Who Were the Influencers of the 1960s?

 There’s no denying the 60s were one of the most stylish decades ever. There is a reason shows like Mad Men, Masters of Sex and The Marvellous Mrs. Maisel all make us want to hop into a time machine and steal the characters’ wardrobes (and furniture).

If buying into a certain prim look à la Dior was a big hit for 1950s fashion, the sartorial rule book was completely thrown out in swinging sixties. From Brigitte Bardot‘s beehive to Mary Quant’s geometric prints, every 1960s fashion icon contributed their own signature style to the decade (a theme that continued well into 1970s fashion and beyond). It was the era of the girl group, the gamine supermodel and the original IT-girls, who are still inspiring this generation’s Alexa Chung et al.

The sixties still provide designers of today with endless inspiration, from Hermès’ enduring Birkin bag (which FYI is a better investment than gold), to Dior’s feminist take on Edie Sedgwick’s Factory Girl style (and just look at the familiar trends popping up for SS18).

After a decade of cinched waists, full skirts and impeccable hair and makeup, many fashion traditions were broken in an act of rebellion, mirroring the momentous social and political changes of the decade. It was the era where no skirt was too short and no beehive too high. Today, we can thank the decade for culottes, geometric prints and boxy silhouettes.

From the sixties’ answer to street style stars to the key fashion designers, consider this everything you need to know about the style defining era.

Edie Sedgwick’s 1960s fashion

Edie Sedgwick and Andy Warhol

The wealthy socialite, toast of the New York art scene and a certain Andy Warhol’s muse, Edie Sedgwick was the original IT girl. The essential ingredients of her good-girl-gone-bad aesthetic were lashings of eyeliner, chandelier earrings, mini mod dresses with sheer black tights and a crop of platinum hair – one day to be celebrated by Sienna Miller in the film Factory Girl.Twiggy’s 1960s fashion

Twiggy's 1960s fashion

Twiggy in the 1960s

No 1960s fashion round-up would be complete without mentioning Twiggy, real name Lesley Hornby. Bob hairstyles were huge for 1920s fashion, but this girl cemented an even short hairstyle‘s place in history – the pixie crop. One of the greatest muses of all time, Twiggy quickly rose to supermodel fame, thanks to her paint ’em on thick eyelashes and the boyish style celebrity hairdresser Leonard chopped for her in ’66. Almost overnight she became the face of the decade; instantly recognisable, she’s been immortalised on everything from Andy Warhol screen prints to M&S shopping bags.

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Audrey's Attic: 13 of the style icon's classic looks

 Writing about Audrey Hepburn’s style is an exercise in avoiding cliches. The challenge: what is there left to say about her poise, understated elegance, lifelong dedication to impeccable tailoring, and her enduring friendship with Hubert de Givenchy, that hasn’t already been said?

Hepburn’s power is her ubiquitousness. She’s so embedded in our understanding of fashion history; her outfits on and off screen both totally timeless and emblematic of the sartorial shifts and changes of the latter half of the 20th century. The publicity photographs for 1961’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s have graced thousands of teenage girls’ bedroom walls, and many of the clothes from her films — including the little black dress she wore as Holly Golightly, and the humble polo neck in Funny Face (1957) — are now the definition of iconic.

It’s a style that always remains distinctly hers, though, as evidenced in a new documentary Audrey, released on 30 November. Made by the award-winning team behind BAFTA-nominated McQueen, it’s no surprise that clothes feature heavily, but the film also shares a rarely seen intimate look at Hepburn’s life via archival footage and interviews with friends, family and colleagues.

The result is an insightful and moving portrayal of the Belgian-born actress who lived through the trauma of German-occupied Holland during the second world war, with the teenage Hepburn suffering malnourishment as a consequence of food scarcity. The star’s natural talents for performing became her tool for raising both local spirits and money for the Dutch resistance: dancing at secret invitation-only events where funds were collected for those leading the underground fight against the Nazis.

