#simplicity9700

The 1970s Jumpsuit Revived: Simplicity 9700

The 1970s saw a move towards unisex fashions which generally meant men’s fashions put on women’s bodies, with or without actual acknowledgement of how they actually tend to differ from men’s bodies. Which is how we got those t-shirts marked “medium” which swamp the women wearing them. Fortunately, eventually jeans and t-shirt were re-cut to fit women better.

Jumpsuits were one of those fashions which men had worn first. You could call them coveralls, but jumpsuits connected them to people jumping out of planes wearing parachutes which seemed far more impressive. The word first surfaced in 1948, but slowly the connections to planes and parachutes faded away.

These bring the wide, flared legs that became the fashion in the 1970s, but held on to some of their traditional utilitarian elements, such as multiple pockets for holding gear. The orange version here has all the pockets, while the cream version announces that it is not all that utilitarian with write bangles and a little clutch bag. Of course, the wedge sandals on both versions make it clear that nobody is jumping out of any plane soon.