'70s TV Characters With The Most Iconic Fashion

As a decade, the 1970s were ripe with groundbreaking fashion, and looks with flare — like bell-bottoms, denim-on-denim, crop tops, and bold prints and colors — have come back into today's style lexicon. The time period was also a significant moment in the growth of the television industry. 

According to data collected by the United States Census Bureau, in 1954, 65% of American households surveyed owned a television, and by 1970 that number had jumped to 95%. However, television rarely depicted the more risqué looks of the era, and the networks seemed determined to maintain the facade of homemakers in dresses, done-up hair, and makeup (via NPR). 

Though more traditional characters on television rarely broke conventions of modesty and femininity, trailblazer Mary Tyler Moore led the way in asking for more realistic representation of women's lives and style. In the end, the '70s turned out to be a revolutionary era for women in entertainment. 

Julia Baker was a nurse and single mother widowed by the Vietnam war on the show "Julia" which ran from 1968 to 1970 (via The Paley Center). The character's style was influenced by the structured look of her nurse's uniform, which she often accessorized with a high-fashion cape coat. Julia's makeup and hair choices — a black cat-eye and a short wavy hairstyle — indicate the show's jumpstart in the late '60s, though the character went on to blend this mod style with newly popular '70s trends, like bold prints. 

According to Smithsonian Magazine, memorabilia from "Julia" can be found in the museum, and some of the protagonist's clothing, including a jumpsuit and a dress, has appeared in an exhibit at the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

The character of Julia Baker is not just remembered for her stunning fashion, though. The character also broke ground as the first non-stereotypical depiction of a leading Black character on television, rejecting the limited mold for Black protagonists created in the 1950s. Though "Julia" represented only a small fraction of middle-class Black Americans in the early '70s, the actress who brought Julia to life, Diahann Carroll, acknowledged the impact of her character's representation in an interview with the National Leadership Project. "For the most part, looking back, realizing what we were trying to do at that time, what we were given, the parameters, I feel proud of it. It made a difference. It was the beginning of a new kind of approach." 

Helen Willis was played by the inimitable Roxie Roker, a legendary actress, mother to a certain Lenny Kravitz, and grandmother to Hollywood darling Zoë Kravitz. On "The Jeffersons," which aired from 1975 to 1985, Helen was Louise Jefferson's best friend her husband George's rival (via the Television Academy Foundation). Helen Willis was the couple's neighbor and friend, and she and her husband Tom, who was white, formed an interracial marriage that was rarely depicted on television at the time.

Helen's smart pantsuits, funky blouses, and her character's fluid movement between natural and styled hair were scene-stealers on the show. One of her coats is even available on the memorabilia site The Golden Closet, and her chic silhouettes have cemented the character as a fashion icon to be emulated for decades to come. Combined, her bold wardrobe and personality made her an iconic character to recognize in television history.