Trends Of The Mid-1960s workshop

I am thoroughly enjoying your workshop Senti!! A job well done. I was born in the early 60's, so remember a lot of these fashions worn by my very cool Mom!!

 

Senti this is great! Being a teen in the 60s, I idolized Patti Boyd and
SO wish I still had my clothes from this period. I lived in miniskirts and like so many during that time, my passion was anything British.

I recently purchased a 60s crochet white mini dress off of ebay that I'm pretty sure is authentic to the era. It is homemade, cute as heck, but it is lined - was this a trend with the homemade items do you think?

Sue

 

A lot of homemade crochet items do have linings in them as people couldn't ensure that the holes they created were going to end up in the right places, and protect their modesty. The manufactured crochet items usually worked the panels so that the denser stitching was around the areas you wanted to cover up such as the chest area.

To be honest though, in the early to mid 60s, the majority of crochet items were hand made. It really is very evry quick and easy to do once you get the hang of it, and when I first managed to do crochet stitches (it's one of those things where you can't do it at all, and then all of a sudden something clicks and you've got it) I made myself a whole crochet hat while watching a half hour TV show... so a whole hat in half an hour was my first attempt.

When you buy modern crochet items it's all the other way around (even if you are buying the 1990s Biba range), homemade items are without linings, and all the manufactured items have linings. Most people these days wouldn't know what to do if you created a "how do I wear this" problem, they just wouldn't buy the item. So modern crochet dresses have linings.

 

My mother had some very cool 60s clothes (which I have now permanently "borrowed") but her style was less mod style and mini skirts, and more like Alexandra Bastedo in The Champions.

I'd never have discovered the more up-market 60s styles if it weren't for rummaging through my mother's clothes and her mother's clothes from that era. I'd have just been stuck wanting Mary Quant and buying vintage clothes made for Marks and Spencers. ..I'm afraid she has now given me a bit of a taste for the posh stuff though. I think that's another reason why Dollyrocker appeals to me - I have the fun of Mary Quant but with the silks and satins of Dior. It's fabulous!

 

[align=center]crochet dress from 1966 - basic repeated pattern used throughout to create a very smart suit dress


crochet trouser-suit / playsuit from the late 60s using a plain repeated pattern again, but adding masses of crocket flowers at the hems
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I'm going to move to the next bit, but please feel free to continue with any questions or comments on things mentioned earlier, or bring in any different styles you wish to discuss:

GEOMETRIC
A particular favourite fashion style of mine is geometric fashion. Made up of bold coloured fabrics cut into sharp lines that do not cling to the wearer or follow their shape, but create entirely their own shape and look. The aim of geometric fashion was - for once - to draw attention away from the wearer and onto the fashion itself. When you wear a geometric dress you almost become the dress, adopting it's shape, it's boldness.

Geometric outfits did not come in patterned material, they were usually made up of panels of vividly coloured fabric, and the motifs found on them were as sharp and bold as the shape of the outfits themselves. This style of clothing was soon adopted for use by the airline companies, dressing each stewardess in a sharp, smart and bold outfit that would instantly stand out among any airport crowd - and that bizarrely could exactly match the logo and decoration of the aeroplane itself.

[align=center]wool crepe playsuit by Alice at Quorum
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The British geometric style of 1965 was dramatically introduced to the US during the YouthQuake tour when the hottest young designers Mary Quant, Marion Foale and Sally Tuffin grouped together and took their fashions on tour almost like a pop group. To add to the pop-group vibe, their star models of the tour included Beatle George Harrison's girlfriend Pattie Boyd and her sister Jenny who worked alongside Sandra Moss and Sarah Dawson.

two dresses by Mary Quant - Sarah Dawson in Regimental Tie shift, and Sandra Moss in Edwardian bather

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three dresses by Foale and Tuffin

• Pattie Boyd in sleeveless dress with "funburst" radiating from the low scoop neck to the hipline.
• Jenny Boyd in Crossword Puzzle shift
• Sandra Moss in Blazing Bands of Gold

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The Youthquake label was launched in the US as part of Puritan Fashions and was still going strong by the end of the decade. The bright and bold geometric clothing of the Youthquake tour was popular enough that a selection of Mary Quant's spring 1966 fashion range along the same lines was launched on the Youthquake label and again promoted by Beatlegirl Pattie Boyd.

 

I am going to indulge myself now by showing you a full fashion spread from this range that was promoted in the March 1966 issue of Seventeen Magazine

OUR GIRL IN LONDON
(This title was a take on the "Letter From London" series that Pattie Boyd wrote for 16 Magazine in 1965, explaining the latest fashion and pop music trends going on in the city, as well as sharing beauty and modelling tips)
PATTIE BOYD, top London model, is best known stateside for one of her hobbies: Beatle George Harrison. They met on the set of "A Hard Days Night" (she had a bit part), have dated since. Pattie likes London best at night, prefers days in the country, where she rides and sketches.

[align=center]This photo Pattie is posing with actor Tom Courtenay (Dr. Zhivago). All of the clothes are Mary Quant designs made available in the U.S. through Puritan Fashions. Pattie tries versions of a Mary Quant special: navy with "Stinging acid green." To take the gray out of a rainy day, a dress of rayon crepe in navy with wide bands of acid green; it's narrow at the top, flaring to the hem. About $20.


