Taking the cue from Pleiades's post:
In the late 70s a pair of jeans, or a pair of jeans over another pair of jeans for added protection! A pair of DMs or Derry boots if raining hard, a second hand Cromwell helmet that seemed to fit at the time, a wax cotton Belstaff jacket with no armour and what ever gloves my brother had spare at the time.
In the mid 80s a made to measure leather jacket, a decent helmet that fitted ( the make escapes me ) good gloves that fitted but it seems from the photo below I still stuck with the jeans and wore trainer type boots.
Now - I have the choice of three good helmets my usual being a flip front Caberg that is ok to ride in the up and down position, Buffalo water proof and armoured gloves and textile trousers with armour at the knees. I recently wore leather pants and jacket from HG but these gave way to the textile trousers and another Belstaff wax cotton jacket ( this time with armour in the elbows and shoulders ) as I've been doing a lot of off road stuff in the last few years. I'm sure the belstaff is not the best thing to wear from the protection side of things and I should be looking at perhaps a Knox type back protection as well. Forgot to mention - these days I have a lot more regard for my feet and shins and so wear Sidi enduro type boots.