How the 60s Changed Fashion History Forever
When the moon is in the Seventh House
And Jupiter aligns with Mars
Then peace will guide the planets
And love will steer the stars
This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius
Age of Aquarius
The 5th dimension
There's no question: the 1960s were the most vertiginous years in 20th century history. On the one hand, the birth of social movements, of the counterculture, of new policies, expressions and economies; in the other, the death of old customs and the birth of a new era.
Fashion is no exception and during that decade it evolved in various aspects that today are highly relevant for understanding how history changed. What were the clothes of the time like? What did she wear and what did it imply? Who were affected by the changes in clothing? Without a doubt, the 60s were a great clothing revolution in all aspects.
The evolution of fashion in the 1960s can be divided into several stages: the first years, which kept the style of the previous decade, but with the rebirth of new colors and hairstyles; the years of the hippie movement that brought with them an explosion of new patterns, colors and cuts; and the age of psychedelia, which became fundamental in fashion and clothing for the following years.
The sixties demanded more than just the fancy clothes of the fifties. The women of the time found clothes whose style was more informal, questioning previous standards and imposing straight cuts and clearly ... shorter.
Among the most revolutionary designers of the decade are Adrèe Courreges, Cathy McGowan, Mary Quant and Yves Saint Laurent. It was not that Dior or Chanel did not maintain the validity of their proposals, but in the others, there was a sense of innovation, inherited from the revolutionary 1920s, but with new colors and garments.
The Mondrian
In 1965, French designer Yves Saint Laurent was responsible for creating one of the most iconic pieces of the decade. His Mondrian collection, inspired by the paintings of the Dutch Piet Mondrian, was so innovative that it quickly made it onto the covers of the most important fashion magazines such as Vogue, but also in publications such as Life Magazine.
The objective of the collection was clear: a piece with simple lines, but forceful as that series of paintings made in 1920 with primary colors as the premise of color in the most universal sense of the term.
Saint Laurent had a very simple slogan in mind: take the great artists, to print them on his creations. The result is dresses that inspired dozens of designers to create similar pieces. This is how he described it himself:
“I had always been passionate about painting, and therefore it was natural that it inspired my creations. I have wanted to weave links between painting and clothing, convinced that a painter is always from our time and can accompany everyone's life ”.
But, not only the Mondrian kept the validity of the time, the sixties saw the birth of the miniskirt, another of the fundamental garments.
The miniskirt
The summer of 1964 was about to create a revolution in fashion at the hands of Mary Quant, the British designer responsible for launching the miniskirt.
Quant said that "a woman is as young as her knee" and with that slogan in mind, she created the garment that with its 15 centimeters above the knee, became the symbol of female empowerment of the time.
For obvious reasons, the most conservative sectors were tremendously surprised when they saw a garment that measured between 35 and 45 centimeters and that let the legs look like nothing, something unthinkable at that time.
But the miniskirt had and fulfilled a mission: it was the social response of young people to the time, because while they sought to protest, they also wanted to distinguish themselves from adults.
“It was an extraordinary phenomenon and it had a great impact as it was part of the emerging youth culture of the 1960s,” explained Valerie Steele, a fashion historian in America.
The miniskirt had a great repercussion reinforced by the sexual revolution (era of freedoms), the appearance of contraceptive pills and great artists of the time such as Brigitte Bardot (the sexual icon par excellence) or Nancy Sinatra.
The miniskirt became one of the essential pieces of the time. They took her from Jackie Kennedy, the first lady of the United States, to the controversial Yoko Ono. The garment became a favorite par excellence.
The jeans
In April 1971, shortly after the end of the decade, the Rolling Stones presented their album Sticky Fingers, whose cover design, by Andy Warhol, featured jeans that could be zipped up and down as many times as possible. It was no accident. Jeans were already an essential part of the decade and were a must have.
Jeans had previously been used in the 1950s with characters like James Dean at the helm, but in the 1960s they received a new boost and are here to stay. The reason? The birth, growth and spread of the hippie movement, and of numerous stars using them.
The best option was flared pants, a symbol of a bold, rebellious society with a strong awareness of breaking with the conventional. In addition, new fabrics with flower and color prints were born that re-signified his speech of peace, love and criticism of the way in which people lived.
The pants eventually triggered a change in the upper garments as well. It is at that time that men's shirts with Hindu prints or all kinds of accessories for women come up. Also, the cancellation of the bra and the liked flowers on the head.
What were the men wearing?
Unlike women, men maintained a style very attached to the conventional within the early years of the decade, but quite revolutionary towards the middle of it. In the beginning it was common to see men wear suits to go everywhere. Just like it happens in the television series Mad Men.
With the passage of time and thanks to music stars like Bob Dylan and The Beatles, men adopted new styles, among which the beatnik stands out.
There were also the turtlenecks, the tight black garments and the wild hair, characteristic of the rebelliousness of that time.
However, faced with the need for new looks, hippies and the style of artists such as Jimmy Hendrix appeared, who was also African-American and distinguished himself from others, precisely because of his appearance.
There was the tough opposition to the Vietnam War, the preaching of peace and not war, free love and long hair, the necklaces, the flared pants, and psychedelic patterns everywhere.
1960 closed his own creation and prepared a world with more freedom. With more colors, more expressions and more ways to dress.
1960 changed everything and opened the door to the punks of the seventies and the raucous people of the clubs in the eighties.
Probably 1960 was in fashion, the undisputed Age of Aquarius.
