Is the 60s the Greatest Fashion Decade of the last 100 years?

Andy Warhol, Edie Sedgwick and Chuck Wein, 1965

 In the same way that current young people are looking back to the 90s and early Y2k for their fashion inspiration, (the 80s have been done and dusted apparently) in the 90s we looked back to the 60s and 70s for our sartorial influences. Does fashion travel in 20-30 year cycles? So it would seem. But what rich pickings those two decades were! To this day, the fashion of the 60s and 70s will always have that fashion edge for me. Children of the 60s were just stepping out of the drudgery of a post war society with it's bombed out buildings, rationing (including fabric) and misery, to a more affluent and exciting future. Music was at it's most creative, as was cinema - in fact every area of the arts. Think the Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Doors, Motown, Phil Spector and his girl groups. The birth of independent cinema was well underway with the French wave, Luis Bunuel and Ingmar Bergman on this side of the Atlantic and John Cassavetes, Stanley Kubrick and Sidney Lumet making waves in the States. In the art world, Andy Warhol and his Factory were creating his famous Pop Art, and in the world of fashion - where to start?

The Ronettes, early 1960s

Although some might see 60s fashion as somewhat twee or overdone - from caricature images of paisley-wearing Hippies carrying flowers, to men in capes or cartoon-colourful silk jackets a la the Beatles on the cover of Sargent Peppers. With women in white go-go boots, Mary Quant dresses and ridiculously thick lashes and PVC baker boy hats - it's easy to dismiss the 60s fashion as fancy dress clothing that doesn't translate. 

The Beatles in their Sgt Pepper's gear

But perhaps no other decade made such a marked and startling transition from it's predecessor than the 60s from the 50s. And this is one of the reasons why the 60s holds such a strong place in the hearts of many a fashion lover. It was a truly groundbreaking decade in so many ways. In previous decades, fashion was aimed at an older market. The 60s for the first time truly embraced styling for the younger generation. For once, dressing like your parents was not what teenagers aspired to (think of all those old photos of your 15 year old grandparents where the boys wore suits and ties and looked like they were in their 30s). This time, teenagers were given the option to dress like teenagers. For the first time fashion was driven by the youth market -the term for it - the 'youthquake' was coined by Vogue editor Diana Vreeland, to highlight the moment that the idea of the post-war teenager really came to life.

Mary Quant

So what was the 'youthquake'? it was the rebellion marked of not dressing like your parents. Without the 60s youthquake, there would be no punks or indie-kids or goths or emos. The teenagers of the 60s shunned the couture houses of their parents, and made Carnaby Street and the boutiques of the Kings Road, the centre of the fashion universe. This mini revolutiuon against tradition and confinement changed the course of youth and fasfhion culture forever. Teenagers embraced psychedelic prints, shift dresses, PVC, Mary Quant Mini skirts, faux fur, pant-suits and colour pop tights. (although mini skirts were de rigeur, going bare-legged was still considered immodest).

Hippies

Fashion trends mirrored social movements of the time. The Hippies being the most obvious. The subculture which embraced free-love, mind-expansion through drugs, meditation, exploring the world through travel, and a liberal, anti-war stance was translated into their clothing aesthetic. Their rejection of consumerism led to a more individualistic approach to fashion. Bell-bottoms, tie-dye, long hair and beards, armfuls of Indian silver jewellery, organic materials, bright, swirling colours and flower-power. This move into fantastical, magical dressing would never have been believed by those living a decade earlier. 

The women's liberation movement was in full-swing, the pill meant free-love was possible without the fear of pregnancy and in a pre-Aids world there was an experimental innocence to the movement. The 60s 'Single Girl' was based on Helen Gurley Brown's 1962 book 'Sex and the Single Girl' which showed women as financially emotionally and sexually independent. Fashion and fashion photography created a new feminine aesthetic, which was thin, 'active', self-reliant, and liberated. 

The Single Girl, as highlighted by Cosmo

For the first time women were also showing off more skin, the shortest of mini skirts, bikinis, hot pants, camisole vests all had their birth or were popularised in the 1960s. Women's silhouettes also changed to match the clothes - skinny, boyish figures were the order of the day and pushed out the curvy, womanly frame of the 1950s. It was as if all this skin on show required a more boyish figure to make it less 'shocking' to people's sensibilities. A cultural revolution was taking place for women, but in order to make it more palatable to the masses, it had to be watered down. Women could show off their bodies - but cleavage and hips were out and a more streamlined look was in. The voluptuous screen sirens of the 50s - Marilyn Monroe, Jane Russell,  Sophia Loren, Jayne Mansfield - gave way to the likes of Twiggy, Jean Shrimpton, Verushka, and Penelope Tree, who all embodied a big eyed, skinny limbed child-like aesthetic. 

