
finds going in reverse more than mundane.
Especially to an era that was vacuous at best.
In theory hindsight is twenty twenty. However
all of these fond fashion flashbacks are myopic
at best. Like all else they must be viewed in the
content and context of times past. Way back
when, going boho was little more than a middle
class homage to the hippy rebellion. As were
pants or slacks on ladies. When first introduced,
Halston's free-flowing designs were not simply
revolutionary but comfortably chic. That is until
drugs and a license with J.C.Penney destroyed
the man himself and whatever was left of his
elan. And who amongst us oil rich Americans
yearns to wait on line to fill your tank with gas?
What goes around comes around. Rather than
fashion we should be trolling the seventies for
lessons learned. President Nixon's crimes have
proven that power corrupts. Whistle blowers
such as "deep throat" demonstrated that brave
individuals can make a difference. Woodward
& Bernstein reinforced that the truth will find
us out. Love Canal showed us that unfettered
industrial greed will ultimately kill innocent
bystanders. Roe versus Wade guaranteed that
American women have the right to control their
bodies. And current magazines demonstrate that
some things are best left in the thrift store bin.