John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever

Music was a major force in shaping seventies style, from the dreamy sensibility of the singer-songwriter era to the androgynous glam of pop to the fetishism of punk.
Few images are more closely associated with the 1970s than that of John Travolta posed in “Saturday Night Fever,” one hand on a white polyester hip and the other pointing skyward. The 1977 movie ushered in the disco craze along with one of history’s most radical, albeit short-lived, transformations in menswear. Men’s fashion choices broadened from boxy, boring neutrals to colorful leisure suits with broad lapels, flared trousers and white stitching. Women gravitated toward wrap dresses and twirling chiffon skirts tailor-made for the dance floor. Other trends included platform shoes and zippered jumpsuits.
No designer is more closely linked to the decadence of the disco era than Roy Halston Frowick, an American designer known simply as Halston. Halston’s fluid, shoulder-baring designs became synonymous with the international jet set and Studio 54 excess.
Elio Fiorucci, an Italian designer who in the late 1960s had exposed Italian teenagers to American T-shirts and jeans, now brought international trends like Brazilian thongs and Afghan coats to the states. The label was later credited with creating stretch jeans and opening the door for the designer-jean market.
The advent of British punk placed London designer Vivienne Westwood and her partner, Malcolm McLaren, among the most influential fashion designers of the day. The pair’s London boutique, SEX, initially sold rubber and leather fetish wear and later expanded to include ripped jeans, torn leather jackets, spiked-collar jewelry and T-shirts featuring images of serial killers. The designs rose to prominence thanks in part to the Sex Pistols, who McLaren managed and who wore the clothes at gigs.