New York Magazine
The Never-Ending Parade
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1968
The era of the really, really mini.
Late Sixties
Three variations on what the young art crowd wore.
1968
The Afro, celebrated.
1970
The midriff, a focal point of the seventies. (right)
1971
Once the province of go-go dancers, white boots indicated modness.
The Love Story effect. (right)
Photos: Paul McDonough; Ernst Haas/Hulton Archive/Getty Images 1974
A widely imitated Jackie O. look: giant glasses, scarf-wrapped head.
1975
A military-hippy mashup.
1974
Before it was a PETA target, fur was a status symbol. (right)
1977
Good-bye, business suit; hello, leisure suit.
1978
Everyone did the Annie Hall look, including Brooke Shields. (right)
Late Seventies
In discoland, glam and girlish elements blended.
Late Seventies
Club kids and punks. One wore Lycra, the other, leather.
1980s
The hourglass—puffy shoulders and a hip ruffle.
Early Eighties
Post–Official Preppy Handbook, David Letterman’s rumpled chinos and rep ties were boyishly sexy, not dorky.
1981
Bare skin, bleached hair; nighttime’s hard edges became round-the-clock wear.
1981
Big shoulders! (center)
1983
And then there was that infatuation with the Southwest. (right)
Mid-Eighties
Heavily accessorized and worn with jeans, the familiar tweed jacket became young again.
1984
Equally prevalent: uptight and tailored, or bulky Japanese-influenced layers.
1985
Adults wore cartoons, in all seriousness.
1988
Socialites were reliably glossy and exuberant in their silhouettes. (right)
Late Eighties
The Dress for Success era; no-nonsense suit, matching bag and briefcase.
1989
Big hair! (right)
1990
Tight, short, red, and worn with heels; this was evening glam.
Early Nineties
And on the street, clothing barely touched the body. (right)
1992
Grunge.
Nineties
Men’s underwear becomes outerwear. (right)
1994
David Bowie and Iman in his-and-her power suits.
1997
Minimalism, embodied by Carolyn Bessette. (right)
1998
Diddy, the swelegant hip-hop dandy.
1999
Our favorite color. (right)
2001
Marc Jacobs’s finely tuned secondary line mainstreamed vintage-eclectic mixing.
2000s
Trend OD: Murakami Vuitton bag, trucker hat, way too much pink. (center)
2001
Real sex columnists don’t wear tutus. (right)
2006
Birkin and Chanel, just two of the status bag’s expanding universe.
Now
Skinny jeans, quirky hats, and … the era of the really, really mini again. (right)
Boom-Bust-Boom Town- In 1968, many New Yorkers were panicked about the city’s future too. Needlessly, as it turned out.
40th-Anniversary Features
Chatting With Woody- New York’s hometown auteur on whether a lifetime of psychoanalysis has paid off, and why kids from Yale no longer like good movies.
