The Unisex Fashion Trend Started in the Early 1970s With His and Hers Matching Outfits

The 1970s fashion decade was high-profile, high-octane, glamorous, and unforgettable. Inspired by the flower-power movement and retro-futurist nerdish aesthetics, 1970s fashion looks are a world apart. The 1970s meant hippies, disco queens, rockers, punks, and retro nerds, beautifully captured by Yves Saint Laurent, Emilio Pucci, Stephen Burrows, and Halston in styles that continue to shape the industry.

While gender-neutral clothes were loved and celebrated in the 1970s, the trend gave birth to an unexpected phenomenon outside unisex fashion. It was the time of matching clothing frenzy, where the same outfits and separates were worn by both men and women (as couples).

True, some couples coordinated for special events such as Valentine’s Day, but most were style mirroring. The full-on mirroring matching style resulted from aggressive marketing as the ultimate display of romantic affection.

Here, a gallery of 33 cringe-worthy photos of 1970s his & hers fashion: