Fashion of the 1960s featured a number of diverse trends, as part of a decade that broke many fashion traditions, adopted new cultures, and launched a new age of social movements. Around the middle of the decade, fashions arising from small pockets of young people in a few urban centers received large amounts of media publicity and began to heavily influence both the haute couture of elite designers and the mass-market manufacturers. Examples include the miniskirt, culottes, go-go boots, and more experimental fashions, less often seen on the street, such as curved PVC dresses and other PVC clothes.
Mary Quant popularized the miniskirt, and Jackie Kennedy introduced the pillbox hat; both became extremely popular. False eyelashes were worn by women throughout the 1960s. Hairstyles were a variety of lengths and styles. Psychedelic prints, neon colors, and mismatched patterns were in style.
In the early to mid-1960s, London "Modernists" known as mods influenced male fashion in Britain. Designers were producing clothing more suitable for young adults, leading to an increase in interest and sales. In the late 1960s, the hippie movement also exerted a strong influence on women's clothing styles, including bell-bottom jeans, tie-dye and batik fabrics, as well as paisley prints.
Women's fashion
Early 1960s (1960–1963)
High fashion
The high fashion of the early years of the decade continued trends of the late 1950s, as reflected in the elegance of the First Lady of the United States, Jacqueline Kennedy, who was a longtime habitué of Paris couture, particularly Givenchy, even being offered a position at French Vogue during the 1950s. In addition to tailored skirts, women wore tapered-toe, stiletto heel pumps, now often with lower heels and squared toe tips, gloves in various lengths, various styles of hats, bouffant hairstyles, and well-tailored suits with short boxy jackets and oversized buttons, as well as easier, Chanel-inspired cardigan suits. Simple, knee-length geometric dresses, known as shifts, were also in style. For eveningwear, regal-looking full-skirted or columnar evening dresses in sumptuous fabrics of substantial weight were worn, brocades, damasks, cloqués, as well as extensive chiffon; these often had low necklines or boatnecks and close-fitting waists. With their eveningwear, women would wear evening gloves, mainly white or black, also following the fashion of Jacqueline Kennedy, who patronized and got her ideas from the top French and US couturiers.
The rise of trousers for women
The 1960s were an age of fashion innovation for women. The early 1960s gave birth to drainpipe jeans and capri pants, a style popularized by Audrey Hepburn. Casual dress became more unisex and often consisted of plaid button down shirts worn with slim blue jeans, comfortable slacks, or skirts. Traditionally, trousers had been viewed by western society as masculine, but by the early 1960s, it had become acceptable for women to wear them every day. These included Levi Strauss jeans, previously considered blue collar wear, and "stretch" drainpipe jeans with elastane. Women's trousers came in a variety of styles: narrow, wide, below the knee, above the ankle, and eventually mid-thigh. Mid-thigh cut trousers, also known as shorts, evolved around 1969. By adapting men's style and wearing trousers, women voiced their equality to men.
In the early 1960s, the formal sartorial standards of the 1950s continued to be the norm, and women were not permitted to wear trousers in public establishments like restaurants and schools or in the workplace, and they were generally not worn on city streets. As in the fifties, they were popular for leisure activities and at-home wear, especially among the young, and designers occasionally presented full palazzo pants for dressier at-home entertaining. The prevalent style was a narrow or tight, high-waisted form, often in stretch fabric, that could reach anywhere from just below the knee to the ankle, with stirrup pants extending the length further and helping maintain a taut line. These were given names like stretch pants or ski pants. In line with the norms of the time, the fabric was of a substantial weight, even in the stretch styles. Denim was occasionally worn but wouldn't yet be at the peaks of popularity it would reach later in the decade. Early sixties shorts were of similar narrow, fitted shape and ended anywhere from mid-thigh to just above the knee.
Two designers in particular would begin to make concerted attempts to increase public acceptability of trousers during the early 1960s, Norman Norell and André Courrèges. In 1960, Norell would present his first solo collection, and it would emphasize skirt-looking trousers called culottes as part of formal ensembles suitable for city streets, including culotte suits and culotte dresses. These were knee-length in the style of the time and worn with coordinated hats, gloves, and pumps. His second collection, shown for 1961, would expand trouser wear into evening in styles like chiffon culottes and harem pants that Norell intended to be worn outside the home at dinner parties and formal functions. Courrèges showed his first collection in 1961 and immediately became known for his fine tailoring and well-made trousers, which he intended to be worn in multiple settings and cut long and slim to extend in a clean line onto the top of the foot. His early sixties collections were just harbingers of the influence he would enjoy in the mid-sixties, when he would make trousers a focal point of his revolutionary ideas.
Women's boots began to make an appearance during the early sixties, first with designers but soon with women on the streets. Pumps still dominated by far, but boots were beginning to be accepted as well, the first signs of what would become a norm that would last for at least twenty years. At the end of the fifties, pointy-toed ankle boots had begun to be seen, sharing the pointy-toed, needle-heeled shape of the pumps of the time but extending into a short shaft, and dance clothier Capezio introduced flat, knee-high boots that they called ballet boots. These would increase in popularity in the early 1960s, when flat heels would dominate. In 1962, a range of designers and manufacturers dramatically increased the number of boots offered, with many reaching the knee but including all heights below that as well. Boots for warm weather were presented as well, a trend that would continue into the early 1970s. In 1963, women's boot choices would expand further, with some reaching the thigh, most famously in Roger Vivier's creations for Yves Saint Laurent's fall 1963 collection. Calf-high boots were the most favored at this time, and 1963 would see the debut of André Courrèges's celebrated lower-calf boots, most popular in white, that he would show through 1965. White versions of these flat, calf-high 1963-65 boots would be the first boots to be referred to as go-go boots.
The modern bikini, named after the nuclear test site on Bikini Atoll, was invented in France by Louis Réard in 1946 but struggled to gain acceptance in the mass-market during the 1950s, especially in America. In 1963, rather large versions of bikinis featured in the surprise hit teen film Beach Party, which led a wave of films that made the bikini a pop-culture symbol.
The monokini, also known as a "topless bikini" or "unikini", was designed by Rudi Gernreich in 1964, consisting of only a brief, close-fitting bottom and two thin straps; it was the first women's topless swimsuit. Gernreich's revolutionary and controversial design included a bottom that "extended from the midriff to the upper thigh" and was "held up by shoestring laces that make a halter around the neck." Some credit Gernreich's design with initiating, or describe it as a symbol of, the sexual revolution.
Space age fashions
Astronaut look (Vienna)
The space age is commonly dated from 1957 to 1972, corresponding to the Space Race during the Cold War. Throughout this period, elements of mass culture—including science fiction literature, films, and television series such as Star Trek: The Original Series, Dan Dare, or Lost In Space—were heavily influenced by space exploration themes. Fashion also reflected this influence by emphasizing energy and technological advancements of the period in its material, silhouettes, and styles. Pierre Cardin and André Courrèges are credited as major figures in the development of space age fashion. Cardin had been inspired to move in a futuristic direction after seeing cosmonauts during his first visit to the Soviet Union in 1963,[deprecated source?] subsequently referring to his most avant styles as Cosmonaut or Cosmocorps looks.
Synthetic material was popular among space age fashion designers. After the Second World War, fabrics like nylon, corfam, orlon, terylene, lurex and spandex were promoted as cheap, easy to dry, and wrinkle-free. The synthetic fabrics of the 1960s allowed space age fashion designers such as Pierre Cardin to design garments with bold shapes and a plastic texture. Paco Rabanne was known for his 1966 "12 Unwearable Dresses in Contemporary Materials" collection, made of chain mail, aluminum, and plastic. Rabanne would even design the iconic green dress, as well as the other costumes, Jane Fonda wore in the 1968 science fiction film Barbarella. People Magazine journalist Hedy Philips described Rabanne's Space Age fashion as "turning the fashion world upside down." Non-cloth material, such as polyester, lucite, and PVC, became popular in clothing and accessories as well.
The space age look featured boxy shapes, thigh-length hemlines and bold accessories. For daytime outerwear, vinyl raincoats, colorful swing coats, bubble dresses, helmet-like hats, and dyed fake-furs were popular for young women. In 1966, the Nehru jacket arrived on the fashion scene, and was worn by both sexes. Waistlines for women were left unmarked and hemlines were getting shorter and shorter.
Metallic silver was a prominent color in space age fashions, especially in 1965 and '66, as well as the stark white of André Courrèges. The futuristic-looking geometry of the Op Art of such artists as Bridget Riley, Victor Vasarely, and Richard Anuszkiewicz influenced prints, as did geometric art from earlier in the century like that of Piet Mondrian, inspiration for Yves Saint Laurent's popular Mondrian shift dresses of 1965. Fluorescent colors (also known as day-glo or neon), phosphorescent effects, and even light-up dresses like those shown by Diana Dew in 1967 were also seen.
Footwear for women included low-heeled sandals and kitten-heeled pumps, as well as shoes of transparent plastic and go-go boots. André Courrèges is credited as the pioneer designer of go-go boots, which were widely imitated and adapted. Courrèges' original designs featured flat heels and unconventional closures made from Velcro—a material also used by NASA within spacecrafts. Go-go boots, appearing in a variety of fluorescent colors and shiny materials like sequins, became a staple of go-go girl fashion in the 1960s. Shoes and boots were often made of patent leather or vinyl.
The miniskirt has not been unanimously attributed to a single designer. Rather, it is commonly acknowledged among historians that fashion designers like Mary Quant, André Courrèges, and John Bates all contributed to the popularity of the miniskirt in the 1960s.
Quant, a London-born British designer, is frequently cited as one of the earliest proponents of the abbreviated silhouette. In 1955, Quant opened her boutique Bazaar on the fashionable King's Road in Chelsea district of London. By 1961, Bazaar had transitioned from selling imported Italian and Austrian designs to offering Quant's very own label, which featured unconventional ready-to-wear styles like the miniskirt. The so-called "Chelsea Look"—or "Chelsea Girl"—aesthetic became closely associated with Quant's miniskirts and her other bold, youthful silhouettes displayed and sold at Bazaar. The term miniskirt likely derives from a reference to the Morris Mini-Minor automobile, or Mini Cooper, introduced in 1959. The prefix mini began appearing in print in reference to skirts and dresses by 1965. However, as late as 1966, Quant herself continued to describe her designs simply as "short, short skirts," rather than using the term miniskirt.
Courrèges was a French fashion designer who also began experimenting with hemlines in the early 1960s. He started to show space-age dresses that hit above the knee in late 1964. His clothes represented a couture version of the "Youthquake" street style and heralded the arrival of the "moon girl" look.
As teen culture became stronger, the term "Youthquake" came to mean the power of young people. This was unprecedented before the 1960s. Before World War II, teenagers dressed and acted like their parents. Many settled down and began raising families when they were young, normally right after high school. They were often expected to work and assist their families financially. Therefore, youth culture began to develop only after World War II, when the advancement of many technologies and stricter child labor laws became mainstream. Teenagers during this period had more time to enjoy their youth, and the freedom to create their own culture separate from their parents. Teens soon began establishing their own identities and communities, with their own views and ideas, breaking away from the traditions of their parents. The fabulous "little girl" look was introduced to USA—styling with Bobbie Brooks, bows, patterned knee socks and mini skirts. The miniskirt and the "little girl" look that accompanied it reflect a revolutionary shift in the way people dress. Instead of younger generations dressing like adults, they became inspired by childlike dress.
Second-wave feminism made the miniskirt popular. Women had entered the professional workforce in larger numbers during World War II, and many women soon found they craved a career and life outside the home. They wanted the same choices, freedoms, and opportunities that were offered to men.
During the mid-1960s, mod girls wore very short miniskirts, tall, brightly colored go-go boots, monochromatic geometric print patterns such as houndstooth, and tight fitted, sleeveless tunics. Flared trousers and bell bottoms appeared in 1964 as an alternative to capri pants, and led the way to the hippie period introduced in the 1960s. Bell bottoms were usually worn with chiffon blouses, polo-necked ribbed sweaters or tops that bared the midriff. These were made in a variety of materials including heavy denims, silks, and even elasticated fabrics. Variations of polyester were worn along with acrylics. A popular look for women was the suede mini-skirt worn with a French polo-neck top, square-toed boots, and Newsboy cap or beret. This style was also popular in the early 2000s.
Women were inspired by the top models of those days, such as Twiggy, Jean Shrimpton, Colleen Corby, Penelope Tree, Edie Sedgwick and Veruschka. Velvet mini dresses with lace-collars and matching cuffs, wide tent dresses and culottes pushed aside the geometric shift. False eyelashes were in vogue, as was pale lipstick. Hemlines kept rising, and by 1968 they had reached well above mid-thigh. These were known as "micro-minis". This was when the "angel dress" first made its appearance on the fashion scene. A micro-mini dress with a flared skirt and long, wide trumpet sleeves, it was usually worn with patterned tights, and was often made of crocheted lace, velvet, chiffon or sometimes cotton with a psychedelic print. The cowled-neck "monk dress" was another religion-inspired alternative; the cowl could be pulled up to be worn over the head. For evening wear, skimpy chiffon baby-doll dresses with spaghetti-straps were popular, as well as the "cocktail dress", which was a close-fitting sheath, usually covered in lace with matching long sleeves. Feather boas were occasionally worn. Famous celebrities associated with marketing the miniskirt included: Twiggy; model Jean Shrimpton, who attended an event in the Melbourne Cup Carnival in Australia wearing a miniskirt in 1965; Goldie Hawn, who appeared on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In with her mini skirt in 1967; and Jackie Kennedy, who wore a short white pleated Valentino dress when she married Aristotle Onassis in 1968.
"No-bra" bras, bodystockings, and low heels
Designers André Courrèges and Rudi Gernreich began discouraging bras in the first half of the 1960s, part of a move toward more comfort and a natural look after the heavily constructed, boned, wired, armor-like underwear of the 1950s like bullet bras, corsets, girdles, and garters. In 1964, Gernreich introduced the "no-bra" bra, the first bra to dispense with stiff fabrics, boning, and wiring and to be largely sheer. It immediately became a best seller and would influence other manufacturers to move in a similar direction, establishing the bra form that would dominate the late sixties and seventies.
As knee-baring skirts reached the mainstream in the mid-sixties, stockings and garters became awkward, so women switched to tights and pantyhose. Also in 1964, Warner's introduced the first bodystocking, further aiding women in dispensing with heavy, constricting undergear. Bodystockings and similar full-body leotards or catsuits would become a base garment for a number of styles of the mid- to late sixties.
The same move toward comfort and practicality was seen in footwear. With his groundbreaking 1964 and '65 collections, André Courrèges discarded high heels, denouncing them as unhealthy, aging, and out of step with modernity. Leading shoe designer Roger Vivier had been making his heels lower since 1956, also feeling that low heels were more suited to modern life, and would contribute to the mid-sixties vogue for flat shoes with round or square toes, a reaction against the foot-distorting pointed toes of the 1950s. Women in the sixties would find this emphasis on comfort and practicality very appealing, so that by the end of the sixties there were far fewer high heels seen on the streets.
The Single Girl
Jean Shrimpton is a model who reflected the ideal of the Single Girl.
Writer Helen Gurley Brown wrote Sex and the Single Girl in 1962. This book acted as a guide for women of any marital status to take control of their own lives financially as well as emotionally. This book was revolutionary since it encouraged sex before marriage; something that was historically looked down upon. With the high success of this book, a pathway was set for media to also encourage this behavior. Betty Friedan also wrote The Feminine Mystique the following year, giving insight into the suburban female experience, further igniting women's push for a more independent lifestyle. The second-wave of feminism was getting its start during this period: pushing for a new feminine ideal to be capitalized on.
Fashion photography in the 1960s represented a new feminine ideal for women and young girls: the Single Girl. 1960s photography was in sharp contrast to the models of the 1920s, who were carefully posed for the camera and portrayed as immobile. The Single Girl represented 'movement'. She was young, single, active, and economically self-sufficient. To represent this new Single Girl feminine ideal, many 1960s photographers photographed models outside—often having them walk or run in fashion shoots. Models in the 1960s also promoted sports wear, which reflected the modern fascination with speed and the quickening pace of the 1960s urban life. Although the Single Girl was economically, socially and emotionally self-sufficient, the ideal body form was difficult for many to achieve. Therefore, women were constrained by diet restrictions that seemed to contradict the image of the empowered 1960s Single Girl.
Fashion photographers also photographed the Single Girl wearing business wear, calling her the Working Girl. The Working Girl motif represented another shift for the modern, fashionable woman. Unlike earlier periods, characterized by formal evening gowns and the European look, the 1960s Working Girl popularized day wear and "working clothing". New ready-to-wear lines replaced individualized formal couture fashion. The Working Girl created an image of a new, independent woman who has control over her body.
There was a new emphasis on ready-to-wear and personal style. As the 1960s was an era of exponential innovation, there was appreciation for something new rather than that of quality. Spending a lot of money on an expensive, designer wardrobe was no longer the ideal and women from various statuses would be found shopping in the same stores.
The Single Girl was the true depiction of the societal and commercial obsession with the adolescent look. Particular to the mid-sixties, icons such as Twiggy popularized the shapeless shift dresses emphasizing an image of innocence as they did not fit to any contours of the human body. The female body has forever been a sign of culturally constructed ideals. The long-limbed and pre-pubescent style of the time depicts how women were able to be more independent, yet paradoxically, also were put into a box of conceived ideals.
Dolly Girl
The "Dolly Girl" was another archetype for young females in the 1960s. She emerged in the mid-1960s, and her defining characteristic is the iconic miniskirt. "Dolly Girls" also sported long hair, slightly teased, and childish-looking clothing. Clothes were worn tight fitting, sometimes even purchased from a children's section. Dresses were often embellished with lace, ribbons, and other frills; the look was topped off with light colored tights. Crocheted clothing also took off within this specific style.
Corsets, seamed tights, and skirts covering the knees were no longer fashionable. The idea of buying urbanized clothing that could be worn with separate pieces was intriguing to women of this era. In the past, one would only buy specific outfits for certain occasions.
Late 1960s (1967–1969)
The hippie subculture
Starting in 1967, youth culture began to change musically and mod culture shifted to a more laid back hippie or Bohemian style. Hosiery manufacturers of the time like Mary Quant (who founded Pamela Mann Legwear) combined the "Flower Power" style of dress and the Pop Art school of design to create fashion tights that would appeal to a female audience that enjoyed psychedelia.
Ponchos, moccasins, love beads, peace signs, medallion necklaces, chain belts, polka dot-printed fabrics, and long, puffed "bubble" sleeves were popular fashions in the late 1960s. Both men and women wore frayed bell-bottomed jeans, tie-dyed shirts, work shirts, Jesus sandals, and headbands. Women would often go barefoot and some went braless. The idea of multiculturalism also became very popular; a lot of style inspiration was drawn from traditional clothing in Nepal, India, Bali, Morocco, and African countries. Because inspiration was being drawn from all over the world, there was increasing separation of style; clothing pieces often had similar elements and created similar silhouettes, but there was no real "uniform".
Fringed buck-skin vests, flowing caftans, the "lounging" or "hostess" pajamas were also popular. "Hostess" pajamas consisted of a tunic top over floor-length culottes, usually made of polyester or chiffon. Long maxi coats, often belted and lined in sheepskin, appeared at the close of the decade. Animal prints were popular for women in the autumn and winter of 1969.
Indian fashion
Middle class Indian menswear followed postwar European trends, but most women continued to wear traditional dress such as the sari.
In general, urban Indian men imitated Western fashions such as the business suit. This was adapted to India's hot tropical climate as the Nehru suit, a garment often made from khadi that typically had a mandarin collar and patch pockets. From the early 1950s until the mid-1960s, most Indian women maintained traditional dress such as the gagra choli, sari, and churidar. At the same time as the hippies of the late 1960s were imitating Indian fashions, however, some fashion conscious Indian and Ceylonese women began to incorporate modernist Western trends. One particularly infamous fad combined the miniskirt with the traditional sari, prompting a moral panic where conservatives denounced the so-called "hipster sari" as indecent.
Feminist influences
During the late 1960s, there was a backlash by radical feminists in America against accouterments of what they perceived to be enforced femininity within the fashion industry. Instead, these activists wore androgynous and masculine clothing such as jeans, work boots or berets. Black feminists often wore afros in reaction to the hair straighteners associated with middle class white women. At the 1968 feminist Miss America protest, protestors symbolically threw a number of feminine fashion-related products into a "Freedom Trash Can," including false eyelashes, high-heeled shoes, curlers, hairspray, makeup, girdles, corsets, and bras which they termed "instruments of female torture".
During the early 1960s, slim fitting single breasted continental style suits and skinny ties were fashionable in the UK and America. These suits, as worn by Sean Connery as James Bond, the Rat Pack's Frank Sinatra, and the cast of Mad Men, were often made from grey flannel, mohair or sharkskin. Tuxedos were cut in a similar form fitting style, with shawl collars and a single button, and were available either in the traditional black, or in bright colors such as red or sky blue popularized by Frankie Valli of The Four Seasons. Men's hats, including the pork pie hat and Irish hat, had narrower brims than the homburgs and fedoras worn in the 1950s and earlier. During the mid-1960s, hats began to decline after presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson appeared in public without one.
Ivy League
Casual Ivy League outfit worn by President John F Kennedy in 1962
The most influential menswear designer in the 1960s was Pierre Cardin. His menswear collection from the year 1960 emphasized a slim, youthful, natural-shouldered silhouette that he referred to as a cylinder. It included foulard shirts, prominent belts, center-vented jackets, and collarless suits that were widely copied, including by the Beatles in 1963. Cardin's influence on menswear would grow throughout the decade.
In America and Australia, surf rock went mainstream from 1962 to 1966, resulting in many teenage baby boomers imitating the outfits of groups like The Beach Boys. Pendleton jackets were common due to their cheapness, warmth and durability. Design wise, the surf jacket suited popularly with nonchalance, warmth for coastal Californian climate, and utility pockets for surf wax and VW car keys, two surf essentials (Pendleton Woolen Mills).
The Pendleton Surf Jacket expanded upon fifties pop-cultural fashions, however new in its relaxed, intangibly cool vibe. The surf jacket split itself from the tough guy rock 'n' roll teen, and mellowing leather's rock attitudes to woolen plaids. Following Rock n Roll's decline were rebels without causes, "Greasers" and "Beats"; dressed down in inappropriate daywear to denounce conformity, Sixties youth, inventors of Surf Fashion, expressed more nomadic and hedonically in this "dress down" style. Surf styles mainstreamed into fashion when Soul Surfers wanted to make livings in surfing-associated careers. They opened businesses that expanded selling surf products into selling surf clothing. These surfer entrepreneurs proliferate surf fashion by mixing their lifestyles into casual wear. As Rock n Roll Beats, and Greaser car clubs used jackets to identify, and as 1950 varsity sports wore lettered cardigans, 1960s Surfies wore surf jackets to identify with surf clubs and as surfers (Retro 1960s Swimwear). Jackets worn as group status identifiers continued in the Sixties, but with focus around beach music and lifestyle. Cartoon character Johnny Bravo is based in surfers fashion of 1960s.
As surfers banded over localism, plaid and striped surf jackets gained relevancy. Teens wore them to proclaim surf clubs; what beach they were from, and where they surfed. For a surfer though, it is curious why a woolen plaid jacket paired with UGG boots, and not the board-short or aloha shirt identified the surfer. The Pendleton plaid, originally worn by loggers, hunters and fishermen, was a common item of casual wear for American men of all classes before the British invasion. For the youth of the 1960s, however, the plaid Pendleton signified counterculture, and tribal seamen style translated from Welsh folklore, rebellious Scots Highlanders, and rugged American frontiersmen (Bowe).
The Sixties invented the Californian Cool style, by relaxing style to escape Cold War meltdowns with Polynesian fascinations, bridging the macho 1950s teen towards 1960s hippie style. The Cold War's tense political context conceived Surf Fashion as a way to relax and escape established violence. California, the birthplace of American Surfing, also produced much of the technology experimentations used in the nuclear space race. Caltech designers in Pasadena were designing nuclear arms for day jobs and were surfing at night. The modern surfboard design itself originates from the military-industrial complex's product development, where the Manhattan Project's Hugh Bradner also designed the modern neoprene wetsuit (Inside the Curl).
Californian engineers for the Cold War were also surfing and equally engineering that fashion. Just as the Bikini's name comes from a nuclear test site, Surf fashion in this era consistently references the Cold War context. Surfing became an attractive fashion identity in this era because it perpetuates adolescence, and the pursuit of pleasure in times of anxiety and paranoia. In a teenage-driven culture, which aimed to ignore establishment conflicts, surfers mused Hawaii and its associated tiki culture as a place of escape with tropical paradises as the antithesis to modern society. This sustained Hawaiian flora and fauna patterns' in fashion its attraction. The Sixties Surfer was not the first to escape violence or revolutionize the pursuit of happiness through Polynesian fascination. Accounts of Thomas Jefferson theorize that his exposure to the surfer image in South Pacific travel journals influenced his imagined Pursuit of Happiness (Martin D. Henry). Similarly, Hawaii's surfer image and Californian translation responds to the decade's violence and further inspired full-on nonviolent revolutionary hippie fashions.
Additionally, as Californian water inspired lifestyles influenced fashion, many guys improvised their own faded jeans using chlorine from backyard swimming pools. Sneakers such as Converse All Stars made the transition from sportswear to streetwear, and guys in California and Hawaii began to grow out their hair.
Mod and British Invasion influences
The mods were a British fashion phenomenon in the mid-1960s with their parkas, tailored Italian suits, and scooters.
The leaders of mid-1960s style were the British. The mods (short for Modernists) adopted new fads that would be imitated by many young people. Mods formed their own way of life creating television shows and magazines that focused directly on the lifestyles of mods. British rock bands such as the Who, the Small Faces, the Beatles, and the Kinks emerged from the mod subculture. It was not until 1964, when the Modernists were truly recognized by the public, that women really were accepted in the group. Women had short, clean haircuts and often dressed in similar styles to the male mods.
The mods' lifestyle and musical tastes were the exact opposite of their rival group, known as the Rockers. The rockers liked 1950s rock-and roll, wore black leather jackets, greased, pompadour hairstyles, and rode motorbikes. The look of the mods was classy. They mimicked the clothing and hairstyles of high fashion designers in France and Italy, opting for tailored suits that were topped by parkas. They rode on scooters, usually Vespas or Lambrettas. Mod fashion was often described as the City Gent look. The young men incorporated striped boating blazers and bold prints into their wardrobe. Shirts were slim, with a necessary button down collar accompanied by slim fitted trousers. Levi's were the only type of jeans worn by Modernists.
In the USSR during the mid- to late 1960s, mods and hippies were nicknamed Hairies for their mop top hair. As with the earlier Stilyagi in the 1950s, young Russian men who dressed this way were ridiculed in the media, and sometimes forced to get their hair cut in police stations.
Fitted suits, turtlenecks, and the Space Age
In the mid-sixties, Pierre Cardin would introduce fitted suits that would increase his fame and catapult his menswear to greater prominence than his womenswear, further cementing his status as the most influential menswear designer of the era. His innovations included longer suit jackets with clearly marked waists and a slight flare at the hips, knit suits, revived double-breasting, vests, wider lapels, large collars, wide ties with large knots, turtlenecks even for formal wear, open-fronted shirts for casualwear, slightly flared trousers, more color, extensive use of zippers, and sleek, modern-looking ankle boots. Such a sleek fit-and-flair cut hadn't been seen in decades and the public found it very flattering, with Americans demanding that it be brought to the US, making Cardin perhaps the first designer that men asked for by name. Many of his men's styles were clearly influenced by trends coming out of the UK and he employed only British-trained tailors at his flagship Paris men's boutique. The press proclaimed him the main non-British leader of the Peacock Revolution that was burgeoning in London. In 1966, he introduced a Space Age Cosmonaut or Cosmocorps menswear line inspired by the Soviet Union's space program that consisted of hip-belted tunics, turtlenecks, tights-like or flared trousers, and sleek, modern-looking, buckled or gusseted boots that ranged from ankle to knee in height. This complimented his geometric Space Age womenswear of the period and would grow in popularity into the late sixties.
Late 1960s (1967–1969)
Folk and counterculture influences
Argentine rock band Los Gatos in 1968, with psychedelic prints and British-inspired hairstyles
By 1968, the space age mod fashions had been gradually replaced by Victorian, Edwardian and Belle Époque influenced style, with men wearing double-breasted suits of crushed velvet or striped patterns, brocade waistcoats and shirts with frilled collars. Their hair worn below the collar bone. Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones epitomised this "dandified" look. Due to the colorful nature of menswear, the time period was described as the Peacock Revolution, and male trendsetters in Britain and America were called "Dandies," "Dudes," or "Peacocks." From the late 1960s until the mid-1970s, Carnaby Street and Chelsea's Kings Road were virtual fashion parades, as mainstream menswear took on psychedelic influences. Business suits were replaced by Bohemian Carnaby Street creations that included corduroy, velvet or brocade double breasted suits, frilly shirts, cravats, wide ties and trouser straps, leather boots, and even Mandarin-collared Nehru jackets or Mao jackets in both plain fabrics and fancy brocades, chintzes, and vivid prints. The slim neckties of the early 1960s were replaced with Kipper ties exceeding five inches in width, and featuring crazy prints, stripes and patterns.
Women's hair styles ranged from beehive hairdos in the early part of the decade to the very short styles popularized by Twiggy and Mia Farrow just five years later to a very long straight style as popularized by the hippies in the late 1960s. Between these extremes, the chin-length contour cut and the pageboy were also popular. The pillbox hat was fashionable, due almost entirely to the influence of Jacqueline Kennedy, who was a style-setter throughout the decade. Her bouffant hairstyle, described as a "grown-up exaggeration of little girls' hair", was created by Kenneth.
During the mid- and late 1960s, women's hair styles became very big and used a large quantity of hair spray, as worn in real life by Ronnie Spector and parodied in the musical Hairspray. Wigs became fashionable and were often worn to add style and height. The most important change in hairstyles at this time was that men and women wore androgynous styles that resembled each other. In the UK, it was the new fashion for mod women to cut their hair short and close to their heads. Meanwhile, hippie girls favored long, straight natural hair, kept in place with a bandana.
