The 1960s was a decade of sweeping change throughout the fashion
world generating ideas and images which still appear modern today. Whereas
fashion had previously been aimed at a wealthy, mature elite, the tastes and
preferences of young people now became important. At the beginning of the
decade, the market was dominated by Parisian designers of expensive haute
couture garments. Yet the shape of clothes was soon transformed by new ideas
emerging from the London pop scene.
In Britain, musical taste and styles of dress were closely linked and it was
the mod look which first popularised the simple geometric shapes
typical of the 1960s. Slim fitting, brightly coloured garments were
sold cheaply in boutiques all over 'Swinging London' and had tremendous influence
throughout Europe and the US.
Later in the decade the hippy look, which originated on the West Coast of
America, crossed the Atlantic. This was a time when designers of dress and
textiles experimented with colours, patterns and textures borrowed from non-Western
cultures.
Couture
The clothes of French designers like Balenciaga and Dior represented sophisticated
elegance and were worn by women in high society. Public figures like Jacquie
Kennedy began to favour less formal items such as shorter skirts. Fewer people
now wore accessories like hats and gloves.
Another important Continental influence was Italian design, which from the
mid-1950s had inspired a smart, sleek look particularly in menswear. Mods
in Britain insisted on tailor-made attire, choosing materials and cut for maximum
impact. As this younger generation began to develop a distinct style of dress, demand
grew for less traditional, more affordable outfits. The exclusive attitude of the
couture houses seemed dated.
Eventually, haute couture was forced to imitate popular clothing in a reversal
of the usual 'top downwards' movement of fashion. Courrèges, Cardin
and Yves Saint Laurent were among those who adapted brilliantly to these new
circumstances. Most well-known designers started to sell their own off-the-peg
ranges through department stores.
Street Style
Young people's income was at its highest since the end of the Second World
War, creating the desire for a wardrobe which did more than simply copy adult
dress. The clothes aimed specifically at young people which Mary Quant had
been designing since the late 1950s became popular. Boutiques, like Quant's
Bazaar and Barbara Hulanicki's Biba provided inexpensively made clothing
suited to a busy, urban lifestyle. Instead of buying outfits designed for
specific occasions or times of the day, people preferred separates which
they could combine in different ways.
The miniskirt was the most eye-catching garment of the decade, designed for
an ideally skinny female form. Women wore pale foundation and emphasised their
eyes with kohl, mascara and false eyelashes. Hair was long and straight or
worn in a shaped bob or wedge, as invented by the hairdresser Vidal
Sassoon.
Designers of clothes and textiles celebrated modernity. Space-age
silver was mixed with primary coloured prints taken from Pop and Op Art. Novel
fashion materials were introduced, including shiny, wet-look PVC, easy-care
acrylics and polyesters.
The Peacock Revolution
Perhaps the most remarkable development in 1960s dress was the dramatic change
in menswear. For the past 150 years, clothing for men had been tailor-made
and plain and dark in appearance. Now, following trends which first appeared
in gay fashions, colourful elements were introduced, such as the collarless
jacket, worn with slim-fitting trousers and boots. During the mid-1960s frills
and cravats came back in, together with vividly printed shirts. Finally, lapels
and trousers took on exaggeratedly wide dimensions. Clothing became increasingly
unisex as men and women shopped at the same boutiques for similar items.
Textiles
Heal's, Hull Traders and Conran Fabrics all bought patterns from young freelance
designers who took their inspiration from contemporary art and graphics like
Andy Warhol's Pop images and the dazzling Op art paintings of Bridget Riley. Brightly
coloured large-scale geometric repeats were favourites for both dress and
furnishing fabrics. Later in the decade, floral patterns were seen everywhere.
Victorian decor was rediscovered and motifs borrowed from Art Nouveau and
Art Deco were given a new lease of life by the addition of psychedelic colours.
Counter culture
During the late 1960s, there was a reaction against the mass production of
mod clothing and pop products which had brought bright new styles into European
and American homes and wardrobes. Some people became disillusioned by this
materialistic mood and turned to Eastern cultures and mythologies which appeared
more in tune with the 'natural' world.
North American influences dominated during the later part of the decade. Journalist
Tom Wolfe's 'The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test' and the film 'Easy Rider' examined
a counter culture which had its roots in the West Coast of America. The end of the
decade saw worldwide anti-Vietnam War protests. Meanwhile in France, students
and workers united in violent uprisings against De Gaulle's conservative
government.
A cosmopolitan view was reflected in fashion by Ossie Clark, Jean Muir,
Thea Porter and Zandra Rhodes, all of whom experimented with non-traditional
tailoring and colourful prints, showing an interest in ethnic garments. Secondhand
attire was sought after and even items like military dress were worn for their
decorative qualities.
