Trends Of The Mid-1960s workshop

...as you can see from the pictures we're going through now (and the discussion about stockings being too short), hemlines *are* creeping up a little bit. We've gone from just resting over the knee, to being above the knee and gradually showing a bit more thigh.

In retaliation to everyone showing their legs, trousers became very popular for women. Mary Quant had been trying to get girls into trouser suits and culottes for quite a few years, but with the threat of raising hemlines in 1966 girls finally began to accept trousers as something that could be fun and fashionable, and weren't just for traipsing round the countryside in and getting muddy with the men.

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Trouser suits of 1965 were smart and sharp looking for the mod crowd, but 1966 brought a far more way-out look that they mainly didn't find acceptable.

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Despite the general distaste among the mods for the hippie style flared playsuits that came out around this time, the mods had always been into fashions that could easily be worn by both sexes and trousers were of course much easier to wear than a mini-skirt while riding a scooter.

So the mod take on trousers-for-girls was slacks and printed blouses. A look very much favoured by the mods these days, but the female printed shirts do prove quite difficult to track down. A particularly good make of modette shirts is Slimma whose blouses almost match the mens shirts of that era in sharpness of style. Smart prints using blues and reds are particularly popular, especially on shirts with collars and cuffs in a contrasting plain colour. Here are a few examples - modelled by Pattie again of course - of the best makes that todays mods are after.

[align=center]bright tiny red and green checks, contrasting pointed green collar and buttons. Malcolm Rowe, Courtelle.


softer-style blouse in turquoise and black paisley Viyella. It has button-down pockets, long sleeves, rounded collar. Topletina.


Wild West look with huge bold checks of beige, red and white, long tab front and straight cut. Shirt by London Pride.
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Around this time fine detailed prints (think William Morris) were in for Summer dresses with matching headscarves, trouser suits and boots

[align=center]newsprint boot for Summer trousers in navy cotton bursting with white buds and flowers, from Saxone. Caramel trouser-dress with a whole garden of turquoise flowers and a turquoise sash, from Strelitz.
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Polka dots had a very short lived fashion moment in the mid-sixties when they got caught up in the love for black and white prints. They were in at the start of ’65 according to the highbrow magazines like Vogue, but the teen scene proved them quite unfashionable by the Summer

[align=center]swing skirt, sky high swirl, sensational spots of black and white on soft chiffon. Slim sleeves, sexy top. By Polly Peck - Vogue February 1965
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BLACK AND WHITE vs BOLD COLOUR

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The 1960s is known as the decade that brought colour into people's lives, colour television, glorious colour films,magazines filled with full colour images of the stars of the day.

Now you no longer had to imagine the latest fashions in all their glory by reading the text of how the bland black and white image on the opposite page was really a "marshmallow pink" creation or a real "colour asset". Now you could see the clothes in the fashion magazines in all their colourful glory... and there were no marshmallow pinks anymore, it was all "raspberry pink" and "orange fizz". Bold, bright and beautiful.

London menswear designer John Michael explained that the riotous colours now appearing on men's shirts were "not so much to do with fashion as much as the social revolution". Bright new fashions were created by the bright new working class who no longer wanted to be drab and inconspicuous like their fathers, but wanted to "burst out into colours and exotica... they are larger than life and want to look larger than life." A member of the Chelsea set who actually wore these bright coloured fabrics put some of it down to the fact that "Drugs are fantastically important... the part they play in people's dress sense turns them onto colour."

 

We didn't call them Trouser Suits in North America - we called them Pant Suits. From what I can remember, in the early 70's, they were commonly made with "crimp knit" - I think that was the fabric. A stretchy polyester...

When I was a little girl my mother bought me a short dress with a keyhole neck and forced me to wear it. HOW I HATED that dress! It was too short to begin with, was green (I didn't like green) and had a big hole in the chest to add insult to injury.

Other than that, I love movies from the 60s with the turtlenecks and pantsuits, and other mod styles. I sold a really cute mod dress once, I wonder if I could find a picture...

Deb

 

Ah yes, I found it! Has cutouts at the neck and arms... this was my fave mod piece that I sold. Sorry about the photo quality - looking forward to the photo-ing workshop!










Deb

 

Is crimp knit like crimpolene? I'm bizarrely quite a big fan of that. Sometimes it's nice to wear something that will retain it's own shape and isn't going to require ironing! LOL!

I can deffinately see why a child wouldn't like wearing a dress with a cut-out at the chest, yu've got a very good point there!