For professional men born before 1940, the side parted short back and sides was the norm in the UK, Europe and America from the early '60s until the end of the decade. Black men usually buzzed their hair short or wore styles like the conk, artificially straightened with chemicals. Blue collar white men, especially former military personnel, often wore buzzcuts and flat tops.
The mod haircut began as a short version around 1963 through 1964, developed into a longer style worn during 1965–66, and eventually evolved into an unkempt hippie version worn during the 1967–1969 period and into the early 1970s. Facial hair, evolving in its extremity from simply having longer sideburns, to mustaches and goatees, to full-grown beards became popular with young British, European and American men from 1966 onwards.
Head coverings changed dramatically towards the end of the decade as men's hats went out of style, replaced by the bandanna, digger hat, Stetson, or Bob Dylan cap if anything at all. As men let their hair grow long, the Afro became the hairstyle of choice for African Americans. This afro was not just a fashion statement but also an emblem of racial pride. They started to believe that by allowing their hair to grow in its nature state without chemical treatments, they would be accepting their racial identities.
Image gallery
A selection of images representing the fashion trends of the 1960s:
First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy wearing a red wool dress with matching jacket. She was a fashion icon in the early 1960s.
Singer and actress Barbra Streisand in 1962 wearing a top with a crew-neck. Her hair is teased at the crown.
Bender, Marylin (15 July 1960). "The Woman Who Wins High Fashion's Vote is Jacqueline Kennedy". The New York Times: 17. She was a 1951 winner of Vogue's Prix de Paris contest but declined the prize, a year's job in the magazine's Paris office....She is a loyal customer of the Paris haute couture...Givenchy and Balenciaga are her favorites. She has sometimes patronized Cardin.
Neal, Jean Kreuger. "Fashion". The 1962 World Book Year Book: Reviewing Events of 1961. Field Enterprises Educational Corporation. pp.230, 231. The strongest influence on American fashion during 1961 was...Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. Following her elegant lead, women bared their arms to the shoulder and bared legs to the knee in brightly colored costumes that were plainly Paris-inspired....Much of the emphasis on pink was directly traceable to Mrs. Kennedy's preference for it....The bouffant hair style...got a big boost from Mrs. Kennedy.
Daché, Lily. "Fashion". Collier's Encyclopedia Year Book 1963: Events of 1962. the Crowell-Collier Publishing Company. p.238. Fashion in 1962 was dominated..., for the second consecutive year, by the fine fashion sense of the First Lady, Jacqueline Kennedy.
↑Blackwell, Betsy Talbot. "Fashions". The American Peoples Encyclopedia 1962 Yearbook: Events and Personalities of 1961. Grolier Incorporated. p.278. ...a shoe brought down from the heights to walk on sturdy stacked leather or well-set-back heels. [I]t was no longer likely to be pointed of toe, but oval or downright square.
↑Trigere, Pauline. "Fashion and Dress". 1962 Britannica Book of the Year: Events of 1961. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. pp.247, 248. The dramatic focus of [the stylish woman's] appearance was her elaborately bouffant and constantly tended hairdo....(248) Exaggeratedly 'teased' dome or beehive coiffures...were imitated by women of all ages.
↑Blackwell, Betsy Talbot. "Fashions". The American Peoples Encyclopedia 1962 Yearbook: Events and Personalities of 1961. Grolier Incorporated. p.276. ...[T]he Chanel suit...was another manifestation of the Jackie Look.
Blackwell, Betsy Talbot. "Fashions". The American Peoples Encyclopedia 1962 Yearbook: Events and Personalities of 1961. Grolier Incorporated. p.276. Jackie...was closely identified with the 'little nothing' dress of elegant understatement....Its usual characteristics were sleevelessness, a princesse flare, a hem leveled off at the kneecap.
Trigere, Pauline. "Fashion and Dress". 1962 Britannica Book of the Year: Events of 1961. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. pp.247, 248. The fashionable woman in America and Europe preferred to go out...in an expensive but simply cut dress known as a 'little nothing'.
↑Deslandres, Yvonne (1987). Boucher, François (ed.). 20,000 Years of Fashion: the history of costume and personal adornment (Expandeded.). New York: Harry N. Abrams. ISBN0-8109-1693-2.
↑Fogarty, Anne. "Fashions". The Americana Annual 1962: An Encyclopedia of the Events of 1961. Americana Corporation. p.258. Stretch fabrics...in tight-fitting slacks. Slacks...tended to be tapered.
↑Fogarty, Anne. "Fashions". The Americana Annual 1962: An Encyclopedia of the Events of 1961. Americana Corporation. p.258. Shorts were longer...
↑"New York: Norell Divides Skirt for a Fashion Plus". The New York Times: 17. 1 September 1960. Norman Norell...introduced the most explosive new idea to be shown on any continent for fall – culottes for city street wear....Says Norell, 'They are designed for a 1960 woman's life – climbing in and out of taxis, traveling, walking.'...Easily mistaken for a flared skirt, culottes have pant-leg division that looks like pleat....In [one] version, pants are cut narrow, without look of pleat.
↑Donovan, Carrie (15 December 1960). "Norell for Spring: Natural Waists and Culotte in Chiffon". The New York Times: 56. Mr. Norell's new versions of his culotte or divided skirt are two: one gored on a princess line; the other shirred like a gown with daring décolleté. He has also extended the idea of the 'pants' silhouette to include evening clothes. This was the shocker of the showing....women at dinner parties in...full billowy harem trousers.
"Lord of the Space Ladies". Life. Vol.58, no.20. 21 May 1965. p.54. Courrèges first became famous for designing beautifully tailored pants outfits to be worn on any occasion.
Peterson, Patricia (29 July 1963). "Showing by Courreges Hailed in Paris". The New York Times: 13. Retrieved 29 September 2024. The pants...covered the tops of shoes like spats.
Mulvagh, Jane (1988). "1963". Vogue History of 20th Century Fashion. London, England: Viking, The Penguin Group. p.275. ISBN0-670-80172-0. Courrèges's Indian-inspired, leather-thonged tunic coat in ribbed wool jersey, scarfed silk overblouse and narrow, prominently creased trousers breaking over white kid boots.
