Before smartphones and social media, teenagers found other ways to broadcast their worth, and the currency was surprisingly expensive.
My mother keeps a shoebox full of photos from her high school years, and whenever she pulls it out, I'm struck by how different everything looks. The clothes, the hair, the cars. But what really fascinates me is what she says about those photos. "See this girl? She was so cool because she had a Camaro." Or "That guy? Total loser until he got the right jeans."
The 70s had its own language of cool, and like any language, it had specific markers that everyone understood. Some were about money, some were about taste, and some were just about being in the right place at the right time.
What determined who sat at the cool table in 1975? Let's take a look.
1) The right pair of jeans
Remember when a pair of jeans could make or break your entire social standing? I wasn't a teenager in the 70s myself, but my mother was, and she's told me countless stories about the jean wars at her high school.
Designer denim was everything. Brands like Levi's, Wrangler, and especially Calvin Klein and Jordache weren't just clothes. They were currency. If you showed up in generic department store jeans, you might as well have worn a sign that said "not cool."
The fit mattered too. We're talking skin-tight, bell-bottoms, or the perfect flare. Kids would literally save up their allowance and part-time job money for months to afford the right pair. Some would even resort to ironing their jeans with a crease down the front or wearing them in the bathtub to get that perfect fit.
What strikes me about this is how little has changed. We still judge people by their clothes, just with different brands. It's one of those human tendencies that transcends generations.
2) Your record collection
Music defined you in the 70s in a way that's hard to replicate today. Sure, we have Spotify playlists now, but there was something about physically owning albums that made your taste in music a tangible part of your identity.
Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Fleetwood Mac. The records you owned told everyone exactly what kind of person you were. And you better believe that kids would display their collections like trophies, showing off rare pressings or imports that nobody else could get their hands on.
Going to someone's house and flipping through their records was like reading their diary. You could tell immediately if you'd found your people or if you were in enemy territory.
The cool kids had the newest releases the day they came out. They knew all the deep cuts, not just the radio hits. They could debate the merits of different albums and artists with the passion of scholars.
3) Access to a car
Nothing screamed "cool" louder than having wheels. Whether it was your own car or reliable access to your parents' station wagon, mobility equaled social power.
The type of car mattered, of course. A muscle car or a Volkswagen Bus could elevate your status overnight. But honestly, any car was better than no car. It meant freedom. It meant you could drive to the drive-in, cruise Main Street on Friday nights, or take a road trip to the beach.
Kids with cars became instant social connectors. They decided who got rides, who got to go where, and who was left behind. That's a lot of power for a sixteen-year-old.
I think about this sometimes when I'm stuck in traffic during my morning runs. We've built entire societies around car culture, and it started with teenagers in the 70s figuring out that transportation equals independence.
4) The perfect feathered hair
Hair in the 70s wasn't just hair. It was art. It was a statement. It was a daily commitment.
Farrah Fawcett's iconic feathered look launched a thousand imitations. Both girls and guys spent hours with blow dryers, round brushes, and enough hairspray to puncture the ozone layer, all trying to achieve those perfect, flowing layers that framed the face just right.
Getting your hair cut by the right stylist was crucial. Some kids would travel across town to the salon that "understood" the look. Others practiced on themselves and their friends, with varying degrees of success.
Bad hair could ruin your entire week. Good hair could make you untouchable. And if you somehow managed to maintain perfect feathers despite gym class, humidity, or a surprise rainstorm, you were basically a wizard.
The amount of effort that went into looking effortlessly cool is almost comical in retrospect. Almost.
5) A killer tan
Before we knew about melanoma and sun damage, a deep tan was the ultimate status symbol. It meant you had time to lay out by the pool or hit the beach. It suggested a lifestyle of leisure and fun.
Kids would slather themselves in baby oil and iodine mixtures, trying to achieve that perfect bronze glow. The darker you could get, the better. Pale skin was associated with being stuck indoors, which was definitely not cool.
Some teenagers even had access to tanning beds, which were just becoming popular in the late 70s. Having that kind of technology available to you was a mark of privilege.
Looking back with what we know now about skin cancer and premature aging, this particular status symbol seems almost reckless. But hindsight is twenty-twenty, and in the moment, that golden tan was worth any risk.
6) A jean jacket covered in patches and pins
Self-expression through customization was huge in the 70s. A plain jean jacket was just a starting point. What you did with it told your story.
Concert patches, band pins, political buttons, embroidered flowers, peace signs. Your jacket was your billboard. It announced your allegiances, your interests, your worldview. The more coverage you had, the more experiences you'd accumulated, the cooler you were.
Some kids would spend entire weekends working on their jackets, carefully placing each new addition. Trading patches and pins became a social currency of its own. Finding a rare item could elevate your standing overnight.
This was wearable identity before we had social media profiles. Your jacket was your about page, your photo gallery, and your status updates all rolled into one piece of denim.
7) Having your own phone line
In an era before cell phones, having your own landline was an incredible luxury. Most families shared one phone, and teenagers tying up the line for hours was a constant source of family conflict.
But if your parents were willing to install a second line just for you? That was next-level privilege. It meant privacy. It meant you could actually talk to your friends without your mom picking up the extension in the kitchen or your dad yelling at you to hang up.
Kids with their own lines became social hubs. You could call them anytime without worrying about bothering their parents. They could stay on the phone as long as they wanted, planning, gossiping, and building relationships without adult interference.
The telephone was the lifeline of teenage social life, and having exclusive access was powerful. It's strange to think about now, when even elementary school kids often have their own devices, but scarcity creates value.
8) Season tickets to concerts
Live music was central to 70s culture, and being able to see bands perform regularly separated the truly dedicated from the casual fans.
Season tickets or regular access to concert venues meant you were in the know. You'd seen everyone who mattered. You could drop names of shows you'd attended into conversations, establishing credibility and cultural capital.
Going to concerts wasn't just about the music. It was about being part of something, about shared experiences, about stories you could tell on Monday morning that would make everyone else jealous.
The kids who always had tickets either had money, connections, or both. They knew people. They understood the scene. They were insiders.
Final thoughts
Status symbols among teenagers have always existed and probably always will. The specifics change with each generation, but the underlying dynamics remain the same. We all want to belong, to be seen, to matter.
What's interesting is how many of these 70s markers were about access and resources. Cool wasn't just about personal style or charisma. It was often about what your family could afford or what privileges you'd been granted.
Understanding this can be surprisingly useful today. When we recognize that so much of what we thought made people "cool" was actually just economic advantage or arbitrary cultural preferences, we can start questioning the status symbols we chase now. Are they really meaningful, or are we just repeating the same patterns with different props?
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