Shopping
Shops played an important part in popularising new fashions. Whole areas of
London like the King's Road and Carnaby Street were transformed as boutiques
took over. Boutiques sold an inexpensive range of rapidly changing outfits
and offered an informal atmosphere and self-service, unlike traditional clothes
shops. At the same time, quirky interior decorations
and pop music lent the boutique an individuality which was lacking in the
newly built chain stores which were taking over the high street.
John Stephen was one of the first to open a boutique selling menswear on Carnaby
Street. Demand was such that he ended up owning eight more shops in the same
location. Meanwhile, Michael Fish established Mr. Fish, selling psychedelic-inspired
outfits provocatively close to Savile Row. Exotically named outlets opening
their doors on the King's Road included Bazaar and Michael Rainey's Hung
On You. Other Chelsea shops were Nigel Waymouth's Granny Takes A Trip,
where fashionable hippies shopped for antique clothing, and Quorum run by
Ossie Clark and Alice Pollock. Biba's first premises were an old chemist's
shop in Kensington, but the business eventually expanded to take over a huge
1930s-built department store on Kensington High Street, where Barbara Hulanicki
held parties in the roof garden.
Another new approach was taken by Terence Conran in his shop Habitat. Inspired
by furniture shops he had seen in Scandinavia, he displayed goods in a minimal
pine interior, stacked in piles as though they were in a warehouse.
Conran was successful in marketing well-designed domestic goods, including
home furnishings, at relatively low prices.
Media and Society
Marshall McLuhan's 1964 book 'Understanding Media' charted the rise of new
technologies like television which had the potential, he claimed, to transform
the world into a 'global village'. It was now possible for media images of
the US Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War to be transmitted worldwide
within hours, leading to greater political awareness.
Attitudes towards class and sex were also affected by greater coverage in
the media. At the beginning of the decade, the programme 'That Was The Week
That Was' with David Frost and Jonathan Miller and the magazine 'Private Eye'
edited by Peter Cooke, satirised British politics and society. They highlighted
the class divisions in Britain, underlining the fact that power was in the
hands of a small circle of wealthy families.
British working class life was portrayed in films like 'Saturday Night and
Sunday Morning', 'A Taste of Honey' and 'Alfie'. The main character of Antonioni's
'Blow Up' was said to be based on the photographer David
Bailey, immortalising the legend of Swinging London. London was portrayed as
a city in which talented young people could succeed, regardless of their background.
Pioneers like Mary Quant and Barbara Hulanicki showed that women could be
professionally successful. The 1960s is often remembered as an era of sexual
freedom. The pill provided women with a reliable method of contraception while
abortion was legalised and homosexuality was decriminalised.
TV provided fashion role models like Cathy McGowan, famous for her mod outfits,
who presented the weekly chart hit show 'Ready Steady Go'. 'The Avengers' was
notable for the sexy clothing worn by Diana Rigg's character Emma Peel. 'Nova',
'Honey' and 'Petticoat' magazines were created to appeal to teenage girls
interested in clothes, while the 'Sunday Times' published the first weekend colour
supplement with articles on lifestyle and interior decoration.
Music
The 1950s music scene had been dominated by US rock 'n roll, but from the start
of the 1960s, bands like the Beatles and the Stones, the Kinks and The Who revitalised
British pop. Musicians often pioneered alternative ways of dressing, as can
be seen from photographs of these bands as they began their careers attired
in mod outfits, complete with straight-combed hairstyles. By the latter part
of the decade most had swapped these for psychedelic gear, facial hair and a
growing interest in music from other continents like India.
Important American musical contributions came from Bob Dylan and West Coast
groups associated with the folk and hippy movements like the Mamas and the Papas,
Peter, Paul and Mary and the Jefferson Airplane. The decade ended with the free
festival 'Woodstock' held in a rural part of New York state and headlined by
progressive rock musicians such as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and the Grateful
Dead.
Celebrities
This was an era when those who wore and photographed clothing for a living
could become famous overnight. Lesley Hornby, known as 'Twiggy', was a sensation
at fifteen years of age when her large eyes, and rake-thin, under-developed
figure were hailed as the most extreme version of the mod look.
David Bailey and Jean Shrimpton transformed the fashion pages of women's magazines
as Bailey snapped Shrimpton in informal poses.
Others who photographed top models included John French, Terence Donovan, Brian Duffy
and Ron Traeger. They filled the pages of 'Vogue' and 'Elle' with images of
Celia Hammond, Penelope Tree, Verushka and Marisa Berenson (the granddaughter
of Elsa Schiaparelli). Ideals of beauty became more inclusive as black models
like the Americans Donyale Luna and Naomi Sims starred in fashion shoots.
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