Which decade had the best visual aesthetic (starting in the 50’s)

[mathew101281]

Which post war decade looked the coolest visually as far as clothing, car design, art etc ?

I would say the 1970’s because the 70’s I feel was the last decade that wasn’t ripping from past decades whole cloth, and had a look that was 100% it’s own. The 80’s with its obsession with neon and the cyber punk aesthetic was borrowing heavily from the 1950’s. The 90’s was a more vapid and shallow 1960’s redux. We were rebelling but rebelling against stupid stuff rather then important stuff. The 2000’s was a cheesier remake of the 70’s aesthetic. Afros and shiny disco clothing even came back. And the 2010’s was a 80’s redux. The 70’s was was the last decade that was obviously ripping from some other decade.

[MajorHoy]

Which post war decade looked the coolest visually as far as clothing, car design, art etc ?

I would say the 1970’s because the 70’s I feel was the last decade that wasn’t ripping from past decades whole cloth, and had a look that was 100% it’s own. The 80’s with its obsession with neon and the cyber punk aesthetic was borrowing heavily from the 1950’s. The 90’s was a more vapid and shallow 1960’s redux. We were rebelling but rebelling against stupid stuff rather then important stuff. The 2000’s was a cheesier remake of the 70’s aesthetic. Afros and shiny disco clothing even came back. And the 2010’s was a 80’s redux. The 70’s was was the last decade that was obviously ripping from some other decade.

I'm more partial to the 1950s (before I was born) with massive tailfins on cars, etc.

1970s gave us the horrible fashion sense of leisure suits in awful color choices.
Yeah, the leisure suit had existed prior to the 1970s, but the '70s was when they truly became attrocious.
Also, the 1970s had some truly abominable automobiles!

[mathew101281]

I'm more partial to the 1950s (before I was born) with massive tailfins on cars, etc.

1970s gave us the horrible fashion sense of leisure suits in awful color choices.
Yeah, the leisure suit had existed prior to the 1970s, but the '70s was when they truly became attrocious.
Also, the 1970s had some truly abominable automobiles!

Good point, I’d argue that the 50’s was an era that didn’t over borrow from a previous decade to.

[Kirby101]

The 60s, gotta be the 60s.

[CSTowle]

I dunno. Most '50s haircuts and fashion was kind of, as they might have said, "square". Beehives looked neat, but mostly *meh*. I'm not a car guy, but as I understand their era (and the '60s) seem to be people's favorites. The '60s started to mix things up, but I can't stand the hippy aesthetic (like the '90s "grunge" look, just more colorful) and I'm not a fan of the Austin Powers/"mod" thing.

'70s had tail-end of hippy, but also disco/punk/metal/glam/etc. The "gritty" film look. But also bellbottoms, leisure suits, medallions, etc. Very diverse, but also a lot of crap in that diversity. '80s doesn't get enough credit for originality, but feel like a lot of the early Madonna/New Wave aesthetic was a sort of parody/"hyperglamour" reaction to the polished disco look and over the course of the decade there was a lot of originality and shots taken. Almost all of them were awful though, but you can't say they weren't trying.

The '90s is when I think they stopped trying. From grunge, to the frosted tips/stylized facial hair douche-bro look, to the manufactured "authentic" folk/alternative look, and some recycling of hippy and punk culture there was almost nothing here worth revisiting and almost nothing original or groundbreaking.

As an older guy (early 40s) everything from the early oughts to now seems like kind of a blur, and culture itself with the internet seems to have mostly splintered so there doesn't seem to have been as much of a strong and identifiable aesthetic in clothing/hairstyles/music tastes/car design/etc. Could be (probably is) me not caring and being out of touch, and I'll acknowledge the occasional trend, but nothing as strong as in previous decades (probably a good thing, means there aren't powerful gatekeepers/tastemakers deciding what filters down to the masses through TV/movies/fashion magazines/etc.).

So after that long rant, as much bad as they had I'll give the '70s the nod as they had the most original and diverse range of fashion/music/design/etc. Lot of terrible color choices and some weak points, but a lot of good as well.