Pattie posing with artist William Feilding 26. A slip of a dress in the same colors, the same floating fabric, this time in a pared away shape with a low belt, the famous Quant low pockets, and eyeleted white band above the green-banded hem. About $23.


Pattie posing with the Merseybeats at the Scotch of St. James Club. Acid green is the color power with a navy yoke and low navy pockets. That clever eyeleted white band reappears, sandwiched between two bands of navy. Dress of rayon crepe, about $18.


Pattie posing with interior designer Jon Bannenberg. Mary Quant mixes up navy, red and white for a colorful scramble as fire- crackling as the Fourth of July! Pattie's white jumper is cut, cut, cut away for an apron look. Of cotton twill, about $15, worn with a ribbed sweater by Alberoy.


Pattie posing with actor David Warner. Her cotton twill navy skimmer has dashes of white at neck, arms, hem, plus red button-down pockets. About $18.


Pattie posing with sports enthusiast George Drummond, one of the richest young men in England. Triple-play bands of red and navy edge Pattie's tunic; front and center: a pocket for her stop watch! About $15. Long lean pants, about $11. Both are cotton twill.


Pattie posing with Jon Bradshaw an American magazine writer living in London. A suspender skirt is of butcher-striped cotton. The straps have brass eyelets all the way along; they buckle in an X. About $15. The ribbed sweater is by Alberoy.
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Pictures by JOHN COWAN

 

Here are a few 60s scans that I have from an encyclopedia yearbook. Have more but I think these would follow what you have commented on thus far. I believe these photos would be 1967, reviewed in the 1968 yearbook.

This is a Dior.<center><img src="http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b309/dixieland5/1968fashion2dior.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com"><br><br><img src="http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b309/dixieland5/60slook3.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com"><br><br></center>Another Dior.<br><br><center><img src="http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b309/dixieland5/60sdior.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com"><br><br>
</center>

 

The Paris designers also used a lot of geometry in their designs during this period, but the look they created was stark rather than bold and fun. They also mainly failed to use to vivid colours that designers such as Quant and Foale and Tuffin used which tended to give their outfits a rather bland look.

[align=center]short straight jersey shift by Yves Saint Laurent with white torso, blonde skirt, vertical black bands and left shoulder in grey
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The geometric style produced some amazing eye-catching outfits that were perfect at hiding the shape of the wearer and creating a whole new shape and appearance all by themselves... but as the look progressed over the decade, it went rather extreme and never managed to improve or even match the success of the look when it was launched in the mid 1960s.

As you can see in the example below, by 1969 the bold bright colours and strong geometric shapes had gone to the extreme and had completely wiped out the femininity of the wearer:

[align=center]Mouche in a suit by Ken Scott pictured in Vogue 1969
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Oooh, thanks for adding the pictures! The top one is a good example of how cut-outs and crochet started to escaclate into impractical chainmail outfits - which looked interesting in the fashion magazines but never really caught on as you couldn't really go out dancing in something so uncomfortable and would get dreadful imprints whenever you sat down... even on the versions which had leather sections fastened together with metal links.

 

Ooh, I can imagine the imprints! Ouch!

Here is a 1960s dress I have for sale now by Gay Gibson. Although it is not your classic shift dress, it does have the bands of color. Would you date this to mid, late 60s?

<center><img src="http://image.inkfrog.com/pix/magnolia05/ggibson2tone.jpg">

 

We rented "A Hard Days Night" not that long ago! I did notice how mod they all were.

Deb

 

I'd say that dress looks like a perfect 1966 American version of geometric fashion as it has all the bold colours and shapes, but uses them on a much more feminine outfit. It's a fabulous example! Is the make American or just influenced by the American style?

 

Crikey - this has brought back some memories! ;-)

I remember making a small fortune making those hippie waistcoats in multi-coloured crochet squares!

I think the biggest attraction to the 60s fashions was that for the first time we could dress totally different to our mothers! Up until then, even Juniors and Misses lines were just versions of the woman's clothes - with all their restrictions.

And when tights (pantyhose) were introduced - wow! freedom!!!

This has been GREAT, Senti - thank you!

 

I remember how exciting it was when tights were introduced....AND in such fabulous colours!

Sue

 

That is an unusally mod film yes, I'd never thought of it that way! I could easily sneak all four Beatles into a modern-day mod club!

It is a little unfortunate for Pattie that she has to dress as a school girl for the entirity of her part in the film while some of the other girls get in on the party scene in more groovy clothing... but the lads seem to like the schoolgirl look I guess. LOL!

 

Yes... but BEFORE tights, I guess they made SUPER long stockings... because I just happened into a TON of them in wonderful colors. Some with glitter, even. Before this, I didn't even know such a thing existed!

But mostly I like what the tops of the stockings say:

<img src="http://www.elsewherevintage.com/images/modbrickred15_small.jpg">

(in case you can't see thru the glare... they read "MOD LOOK For shorter skirts" :bouncy: )

LOVING the workshop! Great information here!

 

I don't think I'd cope without tights. I do wear stockings now and then with certain outfits (especially if I have an excuse to wear my Beatle stockings that have moptops and guitars all over them), but they're a real pain with a mini skirt as you're always in danger of showing the tops of your stockings off when you sit down!

 

I'm learning things now - they did extra long stockings just to wear with short skirts?! WOW! Why didn't they make Beatle stockings that long. :(