Without the opportunity to travel through eras, it is most convenient to explore tendencies in fashion history through the media. Luckily for the 70’s, the television broadcasting reached its climax, and numerous television series produced at the period and still available today demonstrate style that inspires the modern fashions. This paper is thus going to analyze the clothing during the most dynamic period of time in the twentieth century as seen in the American television series “The Mod Squad”.
The chosen crime drama series is a program by Thomas-Spelling Productions released by ABC from 1968 to 1973 (Madden). The main characters forming the squad itself are three young people – Pete Cochran, Julie Barnes, and Lincoln Hayes. Each one has a number of personality characteristics and the background that make him/her typical for the era. Lincoln is the typical black youngster from the multi-child family; Pete is a rebel against his wealthy parents; and Julie is a wandering hippie who ran away from her prostitute mother. One of the reasons for success of “The Mod Squad” is the fact that the audience could relate to the main characters or find the answers to the previously unknown or unpleasant types of youth.
Having been arrested for different reasons, the three young people are one day offered to work for police in return of avoiding prison (Madden). Their rebellious past is a good alternative of working with the criminals under investigation, and their smart mentor helps them become very good detectives. Each series offers the audience the issue to reflect on because it touches upon such relevant problems as racism, domestic violence, drugs, etc. “The Mod Squad” had a huge success among the audiences.
The “style tribe” identified in “The Mod Squad” relates to the bright colors in clothing and the emphasis on accessories. The diversity of the main characters gives the audience a chance to consider tendencies in both male and female fashions. Each of the male characters has his own style that contributes to the impression he makes on the audience. As shown in the pictures below, Lincoln and Pete both have the same silhouette – tight on the top and loose on the bottom. The trousers or jeans are not necessarily bell bottom but are always high-waisted. Lincoln’s style can be characterized by the shirts with a deep V-neck while Pete is obviously fond of wearing shirts with scarves. Lincoln prefers sneakers, and Pete has more classic looks and wears mostly Oxford shoes. The youngsters often wear sunglasses of different shades and shapes.
Julie represents the women’s fashion of the 70’s and her model looks make the clothing look even more impressive. The typical clothing Julie wears is the mini dress, tight of bright colors (violet, for example), and Mary Janes. As seen on the last picture, Julie adds the dark blue pea coat to her look thus turning it from totally girlish to truly modish. Native American patterns on one of her dresses testify of the fashion tendency so typical for the 70’s. Her white bell bottom trousers look well together with the brown cardigan thus contributing to the female freedom in choosing comfortable clothes with a feminine silhouette.
The characters were chosen as the brightest representatives of the youth of the 70’s, and from the name of the show, it is quite obvious that the three young people are the mods themselves. The nature of hippies and rebels is reflected in their clothing and it identifies their attitude to life. Though the irony is that the rebels are caught and need to work for the system, their free nature is still seen in each detail.
Works Cited
Madden, Joanne. “The Coolness of The Mod Squad”. TV Banter, 17 May 2011. Web. 27 Jul. 2016.
