Teenage fashion in 1975

In an earlier post I wrote about a language exchange which I did in 1975 with a German student.

 Guido Block-Küntzler was my host then when we were both 17. I am very happy to be back in touch with him thanks to him stumbling upon me on the web.


 Here we are on a day out which Guido’s parents very kindly organized for us. Note the matching tops and trousers which were de rigeur, and just look at the width of those trousers: bell bottoms they were called, and with good reason. My suit was beige, and yes of course I am embarrassed to look at it now, but then it was well, also embarrassing. Please do note the platform shoes: this photo should be encouragement enough, if any were ever needed, to avoid a return of platforms at all cost.

 Another jewel, here we are visiting a writer’s house. The anoraks are timeless, just the dingly things on the end of the pull through string are amazing.... but I think special mention must be made of the wing shirt's tip collar, maybe not easy to distinguish in the photo, but it’s definitely worth a try looking: those points could slice a coconut at 50 paces.   And the hair, just long enough to be really irritating, neither 50’s short back & sides nor sixties shoulder length!

I must have paper copies of these photos somewhere. For those readers who are digital natives, I apologise for the picture quality and I should remind you there was a time when you had to take a film of your photos out of the camera and take it to a shop, pay an extraordinary amount of money for each one to be processed and printed, and then get told off by your parents for taking so many photos where the light, the colour, the shadow, the trees or whatever it was had come out wrong: usually most of your photos didn’t work out the way you hoped and were an expensive waste of time. Yes, that was when Kodak ruled the photo world, and now they are filing for bankruptcy, apparently…..

Guido has very kindly been in touchy again to update me on his family’s health and to send me these photos from those long gone days. Here is the beautiful town of Schlitz in the province of Oberhessen, where he lived at the time:

The other part of the exchange took place in my home town of Liverpool, but that’s a different story.

Thanks, Guido for the photos and the trip back to the 70’s. To other readers, hope you enjoyed seeing some genuine teenage fashion from the 70’s.