Tonight we're gonna party like it's 1978... but what should I wear?

September 30, 2008 12:17 AM

I'm going to a fancy dress party, and the theme is 1978. What should I go as?

It's a 6hr journey each way by bus and train, so something small and crumple resistant would be ideal, but I can take a bag if need be. I did consider Wonder Woman, but that sort of depends on how well the Weight Watchers is going by then...

posted by handee to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (24 answers total)

Wikipedia has entries for hundreds of years, including 1978.
posted by mdonley at 12:36 AM on September 30, 2008

1978 costumes are all about Grease.
posted by rokusan at 12:40 AM on September 30, 2008

1978. Quite a specific year there. You could pick themes from television or music or sports.

Personally, I'd dress up as the Susan B. Anthony dollar (introduced in 1978). Nothing like dressing up as money and riding the bus for six hours.
posted by twoleftfeet at 12:46 AM on September 30, 2008

You're off by a couple of years if you go as Klaus Nomi, but you can never really go wrong going as Klaus Nomi.
posted by allen.spaulding at 12:47 AM on September 30, 2008

The Blues Brothers. Definitely.
posted by misozaki at 1:00 AM on September 30, 2008

I can't decide which gives the worst ideas for 1978 costumes: ship launches in 1978 or shipwrecks in 1978.

Oh, Wikipedia! Is there nothing (possibly short of costume ideas) you can't help me with?
posted by twoleftfeet at 1:11 AM on September 30, 2008

Rosalynn Carter.
posted by Baud at 1:33 AM on September 30, 2008

Farrrah Facett
posted by The Light Fantastic at 2:13 AM on September 30, 2008

Klaus Nomi.
posted by UbuRoivas at 3:50 AM on September 30, 2008

(oh, allen.spaulding beat me to it)
posted by UbuRoivas at 3:51 AM on September 30, 2008

Roller derby. Or, anything from The Warriors.
posted by DefendBrooklyn at 4:41 AM on September 30, 2008

Bowie + Nomi

That was 1979 though. After the SNL appearance, Bowie never returned Nomi's calls.

But arguably, Nomi started in 1978. A great costume idea if you can sing falsetto.
posted by twoleftfeet at 5:00 AM on September 30, 2008

The Wikipedia link for 1978 in the UK guides these suggestions:

- Evita! (The Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Evita opens at the Prince Edward Theatre in London).
- An umbrella-carrying spy (Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov dies after having been stabbed with a poison-tipped umbrella in London).
- A test-tube baby (Louise Brown becomes the world's first human born from in vitro fertilization).
- Tricia McMillan aka Trillian (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy first broadcast by BBC Radio 4).
posted by googly at 5:15 AM on September 30, 2008

Do something punk related!
posted by atmosphere at 5:33 AM on September 30, 2008

Cinnamon-bun-hair Princess Leia.
posted by Askr at 5:57 AM on September 30, 2008

Roger Osborne.
posted by gene_machine at 5:58 AM on September 30, 2008

Dress up like a quaalude.
posted by baphomet at 6:22 AM on September 30, 2008

Go as a dyslexic from 1987.
posted by nineRED at 6:37 AM on September 30, 2008 [2 favorites]

Stop shaving any part of your body immediately.
posted by codswallop at 6:53 AM on September 30, 2008 [1 favorite]

Zombie Elvis?
posted by Lou Stuells at 7:30 AM on September 30, 2008

Carrie.
posted by mcbeth at 7:57 AM on September 30, 2008

Mork & Mindy and Battlestar Galactica both premiered in 1978, so take your pick.
posted by Smallpox at 10:27 AM on September 30, 2008

Margaret Thatcher
posted by halcyon_daze at 11:13 AM on September 30, 2008

I was there & would second going as a punk with mohawk or something disco related.
posted by canoehead at 4:14 PM on September 30, 2008