Turtlenecks are fab. They know it's summer at work when I stop turning up in a polo-neck jumper a I have two drawers full of them in various colours (plain and striped) and love them to bits.

 

I LOVE turtlenecks of any kind - including mock turtlenecks.

Deb

 

That is a lovely dress Deb. I particularly love cut-outs on evening wear. I have a really fabulous 1960s bright red velvet cocktail dress that pulls you in and pushes you up in all the right places. It has a cut-out at the chest and detailing beneath that with lots of faux pearls. I love it, but it's beyond eye-catching and a little bit racy so I don't wear it very often.

Infact, when I tried it on I went into shock. I'd always worn excessively mod clothing before that hid my own shape from the age of about 13, and suddenly discovering I was all curvy was quite a shock for me! I came out of the changing room in a daze and when I explained to my friends what was wrong with the dress they *made* my buy it. Glad they did too.

 

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Almost as a reaction to this riotous explosion of colour clothing the youth were wearing en-masse, the Spring season of 1965 brought about a brand new trend - black and white - which was still vastly popular in the Summer season too. People dressed entirely in black, entirely in white, most used bold mixes of the two in a combination that is still considered the epitome of the 60s look... or if you followed the guidelines of Honey Magazine in April of 1965:

"Be a black-and-white girl. Mix lots of the whitest white with a dash of black. Dab on a dot of brilliant colour and you have the newest look for spring - a bold and beautiful look for girls who are positive-plus."

This look - as you can imagine - worked fabulously with the trends for op-art fabrics, cut-outs and geometric fashions, all of which were incredibly striking in black and white.

[align=center]Two "capsule line" felt helmuts by Edward Mann, modelled by Pattie Boyd and Celia Hammond
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[align=center]cool white crepe dresses by Marlborough
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[align=center]"You can always expect something new - and different - from Mary Quant, and she never disappoints you. Black-and-white dotty blouse and white linen zipper skirt by The Ginger Group"
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[align=center]Soft black and white bunny coat with one black sleeve and one white. Skinny and short with an unfussy mandarin collar. Designed by John Bates, for Selincourt's 1965-1966 winter season.
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[align=center]black and white silk culottes by Wallis.
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This black and white trend is still probably one of the most copied looks of the 60s, becomming widespread in the 1990s, and re-appearing again only a few years later in 2003.

[align=center]the "mod look" in Kenneth Cole's Autumn/Winter collection of 2003
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Talking of turtlenecks, one of the things I really love about 60s fashion that doesn't happen so much nowadays is that when you buy a vintage turtleneck, it nearly always has a zip at the back of it so that you don't totally wreck your hair and make-up getting it over your head.

Modern versions either totally mess your hair and make-up up, or the gap for your head is so loose that they just don't look right when you wear them.

Another vintage fave of mine are those little loops they put in under the shoulders that you fasten your bra-straps through. Stops your bra straps showing and stops the shoulders of your dress slipping about too. Ingenious!

Something I'm *not* a fan of though are those hooks-and-eyes they put at the neck... you spend ages making your hair look lovely before going out, put your outfit on, and within minutes the hook is caught in the back of your hair and it's very uncomfortable and you mess your neat hairstyle up everytime you untangle it - which will happen at least once every half hour for the entire time you're wearing it. I *hate* that.

 

VINTAGE
The fashion trend of 1965 most likely to interest everyone here is the epidemic of vintage clothing shops and the desire to recreate the look of ages past.

Despite all the throwing out of the old ways and the stream of fresh new ideas, vintage clothing became a major trend in the middle of the 1960s. Vogue dedicated an article to the "Attic Dress of 1965 Dandies" who grew bored of wearing the same as everyone else and began to search out their grandfathers' clothes in the attic so that they'd have something totally different to wear: "Those without attics search the markets (Portobello Road, Bixton, Church Street, Paddington). Those with the dosh... are having things made up by the sort of tailors who are amazed at nothing."

The fashion designers who had spent the first half of the decade clamouring to create something entirely new and different began reaching back in time to create vintage styled clothing to sell new in the shops.

This of course culminated in the "thirties look" popularised at the end of the sixties. An excessively popular trend amongst women, with the hairstyles and make-up becoming essential as well as the clothes. Thirties style wigs were created as well as whole ranges of make-up with old styled nail polishes, eye shadows and lipsticks in "thirties reds".

