Creating a Retro Seventies Style with Santa Fe Colors

Recreating a Seventies Look

By Cheryl Bruedigam

STYLE Santa Fe includes bringing in a hint of that Santa Fe-style with other looks as well as wearing it as a complete ensemble. Today we will bring it in with earthy bronze tones and pink desert eye shadow shades to create this ultra seventies retro style.

Certain eras had their own unique styles to offer and the seventies were certainly not lacking. Here I have recreated a vintage seventies day and evening look using some Santa Fe-style colors in gold and bronzes to tie it all together.Some desert pink compliments the evening look. 

Recently, I was watching re-runs of the old seventies detective show, The Rockford Files. Many of the women’s clothes were atypical but others were timeless and some were earmarked as timeless and classic. The styles had a character to them that was uniquely theirs. Bikinis and plunging necklines and wide swaying bells were in, Halter-tops or one-shouldered side-straps on blouses were common, Women were stepping out, becoming bold and exploring the world in the seventies and this was evident in the clothing designs. There was a combination of an earthiness leftover from the sixties movement, yet a flamboyant and colorful expression in colors and prints, accessories and jewelry that echoed Helen Reddy's hit song, I am Woman.

Big designs and chunky jewelry were characteristic of the seventies.

Day look

This retro seventies top was an amazing find in a little market, four dollars. Yep, four dollars and in perfect condition. The market carries considerable stock of vintage pieces although many are much more expensive running up to a hundred dollars. 

Retro evening bag

The vintage evening bag was also a market find and was purchased for six dollars. It too was in mint condition; it appears to have never even been used. Vintage items are always a good investment because with care, they will only increase in value as they become more scarce. 

For the makeup, I have selected some deep earth tones in Santa Fe shades to balance out the look and to compliment the gold in the blouse; bronzes that blend well for day. Add a brown shimmering lip color to complete the look.

Evening look

For the evening look, I chose a smoky charcoal eye shade with desert pink highlighter to tie in the silver necklace and bag for evening with the addition of a lace scarf (and scarves were another biggie in the seventies).  For pouty seventies evening lips, try white frosted lipstick with a dab of pink or gold in the center of the bottom lip. Yes, we wore white frosted lipstick in the seventies. Add white nail color and you are set.

For the shoes, I chose a pair of beaded sandals with that native look in earth tone with a heal that can go from day to evening. 

Pair a similar top with your usual jeans, or a long flowing white skirt or large retro white bell-bottoms.

If you have the eye and know what you are looking for, vintage bargains are plentiful. Estate sales are another excellent source for vintage clothing, jewelry and accessories as is Ebay. I was fortunate to have been a teenager in the seventies so in addition to my natural eye for and love of, fashion, I was there and I do know what to look for. But if you were not there, just start watching any seventies re-run on TV and you will start to get an idea on the women’s fashions. Seek out back issues of Vogue and other fashion magazines that date back to the seventies. Some may be available online others may be in your local library. There are many photos online as well. Vintage patterns at places like Ebay and Etsy will also offer an in-depth look at the styles of the period.

So if you want to create a retro seventies look, this may help you as a foundation from which to work.Get out and see what you may find. Be creative and add your own style to the retro pieces. After all, that is what we are doing, creating our own unique style with STYLE Santa Fe.