Barry Williams on the disastrous Brady Kids concert costumes
Look, we've all been guilty of fashion crimes. Trends popular in their heyday might be cringe-worthy just a few years later. Not everything comes back in a big way and some fads are best left unearthed.
While every decade has its fair share of sartorial sins, it seems like the '70s is among the worst offenders.
The Brady Bunch was at the center of '70s TV, music, fashion, and even architecture. While the show ended before the decade's midpoint, its continued influence on those ten years helped define lots of what we think of as the seventies. Even after the show wrapped production, there were records, reruns, and spin-offs.
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That group that somehow had to form a family was a bankable commodity, so it only makes sense that more and more products were adorned with the Brady kids' faces.
Why, there was even a concert tour! Barry Williams dove deep into that time in their lives in his 1992 memoir Growing Up Brady: I Was a Teenage Greg. The tour came at a time when the Bradys were everywhere: The show was bigger than ever, and the records were selling like hotcakes. So, the gang sequestered themselves in a dance studio and created a live show that capitalized on their incredible popularity.
"We hired a couple of Vegas veterans, Ray Reese and Joe Seiter, who, we were told, could make anyone look good onstage. They were set to direct us, choreograph us, and help us select appropriate songs."
It seems like the cards were stacked in their favor, and the Brady kids were off to a great start to their live performance careers. However, while careful consideration was paid toward transposing that TV charm to the stage, the costumes were handled by an ill-equipped party.
The kids all agreed to let their moms get together to make the costumes by hand.
"Guided by their own fashion taste, our moms managed to stitch together costumes that were ugly even by 1970s standards. Everything was created in stretch polyester, with beads, flowers, and fringe flying all over the place. On some numbers, we'd even add straw hats, canes, and white patent-leather boots."
Despite the errors in style, William fondly recalled the tour as a time when the Brady Bunch were able to connect face-to-face with their fans.
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