Disco Inferno

Exhibition image

Disco music evolved from different subcultures, with origins both in Philadelphia’s late 1960s/early 1970s R&B scene, featuring African American and Latino musicians and audiences, as well as in private dance parties thrown in the underground gay community of New York. Disco music is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, synthesizers, horns and electronic pianos. Disco style was influenced by earlier trends in Glam rock which featured bold colors and body-conscious clothing emblazoned with sequins and rhinestones and worn with feather boas.

Disco fashion and music were epitomized by the decadent nightclub Studio 54 in New York City. Disco fashion was directly related to the wearer’s ability to dance in it and featured tight fitting body conscious clothing. Women wore wrap-around skirts, leotards, tube tops, dresses inspired by dance wear, and separates with ease of movement made of Lurex and Spandex. Men wore shiny polyester Qiana dress shirts with colorful patterns and pointy, extra wide collars unbuttoned to expose the chest. Tight-fitting, bell-bottom polyester dress pants accompanied these shirts on the dance floor and on the street.  Another popular look for men were three-piece suit worn without the jacket to go dancing. Pierre Cardin was a popular choice for designer versions of these suits. The iconic white three-piece suit worn by John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever, is exactly this style of suit, and not a leisure suit as it is commonly misidentified.

The exhibit includes three ensembles. First, is a purple and teal chiffon wrap dress from 1980-1982. It is a gift of Earl Liff. Second, is a man's graphic print polyester shirt from Oleg Cassini paired with light-blue polyester pants. The shirt is a gift of Dr. Patricia Cunningham and the pants are a gift of Joanne Zinsmeister-Yarwood. Lastly, is a brown layered chiffon dress from 1970-1979 that is a gift of John and Nancy Underwood. 

Follow the link to watch a clip from the television show, Soul Train. It features Chuck Brown's "Bustin' Loose," arguably a disco/funk crossover, and showcases disco dancing and disco fashion.