Disco

Disco fashion. The heritage of funk and glam, the development of new recording techniques (sampling as a method of composition takes its first steps), and the appearance on the musical scene of new stars such as Sylvester, Donna Summer and Gloria Gaynor, give a new boost to two important minorities, blacks and gays, always in the forefront with their common passion for dancing and “attitude.” Among the fashion designers of the time, Betsey Johnson, a creator of many modernist extravaganzas, and Norma Kamali are both inspired by this renewed attention to the body. They design clothes, such as jeans in elasticized fabric, shorts, and dancing leotards, in which the basic fabric is combined with new materials like Spandex and Lycra that increase its elasticity and allow greater freedom of movement when going wild to the rhythm of disco music. Typical patterns are black-and-white stripes, snake skin, and streaked patterns, i.e. the exotic and the tropical. As often happens, many of these innovations, initially conceived for a limited public, find success in other areas.