Twiggy

The old adage about 'starving in times of plenty' was most certainly true for the 60s woman. As the West came out of the Second World War, rationing went on in the UK til the mid 1950s. The 60s were seen as a time of plenty - just like the 20s had been post-First World War, and women's body fashion shrunk with the abundance of food available. In an age of post-war affluence, rising body weights and changing fashions, dieting and eating disorders became an unfortunate secondary effect amongst young women. The feminine body has always served as a symbol of socially created values, and in this case, the long-limbed, pre-pubescent aesthetic of the 60s illustrated how women were 'permitted' to be more autonomous while still paradoxically, being put in a box of pre-conceived ideas.

Mods on their scooters

Although the Hippies are undoubtedly the most famous image of the 60s, other countercultures are equally significant and influential. The Mods, 'Modernists' who first appeared in the late 50s were a working class movement focused around French and Italian style - think sharp skinny suits and polo shirts whilst riding around on Vespas or Lambrettas. They listened to Black American soul, ska and R&B and were all about looking sharp, whatever the budget. Their rivals, the 'Rockers' considered them effeminate and preening, however, their cool and attention to detail made their look one that is copied to this day. Other subcultures included Rudeboys, Rockers, Black Panthers and more.

Jackie O's 60s chic

The space race had a huge impact on aesthetics. Andres Courreges SS64 collection debuted the "space style," which featured trouser suits, goggles, box-shaped dresses with high skirts, and go-go boots. In the 1960s, go-go boots were a hallmark of go-go girl attire. The vivid hues, gleaming material, and sequins were all hallmarks of the look. Boxy forms, thigh-length hemlines, and flamboyant embellishments characterised the space age aesthetic. Designers of the space era favoured synthetic materials as well. Pierre Cardin created clothes with a plastic feel and strong forms. Non-cloth materials like polyester and PVC have also gained popularity in apparel and accessories. 

Andres Courreges SS64

Short plastic raincoats, colourful swing coats, and other daytime clothing were favoured by young women, who wore bubble dresses, helmet-like headgear, and coloured faux furs. The Nehru jacket first appeared on the fashion landscape in 1966, and it was worn by both men and women. Suits came in a wide range of colours, but they were all tailored and thin for the first time. Women's waistlines were left untouched, while hemlines became shorter and shorter. Low-heeled sandals and kitten-heeled pumps, as well as the popular white go-go boots, were among the footwear options for ladies. 

Pierre Cardin was most known for his helmets, short tunics, and goggles. He was famous for his "12 Unwearable Dresses in Contemporary Mater" collection from 1966 which used chain-mail, aluminium and plastic. Vinyl go-go boots, huge bouffant hair and silver mini dresses were all highlights of the fashion in the classic Roger Vadim movie Barbarella, where Jane Fonda demonstrated the space age look to perfect effect.

Marianne Faithfull and Anita Pallenberg

Then there is the rock star styling of the day - singers, actresses and models like Anita Pallenberg, Marianne Faithfull, Edie Sedgewick, Sharon Tate, who combined the best fashions that the 60s offered and rolled them into a creme de la creme of perfect 60s styling. The 'glamorous hippie', if you will - a look that combined mini shifts, go-go boots, shaggy fur coats, chandelier earrings and chain-mail dresses to name a few. It's a look that is most easily translated today - think Kate Moss and Alexa Chung in the Noughties in their fur coats, big sunglasses and fedoras - it's a look that screams Marianne Faithfull. In fact, Marianne Faithfull was so incensed at Kate Moss 'stealing her style' she publicly called her a 'vampire' and ended their friendship. Apparently imitation is not always the sincerest form of flattery.

Kate Moss Glastonbury 2005 looking very Anita Pallenberg

Ultimately, the 1960s can't be characterised by a single style, group, or aesthetic, which is part of what makes it so fascinating to look back on. Once you get past the tie-dye and countless Twiggy photos, you'll discover a lot more in what I consider to be the most fascinating fashion decade of the twentieth century.