Menswear ads from "Punch", 1974

I don't usually post pictures of men's fashions - but over the years I've accumulated a small stash of them.  So I've decided to make February 2013 a "menswear" themed month on my blog.  To kick off, I scanned these advertisements from 1974 issues of Punch:

I found a pile of these magazines for sale at a Lifeline Bookfair some years ago and couldn't resist buying them.  Not only were they going cheap, but the advertisements were as good as a scholarly thesis on middle-class consumers' desires in the 1970s.  They were a real little piece of social history!

And as you can also see from these advertisements I've just posted, they also demonstrate why the 1970s are known as "the decade taste forgot".  While not promoting the most extreme of seventies mens' fashions, there's plenty to wince at - from over-loud plaids, to over-wide ties, to ridiculously flared pants!