Why did Happy Days give up the 50's fashion for 70's bell bottoms?

[Retro4Life]

Originally Posted by Fleet

The first season was supposed to be around 1955-'56.

Thanks. That puts stuff like Chachi's hair and some of the wardrobes even more out of sync. Around these parts, 1965 was still pretty much the 50's, style wise.

[king of comedy]

The first season was the best.

[Race's Girl]

Originally Posted by antman67

Suzi Quatro as Leather Tuscadero

Thanks for the pic, dude

[TMC]

Originally Posted by biffbronson

I once read elsewhere that the move away from older fashions was a budgetary thing. Apparently the producers just didn't want to incur the extra expense of period clothing (or the network had really clamped down on their budget).

Off-the-rack stuff available in all sizes was no doubt cheaper than vintage wardrobes, which would likely also need more work in the way of alterations.

I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that Happy Days and its sister show, Laverne & Shirley quickly lost their credibility as authentic '50s period piece fare because Garry Marshall at the end of the day, just wasn't capable of character-integrity (we already got a hint of that when Happy Days went from a single-camera show in the vein of American Graffiti or Summer of '42 to a multi-camera, studio audience sitcom) nor does he have the discipline to do period piece series. Rightly or wrongly, Garry Marshall's forte was broad, loud, and simple comedy that could appeal to little kids.