↑Daves, Jessica, ed. (15 November 1958). "The Bright Southern Shoe-scape". Vogue. 132 (9). New York, NY, USA: The Condé Nast Publications: 131. Canvas boots in tabasco red – pointy toe, black lacing, amusing little...heels....by Capezio. [lace-up red ankle boots with low, very narrow, severely underslung black heels]
↑"High-Style Boots Rise to the Knee". The New York Times: F68. 9 May 1962. Capezio introduced the first long-legged boot in 1957, thus elevating boots from the foul-weather category to high fashion....The most influential style in the fall [1962] sportswear collections...is the narrow, near-knee, flat-footed ballet boot, which was introduced by Capezio three years ago [1959].
↑Donovan, Carrie (14 December 1960). "Chic Style Lost in Snow Storm". The New York Times: 48. Here was the look on Fifth Avenue yesterday afternoon....The popular accessory.......nine-inch-high boots of fur-trimmed black velvet...One chic woman wore...smart, shiny black boots almost knee high.
↑Peake, Andy (2018). "Chapeau Melon et Bottes de Cuir". Made for Walking. Atglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Fashion Press. p.57. ISBN978-0-7643-5499-1. For the most part, all...boots were flat-heeled...
↑"Boot in Fashion". The New York Times: 16. 18 November 1961. The boot promises to be one of fall's smartest fashions. Cropped at the ankle or knee high, boots this season boast all the characteristics of the newest shoes, such as squared or oval toes, heels of many shapes and heights and handsome leathers. Some of the most striking styles combine fur or fabric with leather. On the practical side, many have the added advantage of being lined for warmth and treated to shed rain or snow. In embroidered or bejeweled satins or laces, elegant evening versions curve low around the ankle and are set on slim mid-high heels.
↑Daves, Jessica, ed. (1 April 1962). "Rain – Followed by a Clear Case of Chic". Vogue. 139 (7). New York, NY, USA: The Condé Nast Publications: 148–151. The tall, narrow shiny black boots with small heels are by Capezio....The boots gleam because they're patent...
↑Howell, Georgina (1978). "1963". In Vogue: Sixty Years of Celebrities and Fashion from British Vogue. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books Ltd. p.280. ISBN0-14-00-4955-X. 'Boots, boots, and more boots are marching up and down like seven leaguers, climbing to new leg lengths.' Every woman who owns a tweed suit is buying a pair of boots, and there are dozens of heights and shapes to choose from.
↑Neal, Jean Kreuger. "Fashion". The 1964 World Book Year Book: Reviewing Events of 1963. Field Enterprises Educational Corporation. pp.342, 343. Boots of many shapes and sizes added flair to fashion in 1963. Model wears...thigh high...boots of taupe glove elk, laced in back....Boots were seen everywhere, in heights from the ankle to the thigh.
↑Molli, Jeanne (28 December 1963). "Artist Spins Decorations Out of Sugar". The New York Times: R14. The sensationally successful hip boots Roger Vivier designed last July for the St. Laurent collection are...made in satin for evening as well as in reptile and leather.
↑Peake, Andy (2018). "Chapeau Melon et Bottes de Cuir". Made for Walking. Atglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Fashion Press. p.63. ISBN978-0-7643-5499-1. ...[A boot that] hovered in the region between ankle and midcalf...was probably the most common fashion boot of the years 1963 to 1965.
↑Daves, Jessica, ed. (1 October 1962). "What to Wear with Your New Boots". Vogue. 140 (6). New York, NY, USA: The Condé Nast Publications: 158–165. [a variety of mostly lower calf-height boots with low heels by Charles Jourdan and Roger Vivier shown with various outfits]
↑Peterson, Patricia (29 July 1963). "Showing by Courreges Hailed in Paris". The New York Times: 13. Retrieved 29 September 2024. ...[H]is [boots] were a new length. They hit at mid-calf, like those worn by majorettes. He showed them in glistening white, black reptile and leather...
↑Mulvagh, Jane (1988). "1963". Vogue History of 20th Century Fashion. London, England: Viking, The Penguin Group. p.274. ISBN0-670-80172-0. Paris raved about white kidskin boots from Courrèges...
1234567Hill, Colleen (2017). Paris refashioned, 1957–1968. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN978-0-300-22607-2.
12Parnis, Mollie. "Fashion and Dress". 1959 Britannica Book of the Year: Events of 1958. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. p.247. In 1958, the 'revolutionary' silhouette was a long, unbroken oval, obviously inspired by a space rocket's shape...
↑Fogarty, Anne. "Fashion". The Americana Annual 1959: Events of 1958. Americana Corporation. p.250. The chemise...began in Paris in 1957,...variously called the sack, the shift, or the space silhouette...
↑Aldrich, Larry L. "Fashion and Dress". Britannica Book of the Year 1960: Events of 1959. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. p.250. The effect of abstract painting and abstract sculpture, and the amazing strides of science, far overshadowed period influences on current fashion. Like a space suit, the dress and coat followed the body line but seemed to touch it only at the shoulders and barely skimmed the hipline. Large bulbous sleeves, reminiscent of the space suit, were shown on coats, suits, and cocktail dresses.
↑Fogarty, Anne. "Fashion". The Americana Annual 1959: Events of 1958. Americana Corporation. p.250. The chemise...began in Paris in 1957,...variously called the sack, the shift, or the space silhouette...
↑Aldrich, Larry L. "Fashion and Dress". Britannica Book of the Year 1960: Events of 1959. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. p.250. The effect of abstract painting and abstract sculpture, and the amazing strides of science, far overshadowed period influences on current fashion. Like a space suit, the dress and coat followed the body line but seemed to touch it only at the shoulders and barely skimmed the hipline. Large bulbous sleeves, reminiscent of the space suit, were shown on coats, suits, and cocktail dresses.
12Pavitt, Jane (2008). Fear and fashion in the Cold War. London: V&A Pub. p.60. ISBN9781851775446.
↑Kuprina, Nadya (30 December 2020). "How Pierre Cardin Fell in Love with Soviet Russia". Russia Beyond. Retrieved 6 June 2025. His first trip was in...1963, as part of a delegation of cultural workers....He openly admitted that his revolutionary female outfits resembling spacesuits were conceived in his mind from photographs of Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space. His Space collection, inspired by Yuri Gagarin's flight, became emblematic of his work and the development of 1960s fashion as a whole.
