Billowing bell bottoms, towering go-go boots, denim, leather, and all things crop top–the seventies are making a comeback sooner than you think. On March 3, Prime Video is set to release its highly-anticipated television adaptation of the New York Times bestselling novel “Daisy Jones & The Six” by Taylor Jenkins Reid. The show, like the novel, follows the rise and fall of a fictional 70’s rock band in LA’s Laurel Canyon music scene. Since its publication in 2019, “Daisy Jones” has drawn widespread attention from readers and BookTok influencers alike, where fans were quick to note The Six’s many similarities to the legendary rock band Fleetwood Mac.
Only a year after “Daisy Jones” hit shelves, the pandemic swept across the globe, isolating us to our homes and our screens. This ignited a mass shift towards entertainment media, furthering the trend of binge-watching and increased media consumption prevalent in the last decade. For those first few months of quarantine, Netflix and TikTok became the sun that we orbited, offering us a place to connect, escape, and laugh in a time of uncertainty and separation. It’s not entirely surprising that even now, we haven’t quite moved past this period of media trauma-bonding, still looking to curated edits of Pedro Pascal or the new season of “The Outer Banks” to offer us that necessary shred of warmth.
Streaming services have clued into this phenomenon, using the media boom to their advantage. They have permanently altered the way we consume and perceive fashion as a whole. After shows like HBO’s “Euphoria” and Netflix’s “The Crown” went viral on TikTok, “for you” pages became inundated with editorial, gemstone looks, mesh crop tops, biker shorts, and even Princess Diana’s famous “revenge dress.” This fast-paced interchange of character-inspired outfits and aesthetics has not only diversified fashion in a new way but it has also led companies to produce and promote apparel geared toward fan-favorite looks found in such shows and media.
So, what does this mean for “Daisy Jones?” The show will take the helm in the next wave of the social media fashion craze. Already garnering a fan base of readers, the show’s rockstar-bohemian take on seventies fashion and music, paired with its story of romance and fractured stardom, will draw viewers in like wildfire. Current trends like 70s fringe and voluminous hair-roller blowouts will revive with a spike in feathered hairstyles. Fur-everything will become the norm, along with knee-high boots, huge hoop earrings, and super-flare pants that engulf your shoes. Boyfriends and dads won’t shy away from the action, letting their hair run wild and perfecting those Billy Dunne sideburns.
“Daisy Jones” diverges from the typical male-centric view of rock stardom, depicting strong, independent, and talented women in leading roles, both on-screen and on paper. These women know their worth and reject being placed into any particular box. Since I was a kid, I’ve always been a pretty headstrong, assertive person, so it was validating to see female characters who not only possessed similar qualities to myself but were depicted as successful, awe-inspiring influencers on culture and art. Where classic and contemporary fiction and romance have often overshadowed female characters’ individuality and complexity, “Daisy Jones’s” emphasis on dynamic, female-driven storylines with romance as a secondary influence makes the novel a refreshing read for its genre.
As a Fleetwood Mac fan, “Daisy Jones” drew me in for that feeling of peeking behind the curtain. Through The Six’s interviews, detailing their blazing path to notoriety and the tangled relationships that led to their demise, it felt like I was viewing a bit of that secret world that fans have only rumored about with Fleetwood Mac. Though the story’s eccentric stylistic format, written in a faux-documentary lens, originally caught me off guard, after further reflection, I found its distinctive style engaging and almost cinematic. “Daisy Jones” took what has become a rinse-and-repeat formula within the contemporary romance genre and flipped it on its axis, immersing readers in an interactive drama that imitates music-documentary so effectively, it will have you questioning the very reality of this imaginary band.
Sometimes, I have wondered if The Six might be sprinkled into my Spotify library or tucked into my parents’ old CD collection. Soon, this maladaptive daydream will only get worse. With TikTok ads and Instagram sneak peeks building audiences’ anticipation, the promise of an accompanying soundtrack mirroring The Six’s hit album, “Aurora,” will include songs played by the band in the series and is set to release, along with the show, on March 3. Between the novel, show, and soundtrack, “Daisy Jones” offers a plethora of media for fans to engage with and is sure to shake up spring, start conversations, and usher in an unprecedented surge in seventies fashion appreciation.
Words by Alex Armbruster.
Graphic by Aarushi Menon.