The stardom that followed, which saw the actress move to Hollywood and enchant millions, concealed a life spent privately seeking stability and love. Her relationship with fashion was about companionship too, with Hubert de Givenchy fulfilling the role of friend and world-leading creative collaborator — something former Givenchy creative director Clare Waight Keller recounts in the film.

“Fashion came into my life when I had my very, very first couture dress made by Hubert de Givenchy,” Hepburn once said. “The beauty was extraordinary.” It was not friendship at first sight, however. When the French couturier first met the actress, he thought he was going to be meeting Katharine Hepburn and was nonplussed at their initial encounter.

It was when Hepburn subsequently wore several outfits by the designer in her 1954 film Sabrina that the duo’s lifelong collaboration began, with the actress becoming the ultimate recipient of Givenchy’s refined approach to luxury dressing. Standout looks include an exquisite double-breasted wool skirt suit in Sabrina — its silhouette perfectly marking protagonist Sabrina Fairchild’s newfound sophistication after a stint in Paris — and the white gown with a ribbon-tied beaded bodice that Hepburn wore to attend the 1975 Academy Awards.

The hairband

The hairband has undergone a renaissance in recent years thanks to major catwalk endorsement from designers including Prada, Fendi and Simone Rocha. Although Hepburn wore her fair share of tiaras, she also appreciated the comparatively simple pleasure of a hairband: whether a neatly bow-topped alice band or an unfussy white length of fabric keeping her hair off her face while practising at the barre.

The waist belt

In Roman Holiday (1953), the film that catapulted Hepburn to stardom, the actor stars opposite Gregory Peck as a princess dispensing with royal duties to sneak around Rome. A fresh-faced Hepburn lights up the screen, all easy elegance in a blouse and voluminous skirt, cinched at the waist. It’s the details that make the look: the nonchalantly rolled-up sleeves, the jaunty striped neck scarf, ice-cream in hand, and the backdrop of the Italian capital’s meandering backstreets.

The headscarf

Hepburn loved a headscarf both on and off screen, often knotting a silk scarf over a beehive (her micro-fringe peeking out). Arguably her most glamorous style trick, the headscarf makes cameos in Funny Face, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and spy caper Charade (1963), accompanied by leather gloves and dark glasses.

The black polo neck

If there’s a working-from-home look we still find ourselves regularly lifting from Hepburn’s on-screen style CV, it’s the dance scene in Funny Face (1957), where Hepburn (playing Jo Stockton) dances her way through Paris’s intellectual underbelly in a black polo neck, black trousers and black penny loafers. Naturally, Hepburn is sinuous as a cat, and full of joy.

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Iconic Fashion Moments In Film

From Audrey Hepburn's Givenchy LBD, to Faye Dunaway's runaway wardrobe and Rita Hayworth's Gilda moment, the following are some of the most iconic style statements to grace the big screen...

1. Audrey Hepburn In Breakfast at Tiffany’s

So iconic it has a Wikipedia page all of its own. From the moment Audrey stepped out of a yellow taxi cab and stared whimsically into Tiffany & Co’s window in this gorgeous Givenchy creation, our love affair with the LBD began. Audrey and Givenchy met and collaborated on the set of Sabrina in 1954, and a life-long professional and personal partnership was ignited. ‘It was a kind of marriage’, Givenchy would later tell the Telegraph. There was nothing ‘little’ about this LBD – it set a new style standard in Hollywood in direct opposition to Dior’s ‘new look’. A modern icon was born.

2. Marilyn Monroe In The Misfits

Whilst it’s tempting to go with Marilyn’s floaty white halterneck dress made famous in The Seven Year Itch, we’re going to defy convention and opt for an iconic look that doesn’t always top the style polls. Monroe was one of the first Hollywood stars to rock a pair of jeans on screen – and not just any jeans for that matter: Levi’s. As ‘mom’ jeans inundate the high street this year, let’s remember who first styled this high waisted, straight cut denim with a classic white shirt tucked in. Monroe will always be the original blue jean icon.

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