By 1970 women selected who they wished to be and if they felt like wearing a short mini skirt one day and a maxi dress, midi skirt or hot pants the next day – that’s what they did.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oI955uTMZWo
For eveningwear women frequently wore full length maxi dresses, evening trousers or glamorous halter neck catsuits. Some of the dresses oozed Motown glamour, others less so.
Left – Two younger ladies in their early twenties on vacation in the Canary Islands c1972. The short check flared skirt was very hot, as was the empire kind of the diamond check pattern mini dress. Right – Halter neck catsuit pattern of 1971. Exotic and tropical prints were a mirrored image of designers gaining inspiration from international travel destinations.
For evening in the early seventies, either straight or flared Empire line dresses with a sequined fabric bodice and exotic sleeves were the style for a dressy occasion. Picture of office girls wearing short mini dresses. Fashion history and costume history of the 1970s.
One often worn style was the Gramps dress with a high neck. Occasionally the stand neck was pie-crust frilled, or lace trimmed. Frequently they were made from a floral print design in a warm brushed fabric or viscose rayon crepe which draped and gathered well into empire line styles.
Right – Characteristic short and mini dresses worn at an office party in 1972 / three. At the front a young girl wears a long floral grandma dress that covers her knees.
Another very successful evening type of the 1970s was the halter neck dress, either maxi or above knee.
Left – Black halter neck dress pattern of 1971.
At a disco, 1970s girls might don hot pants. In opposition to the exhibit all mini, a woman would all of a sudden confound men by utterly covering her legs and retort that mini dresses were an exploitation, instead of a liberation of girls.