Seven From Style Pattern Book (Autumn/Winter 1974)

While "do your own thing" was still very much part of the mindset of the mid-1970s, some of the wilder fashion excesses of the late 1960s and the early 1970s had been moderated.  "Coordinates" were the name of the game—along with "mix n' match".

"Co-ordinate fabrics are taking a giant step towards making our lives a lot more versatile.  

Make today's suit from two different  fabrics that were obviously made for each other, wear the jacket and skirt individually with casual separates, and presto, two more totally different looks.

Mix florals, prints, stripes in one dress or lightweight skirt and jacket, or how about a shirt with contrast collar and cuff?

It all adds up to your very own look, with the designer's touch."

 Let's see what it all adds up to in one fashion magazine from 1974.

On the cover: orange.  Lot's and lots of coordinated orange.  From inside the magazine: "For the jacket we used acrylic pile Borglama by Borg Textiles... For the skirt Sparva synthetic fibre tartan... The shirt... is in Samual Courtauld's Tricelon Pongee..."  In other words, lots of synthetic fibres too.

A hostess dress—one among a selection of fashions "that set a bright mood for cosy dinners and all but the most formal parties... or for making stay at home evenings special."  Loosely fitted, and falling from stretch shirring under the bust, it is in a brightly floral patterned fabric.

An altogether more conservative look in off-white/beige.  This outfit is described as a "town or country classic" in the text.

Bright colours again in this "sleeveless jacket and skirt", offset by a patterned blouse.  It's all-so 1970s, but somehow not undignified.

Back to floral fabric again for this more formal evening dress.  The lines of this dress are elegant, but I wish they had made it up in different material.  I have seen the same sort of pattern on wallpaper and curtain fabrics of the era, and this looks just cheesy. 

And now for an outfit made up in those mixed patterns we were promised earlier in the magazine!  This Style pattern is promoted as a "Young Shape Design", specifically targeted towards wearers with more youthful figures.

And finally, for indoors: a "misses housecoat and nightdress in two length"—made up and photographed in a floor-length version.  With its frills and made in a flower-decorated fabric, it is a very traditionally feminine garment.