Fashion History of the 1960's


I believe the 60�s had the most fashion diverse fashion groups of an individual decade. Let�s start with the Jackie O�s.
A Jackie O wore an A-line dress introduced in 1955 by Christian Dior. It was a dress with two sides gently angling out from the bust line. Jackie Kennedy made the dress a trademark. She wore it with gloves and a pillbox hat. She complimented the dress with nice handbags.
These are some A-line dresses!
Beatlemania came with the 60�s. Beatles were a notorious band that started a trend. A guy that wore tailored, slim-cut suits with pointy-toed Chelsea heeled boots (a.k.a. Beatle Boots) were a part of the Beatlemania. They would also wear fringe-cut hair or a Mop Top.

With the excitement of exploring an unknown universe the Space Age style came to fashion. Along with this fashion came new uses of other materials. Metal, plastic, paper and vinyl were used in clothing. Electric lights could be switched on and off. A part of the style was complimented with �go-go� boots, vinyl cutouts, bubble hats, and cut-away helmets.
These were the days of the Space-Age!
Mods were modernists who eventually evolved to a new group I will explain later. The original Mods were British working-class teens, mainly boys who liked jazz, Italian scooters, button-down Fred Perry casuals, and fine tailored clothing, extremely well tailored. They also held a strong, firm belief in minimalism, a design using the fewest and simplest elements to achieve a great effect. They listened to jazz and �Mod� bands like the Who and Small Faces.
Basic Mod fashion!
They wore desert boots to protect their feet from engine heat from their Vespa Scooters and parkas to stay dry if it rained while they were driving. Their slim suits were impeccably tailored, and they wore a short, respectable hair style. They earned their own money and battled with greasy rockers. The true mods faded away after an infamous rocker riot in 1964.
This is a Desert Boot!
Evolving from the original mods came the swinging 60�s psychedelic mods. They wore bold colors with ostentatious (showy) patterns. They used technologically advanced materials like vinyl , electrical lights and paper. OP-Art (Optical Art) was used with black and white geometric prints. Their colors were fluorescent psychedelics. They used pop art logos, mailing label dresses, Warhol�s soup can paper dresses, miniskirts, �go-go� boots, Beatles-inspired Sgt. Pepper uniforms, and Nehru jackets. Boys wore frilly lace collars, velvet suits, and bold patterned ties. Extremely popular with this style were paisley and polka dots. Rainbow-striped mohair fabric was pretty popular, too. Pointy toed Chelsea boots (Beatle Boots) were worn along with the mop tops. Big psychedelic mod designers included Carnaby Street, John Stephen, Ossie Clark (designer of the desert boot), Mary Quant (designer of the miniskirt), and Biba. From the Mods, two groups branched off.
The Miniskirt!		Warhol's paper Dress!
The Chelsea Boot!	The Go-Go Boot		The Nehru Jacket!
The first group was psychedelics. Psychedelics wore tie-dye shirts to mimic drug-induced visuals caused by LSD. They wore bright colors. Music they listened to included Jefferson Airplane, Jim Hendrix and Janis Joplin.
The second group was Folkies. They were more down to earth and nature-like. They made their own clothes. Crochet, macram� clothing, and patchwork was worn. They listened to Peter, Paul and Mary and Joni Mitchell.
These two groups later united to protest the Vietnam War. Out of this combining the Hippies were born. They wore flowers in their hair, bell bottoms, love beads, Victorian gowns with Native American silver and turquoise jewelry, and colorful, silk scarves from India on their heads. They grew out their hair and men wore beards. They celebrated nudity. They painted their bodies, faces, and bell bottoms with flowers and anti-war peace loving slogans and symbols. Hippies wore earth shoes, leather sandals, Elf Boots, and plain bare feet.
Overall 1960 shoes were boots, stilettos, sandals, pumps and platforms. They came in all shapes and sizes. There were tons of colors. Vinyl and plastic were introduced to shoes.