But back in '65 and '66, it was all about true-blue vintage clothing. The movement was largely lead by a Victorian clothing collector called Sheila Cohen who started the most famous vintage-fashion boutique, "Granny Takes A Trip". Her boyfriend at the time was the painter Nigel Waymouth (part of the psychedelic design team "Hapshash & The Coloured Coat" who produced many famous psychedelic and surreal posters, record covers and murals) whose friend John Pearse was a well-renowned mod tailor.

[align=center]the three founders of Granny Takes A Trip pictured inside the shop
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Sheila's love of vintage clothing inspired the idea of the boutique when John's mod mind realised that vintage was the only way to go if you wanted a truly individual outfit. Soon Nigel's mind too was caught up in the idea, realising that he had the opportunity to create a complimentary range of new clothing that would sell alongside the vintage. At the close of '65 the successful trio moved from their vintage clothing stall into premises at 488 King's Road and the legend of Granny Takes A Trip began.

More information about Granny Takes A Trip can be found in an earlier thread I started about it here.

[align=center]the exterior of Granny Takes A Trip in it's Jean Harlow phase
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And that full-circle moment when the newest trend was to dress in clothing from the past concludes the organised part of my delve into the fashion trends of the mid-1960s. I hope some of you have found it interesting and/or useful.

Thanks to everyone who has managed to join in so far, and if anyone has any further questions or comments please don't hesitate to post in.

love, moons and starrs,
Senti.*

 

Senti, that dress was American made. Tried to find something about the company but couldn't. I remember it being a popular label in the mid to late 60s, but I think produced clothing much earlier. Maybe Lizzie can help with info on Gay Gibson.

Now that you are talking about pants suits , I have a few more scans and one of shirts.

The first two are Yves St Laurent.

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<img src="http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b309/dixieland5/60slook4sm.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com"><br><br>
</center>Oh, and Twiggy says hello.

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LOL! Hello Twiggy!

The picture of the guy and girl in the blue outfits - if they just removed the ties, that would perfect mod wear for todays mods. They *love* the striped shirts with the plain collars and cuffs, and hipster shirts and trousers with wide belts are really popular too.

That look doesn't work too well on me as I've got a really small waistline and wide hips so the shirt goes all messy imbetween my chest and the hipsters. :( I sometimes wear that look anyway, but fiddle with the top of the hipsters, trying to organise the shirt the whole time.

I really should stop wearing it but I have some really lovely hipster skirts and some fabulous Slimma shirts that go with them. Just wish my body went with the outfit! LOL!

 

The ski-pants and the hand-knit jumper are very 1964. I like that look for holidays but the mod crowd consider it a bit too prim. I always feel like I need to go on a picnic somewhere when I dress like that.

 

Thought I'd share some pictures of the creators of the majority of the fashion I've been talking about.

[align=center]Sally Tuffin And Marion Foale


Mary Quant having her geometric haircut adjusted by Vidal Sassoon who created geometric hairstyles such as the five-point-cut to go with the geometric outfits

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So do you back-comb your hair?

I like watching reruns of the old Star Trek for the clothing fashions & hairdos of the 60s. The black and white fad reminds me of that Star Trek show about prejudice with the 2 guys with the black & white faces.

Deb

 

Oh gosh, I backcmb my hair so often that if I look in the mirror with flat hair I hardly recognise myself.

I don't always go totally crazy with huge hair, but I like a little lift there to make me look like me.

I love the old episodes of Star Trek for the same reasons - who knew aliens would be so groovy and stylish!

 

I even backcomb my hair when it's curly. Unfortunately my hair is naturally curly, so I am doomed to forever dry my hair in order to backcomb it, and then if I want curls I have to re-dampen the ends of my hair or put them in rollers.

I'm a trained hairdresser so I can't stand my hair to be doing it's own thing, I have to control it. I love backcombing hair so even my non-60s friends get attacked too.

A picture of my friend Emily in white who arrived looking all modern and was soon attacked with one of my white mini-dresses, some rollers, backcombing and some eyeliner before we went out. I'm in the picture in yellow, having bckcombed and then re-curled my hair.

 

Oh yes indeed, we back combed or "teased" our hair back then quite a lot.

I also had the straight bangs. Use to tape them down and let them dry since I had a little bit of natural curl at the hair line.

Here are some pics.

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<img src="http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b309/dixieland5/mostcongenialsm.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com"><br><br>
</center>Not too Mod dressed but the little skirt was quite short and the dress was an a-line with lace trim.