“People were there together,” Oldham says in the book. In Nelson George’s “The Hippest Trip in America: Soul Train and the Evolution of Culture & Style,” designer Todd Oldham highlights in particular the fashion-forward matching looks often worn by couples and paired-up performers. Sly and the Family Stone perform on a June 1974 episode of "Soul Train." Soul Train/Getty Images
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The most accurate descriptor for the dress code was “cool.” The vibe was simply the fact that dancers and celebrity talent alike wore what made them feel fabulous, whether it was a tip-toe away from cocktail attire or a tight tee and flared jeans. There were contrasting separates, like fitted clothing and loose garments and an array of earth tones and electric hues, that gave the show’s fashion its iconic, confident flavor. Seventies ensembles ranged from leisure suits to a Superman costume to anything cuffed. The show’s appeal was dualistic - it was both a mirror of fashion trends and a catalyst for them. So our fashion taste, the cultivation clearly came from ‘Soul Train’ and then the rest of the media that we saw.” “It was a combination of kind of boho hippie meets Black nationalism… ‘Soul Train’ set a tone for young people at that time to wear their hair natural, to wear vests, the platform shoes, the bell bottoms, the long maxi dresses. This, along with performances from natural-haired singers like Aretha Franklin, Al Green and Sly Stone encouraged even more Black people to embrace natural styles.Īt the same time, a new style of dress was emerging too. Johnson soon became a co-sponsor of “Soul Train,” advertising the hair goods throughout the program. These styles were swelling in popularity among an impressionable and growing demographic with the expansion of the Black Power and Black Is Beautiful movements. The products, a grease and hairspray, respectively, were for at-home use and perfect for maintaining the afro, as well as other natural hairstyles like braids. Johnson generated millions of dollars in revenue for Ultra Sheen and Afro Sheen. In the early 1970s, beauty industry tycoon George E. Kwame Brathwaite’s powerful photos of the ‘Black is Beautiful’ movement
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And it quickly became a hit, resonating with Black families across the county to this day, it holds the crown as the longest first-run syndicated television series in broadcast history.
It was the most prominent stage displaying the mingling of sociocultural and political progress - and an imagining of life unencumbered by white supremacy. In the middle of the Black Power era and feeding from the civil rights movement, “Soul Train” provided a fresh opportunity for Black people to see and celebrate themselves. Decades before MTV’s “TRL,” BET’s “106 & Park” or NPR’s “Tiny Desk,” to name just a few, “Soul Train” was chugga-chugging along, shaping ideas of cool across dance, fashion and culture.ĭebuting in August 1970 on Chicago’s WCIU-TV, the Saturday morning entertainment show was a look at carefree, yet politically alert, Black Americans.
It featured popular cuts and performances by a variety of acts, not to mention the liveliest studio audience you’d ever seen. This was “Soul Train,” the music television series that served as Blackness’ binoculars. Teeth gleaming, hips grooving, and oil-misted ‘fros bouncing to the beat.
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