1960′s Fashion for Women- A Cultural Fashion History
Today's post 1960′s Fashion for Women- A Cultural Fashion History from Vintage Dancer.
Fashion in the 1960′s was an extreme of style and attitude from the start of the decade to the end. In the early years the fashion idol was Jackie Kennedy with her perfectly white pearls and tailored suit dresses. By the end of the decade supper model Twiggy had women freeing their minds and bodies into clothing that didn’t require any extra thought or effort. From modest to “there is no such thing as too short”, 1960′s fashion was in many ways like the 1920′s flapper revolution. But it didn’t happen over night.
1960s Fashion Icons
Early 1960s Fashion
Jackie Kennedy’s style was clean, simple, well fitted, with perfectly matched accessories. She wore dresses without collars, and jackets that buttoned only with one large top button. She wore sensible low heel shoes (although many women still preferred high heels.) She was the last woman to wear hats, a pill box hat, as necessary fashion. Jackie O’ put a lot of care into her look and women in the USA and abroad copied her style with enthusiasm.
Sadly, after her husband’s assassination, Jackie was no longer in the public eye. Women had to find a new fashion idol to be inspired by. Brigitte Bardot was that woman. She was Jackie’s opposite. Jackie was put together, simple and modest. Brigitte was tacky, cheap, bold, and even silly. Her 1959 gigham wedding dresses with white lace trim was so unexpected that gigham and lace quickly became the new trend.
Mary Quant was another fashion influence. He styles moved away from “grown up fashion” to playful “youth” driven. Her shift dresses were short, very short, her prints bold and colorful “mod” prints. Her fashion, her personality, set the tone for the rest of the 1960s as “fashion-is-fun.”
1960′s Fashion for Youth
Late 60′s fashion and the “baby doll” dress
It was the whole idea of a return to youth that drove most of the fashion in the 1960′s. Oversize collars, bows, and trim miniaturized women and made them appear smaller. Shapeless mini dresses de-emphasized a women’s natural from. Kitten heel pumps, Mary Jane’s strap shoes, and flat sneakers were all childhood favorites returned to the the 60′s youth quake culture. It was no coincidence that a youth driven culture had a lot to do with half the american population being under 25 with European countries having a similarly large youth population too. After growing up in the 50′s as “little adults” the youth embraced their fond early childhood memories and fashions. By early fashion we mean babies and toddlers. The “baby doll” look was incorporated into dress, hair and makeup.
1960′s Dresses:
Fall 1960 dress in a similar shape as most of the 50′s
The full skirt, tight bodice, of the 50′s dress continued in the early 60′s with an at or slightly above the knee hemline. The style didn’t last long before the 50′s pencil dress loosened up and turned into the shapeless “shift dress” in 1963. Shift dresses were casual wear for home, running errands, going to the beach. They were not office friendly. They were too short. 1960′s dresses became shorter and shorter. Anything above the knee was a “mini skirt.” How short a woman’s dress was was a sign of how confident she was (not necessarily that she had great legs.) Hem length was directly proportional to how women felt about their own sexual liberation. Short skirts were not meant to attract men for the sake of sexual interest, but instead were way to attract attention so that a WOMAN could then be the one to decide if his attention was wanted. Sexual power through fashion.
The jumper dress was a Mary Quant invention that captured the youthful, playful, side of fashion. That style immediately made a 20 year old look 10, a welcome change from 50′s mature fashion. Big bows, large round collars, pastels, and polka dots were all dress trims that made women look like girl’s dolls.The more innocent the better.
Bold colors, short “mini” shift dresses
Colors and prints were at first, inspired by the pop art and modern art movements. Checkerboard, stripes and polka dots, colorblock, and Cambell’s soup cans were all placed on short shift dresses. Being over the top was never too much. Eventually “pop” settled down into soft pastels, pique fabrics, gingham checks for a gentler “girly” appeal.
Shop 1960s style dresses here and also here (late 60′s Mod styles.)
1960s Pants
Women’s Pants, 1968
Starting in 1961 bell bottom pants replaced tight fitting capri’s and rolled up dungarees. The sexiness was in the short, crop top, worn with high waisted bell buttoms.
Jax pants were an updated capri pants, lined, and without a waist band. They too were worn with crop tops since the lack of belt loops made it impossible for a blouses to stay tucked in. It was a fashion freedom to not have to worry about bunching shirts. Less fuss, more fun, was the way of the sixties.
