Culture Clash

When I heard seventies clothing was coming back, I was disappointed with the result. A flare here, a flower there ...some comeback indeed. My experience of the original -explosion of personal expression- creates a bias; Too young to remember the up to the minute looks found on The Bob Newhart Show, by the eighties I began to understand a new significance to these bold fashions. And as the durability of polyester proved itself, they have come to represent the essence of a bygone decidedly non-metrosexual age.

Near a betting window at Santa Anita racetrack was what I call 'the catwalk from hell'. Basic garb for the 'catwalk from hell': a pair of leather dress shoes, polyester trousers, a collared man-blouse and a nub from a discount cigar. The most important thing though is: it all must clash.

Socially conscious people should have intervened, there is little doubt of that now. But as we look into the future, we should not deride these brave denizens in denim ivy hats, for they set a historic low-water mark for 20th century dress.