Once dismissed as the decade of avocado suites, lava lamps and shag-pile carpets, the period is now being enthusiastically mined for trends from the fashion, music, literature and groove of the time.

Unlike other studies devoted to the decade, 70s Style & Design presents the 1970s as a vitally important period in the creative arts. The book puts under the microscope an era that united such defining trends as Art Deco and the pop movement of the 1960s, and continues to influence today’s trendsetting tastemakers.

From artist Duggie Fields’s eye-popping flat to album covers of New Wavers like the B-52’s and glam rock’s David Bowie, from the slick advertising of Italian fashion house Fiorucci to such seminal book covers as Germaine Greer’s The Female Eunuch, the authors have gone beyond flares and platform shoes to address the design aesthetic of the decade. Architecture and design collectives, including the avant-garde Italian group Studio Alchimia, are also recognized as important contributors to the look and style of the 1970s.

Dominic Lutyens, a trends and design journalist, has contributed frequently to the Sunday Telegraph, the Guardian and the Observer. Kirsty Hislop is a freelance writer and stylist who has worked for British Elle and the Observer magazine. She also designs for the award-winning card company Umpen Editions.

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