Stirrup Pants 1963
The stretchy stirrup pant took advantage of a new kind of knit fabric. Easy to sew and wear, the elastic stirrup over the foot kept pants smooth and straight. It didn’t matter that the stirrup was visible.
All pants came down to just above the ankle until the late 60′s when longer pants became the new trend. They also still zipped up the back or side (zipping up the front was for men.)
1960s Pant Suits
Pant suit and skirt set
As shocking as a mini skirt was to society there was an equal confusion over the new pant suits. It was a look directly copied from men’s suits but tailored down to feminine proportions. Some work offices and establishments forbade women to wear pant suits. There was a confusion over whether they were an insult to femininity or empowerment to women (and that it disrespected men.) While fashion magazines debated, women flocked to the stores to buy them. They were already wearing casual pants everywhere else, wearing dressy pants seemed only natural.
Shoes and Stockings:
1961 Sandals
Sandals, like flip flops, made their beach side debut in the 1960′s. Women wore them with everything casual. Half booties, also made the transition from rain boot to fashion boot. Boots hid the stirrup pant strap. Low heel Mary Jane’s were popular with every kind of dress. They were ideal for the cute “girly” looks. Most shoes came in just as vivid colors as the clothing. They were simple, undecorated, minimalist.
Platform shoes in mod colors
Plain white sneakers replaced saddle shoes for school age kids. They had to be plain white and perfectly clean. They were worn with socks or with stockings a shade or two darker than natural skin which made them appear even whiter. Colored tights were also popular- white, black, purple, fishnet or lace. Tights covered up “ugly knee”s and didn’t cause garter gaps like sheer stockings did. Once pantyhose were perfected they were the savoir of women’s legs anywhere. They camouflaged hair, bumps, bruises, and wide knee caps. To go bare legged in the 60′s was still too immodest. Ironic?
Hairstyles:
1960′s Hairstyles- Full of Body and Volume on Top
Without a hat to call attention to a woman’s head, hairstyles became a new focus for women. The bouffant look teased hair to new heights, literally. Guiche curls kissed her cheeks (made possible by a bit of nail polish to keep them pointed to a crisp.) All that volume made faces appear smaller and more doll like. Hair length rose from shoulder to chin and cropped above the ears as the decade progressed only to come crashing down again in the 70′s.
Makeup:
The graveyard look was in. Pale white skin, white lips, bold black eyeliner and dark smokey eye shadow. It was a stark contrast to the girly look of clothing until the mid 60′s when a layer of childlessness was added. Eyes were exaggerated and lips turned to a pout. The combination, looking back, was a scene from a child-meets-ax-murderer horror movie.
1960′s Makeup- A mix of Graveyard and Baby Doll
The Hippie Look
1960′s Main Stream “Hippie” Clothes
The late 60′s saw a movement of anti-fashion, a political statement, that grew so popular it became a main stream fashion style. The look started with faded denim jeans, basic and boring, anti-fashion. The flower child decoration of patches, embroidery, painting and studding came later in the 1970′s. The 60′s hippie was simpler, more earthy. To go with jeans, a hippie would wear a strapless undershirt. White at first than later dyed in earth tone colors so that its didn’t look like underwear. Tie dye followed after that. The more colors the better. The more gaudy the colors looked combined, even better! Anti-fashion meant anti anyone who has any opinion about what “works” and “doesn’t work” in fashion. Forrest green, with brown suede, sunshine yellow, and denim blue were signature colors of the hippie 60′s.
Late 60′s “Peasant” Style Hippie Clothes
Colors were not the only thing to be exaggerated. Clothes too were of extreme proportions. Hats were big and floppy, vests hung down to the knee, and coats to the floor. A return to folk arts meant beading was on clothes, not just jewelry. Ethnic details covered anything and everything. There were no rules to hippie fashion. Mix and match and develop your own beat was the hippie fashion mantra.
The 1970′s continued the hippie trend into mainstream fashion. The youth oriented looks turned to the complete opposite- granny style. Romanticized granny clothes from several generations ago, like pioneer women, returned fashion back to long dresses and sleeves, ruffles lace trim, small cotton prints, and long hair (worn down, not up, this time.) The age of the mini skirt “grew up” and turned into adults, not like their parents, but like generations before which seemed to have a simple life that hippies idolized.
Thoughts: For those of you who grew up in the 60′s, what do you remember about 1960s fashion? Leave your comments below.
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