[Scott Taylor]

Well Ford Mustangs looked their best during the 1960s and promptly became crap from the early 1970s until the mid-2000s, when a decent (but not better than the 1960s) model came out. Therefore, using the mustang rule, the answer is the 1960s.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

The 60s, gotta be the 60s.

I second that vote, here's why: miniskirts and go-go boots! Hubba hubba!

[Jim Kelly]

If you weren't alive in the 1970s, you might think those clothes look cool. But having lived through the decade, I can tell you they were mostly uncomfortable to wear and quite gaudy. I hardly ever felt at ease in the clothes from that decade. Most clothes were made of synthetics that felt terrible. The exception being denim jeans. As a young teen-ager I liked to watch girls at school in low-slung jeans--this was probably the greatest thing in my life. Those didn't last long but they did give way to Seafarers, which were high-wasted jeans that didn't reveal anything but had a nice line and were the jeans that felt the most comfortable to wear--I was sad when those went out of style toward the end of the 1970s.

The 1960s weren't much better in terms of comfort, but synthetics hadn't taken over completely. The difference was a lot of clothes felt heavy. Mind you my parents were poor and could only afford the cheapest brands--my father once bought me a pair of oxfords for school that fell apart like cardboard after only a few days of wear (I felt so bad for him having wasted so much money on those shoes). You were sweating under those clothes. You think the Beatles look cool in their clothes, but I can see them sweating having to wear those clothes under hot studio lights. A lot of fabrics didn't breathe.

The girl in the mini-dress above looks cool--but she's a model and knows how to make it look nice. In reality, she's in pain--that bra is pinching, that mini-dress is heavy on her, her arms and knees are freezing and those boots give no support to her arches.

The one nice thing about the 1970s is the idea of unisex clothing. As an idea this was a good thing. It meant that everyone could wear the same style of clothing and not be judged for it. The actual clothing being so bad, it wasn't so great in practice. But it was a nice philosophy and could have given men and women greater freedom to express themselves. The conservatism of the 1980s strangled that idea and we've never really gone back to it. Men have boring "masculine" clothes and women have to spend five times as much money on their clothes as men do.

[CSTowle]

I'd agree that the '80s were conservative when it came to the political climate, but I'd argue if anything the guys at least were definitely not conforming to gender norms in their dress, hairstyles, use of make-up, or singing styles. Far more than any previous decade, '70s disco included. If anything I'd again blame the '90s for simplifying and taking no unsafe shots.

[mathew101281]

I find it interesting that most people here tend to agree that the 2000’s and onward seems to lack its own sense of style.

[CSTowle]

Like I said, think the democratization of culture brought by the internet splintered our interests. We're not being handed culture down from the mountain, populated by a select few tastemakers selected by a bunch of cigar-smoking old white men with dangling jowls. On the other side, it means less funding to find the next marketable thing, and a lot of spaghetti being flung out there. Good with bad.

[The Gold Stream]

i like all of the decades mentioned but i guess the 50s-60s have a nice sheen to them with the suits and cars. not a car fan but just in passing i think the fins were nice

[Emperor-of-Dragons]

The mid 80's, everyone was so exuberant. I prefer the 90's but most of the decade was pretty much the antithesis of what the 80's were (save for the early 90's), with muted tones, flannel etc.

I also kinda dug the Y2K Aesthetics of the late 90's and early 00's. Everything was trying to look like CyberPunk and the matrix lol.

[Scott Taylor]

I find it interesting that most people here tend to agree that the 2000’s and onward seems to lack its own sense of style.

How do you define them? To me the past two decades have seemed like a conglomeration of different styles from the 1970s and 1980s. Closer to the 1980s. But I'm not sure how distinct that really can be considering.

[mathew101281]

How do you define them? To me the past two decades have seemed like a conglomeration of different styles from the 1970s and 1980s. Closer to the 1980s. But I'm not sure how distinct that really can be considering.

We agree. I was essentially saying that the last few decades (I'd lump the late 90s in with the 2000s and 2010s.) don't really have their own style and are pretty much just rehashes of previous decades.