↑Bender, Marylin (14 October 1969). "Maxi? To Cardin, C'est Bon". The New York Times: 42. '[Cardin] is the space couturier,' said Mrs. [Nicole] Alphand, referring to the cosmonaut style introduced for men and women three years ago [1966]....[T]he cosmonaut style...has...caught on...in certain adventurous circles.
↑Barry, Joseph (21 April 1968). "Cardin Discusses – 'La Mode Masculine'". The New York Times: 84. ...'I propose the "Cosmocorps",' [says Cardin]...The male models in 'Cosmocorps'...reminded some of frogmen, others of miners and skindivers, though outerspacemen seems to be what Cardin may have had in mind.
123Walford, Johnathan (2013). Sixties fashion: From less is more to youthquake. London: Thames & Hudson. p.110. ISBN9780500516935.
↑Kennedy, Alicia (2013). Fashion design, referenced: A visual guide to the history, language, and practice of fashion. Gloucester. MA: Rockport. ISBN978-1592536771.
↑Mulvagh, Jane (1988). "1962". Vogue History of 20th Century Fashion. London, England: Viking, the Penguin Group. p.271. ISBN0-670-80172-0. Quant's PVC Collection: black, vinyl-covered cotton raincoat with corduroy collar and turn-back cuffs.
12Hasson, Rachelle. "Fashion". World Book Year Book 1968: Events of 1967. Chicago, Illinois, USA: Field Enterprises Educational Corporation. pp.336, 338. Women...fancied high boots as a means of covering their new length of leg. High-rise stretch vinyl or patent leather provided glovelike sleekness...Boots stretched to the knees, to the thighs, or even to cover the entire leg like [a] fisherman's hip boots....Autumn gave new luster to shoes and handbags of patent leather...
↑"Fashion: A Politely Dark View of Things". Life. Vol.58, no.22. 4 June 1965. p.58. ...[A]n American milliner has been inspired to design a tinted plastic visor....Halston used colored plastic to design welder's shields...attached to headbands which tie with ribbon under the hair.
Blackwell, Betsy Talbot. "Fashions". The American Peoples Encyclopedia 1966 Encyclopedia Yearbook: Events of 1965. Grolier Incorporated. p.233. ...she chose...a silver-mesh sweater to pour over silver bell-bottoms. And she would have no trouble finding silver-flecked stockings and silver-kid sandals.
Howell, Georgina (1978). "1966". In Vogue: Sixty Years of Celebrities and Fashion from British Vogue. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books Ltd. p.292. ISBN0-14-00-4955-X. ...everything silver, from visor to stockings and shoes...[Y]ou wear silver leather and plastic chain mail...chrome jewellery,...silver stockings, silver shoes laced up the leg, bangles of clear plastic and chrome. Silver leather or shirred silver nylon make the new jackets...
Vreeland, Diana, ed. (1 March 1966). "Paris". Vogue. Vol.163, no.5. New York, NY, USA: The Condé Nast Publications. p.172. Pailletted skivvy dress,...stripes of silver and chalk white,...white plastic head scarf...[Yves Saint Laurent]
↑Blackwell, Betsy Talbot. "Fashions". Encyclopedia Year Book 1967: Events of 1966. Grolier Incorporated. p.215. White was the new basic, all but replacing black.
↑Vreeland, Diana, ed. (15 September 1965). "Vogue's Own Boutique". Vogue. 146 (5). New York, NY, USA: The Condé Nast Publications: 61. Black...[Op Art] dots...painted all over a white calfskin coat...Coat painted by Richard Anuskiewicz...
↑Blackwell, Betsy Talbot. "Fashions". The American Peoples Encyclopedia 1966 Encyclopedia Yearbook: Events of 1965. Grolier Incorporated. p.232. Op art was a natural for fabric design, and many a 1965 shift was opped-up.
↑Cassini, Oleg. "Fashion". Collier's 1966 Year Book: Covering the Year 1965. Crowell Collier and MacMillan, Inc. p.212. Op Art, the newest in the art world, was quickly incorporated into clothes and makeup....James Galanos fashioned two Op-inspired fabrics...into this dazzling dress, which seems to be part of its background, Op artist Victor Vasarely's kaleidoscopic collage.
↑Blackwell, Betsy Talbot. "Fashions". Encyclopedia Year Book 1967: Events of 1966. Grolier Incorporated. p.215. One could collect a cache of prints copied from art: from Fauvism, Art Nouveau, thirties' moderne, pop and op.
↑Zwecker, Peg. "Fashion". The 1966 World Book Year Book: Reviewing Events of 1965. Chicago, Illinois, USA: Field Enterprises Educational Corporation. p.348. Designs were also based on the work of the famed Dutch painter Mondrian. Dresses were divided geometrically by intersecting bands and brightened by contrasting blocks of color.
↑Vreeland, Diana, ed. (1 April 1966). "Vogue's Own Boutique, Paris: Explosion Plastique". Vogue. 147 (7). New York, NY, USA: The Condé Nast Publications: 115. Paco Rabanne...takes wafer-thin rhodoid discs, lights them with briliant fluorescent colours...strings them together on zigzaggy threads.
↑Vreeland, Diana, ed. (1 March 1966). "Vogue's Own Boutique". Vogue. Vol.147, no.5. New York, NY, USA: The Condé Nast Publications. p.196. ...Jane [Holzer] slipped a...white vinyl...coat over her black turtleneck, black wool Courrèges pants...[H]er coat is coated with a phosphorescent, glows like moonlight in the dark. Deanna Littell design....Paraphernalia.
↑"Turn On, Turn Off". Time. 20 January 1967. Archived from the original on 8 December 2024. Retrieved 28 January 2025. Diana Dew...has been able to produce minidresses with throbbing hearts and pulsating belly stars, as well as pants with flashing vertical side seams and horizontal bands that march up and down the legs in luminous sequence.
↑Lelyveld, Joseph (19 February 1968). "After the Sari, the Miniskirt?". The New York Times. p.46. Pierre Cardin...creations[:]...electrically lighted discotheque dresses that shone brilliantly in the dark, leather outfits in phosphorescent silver, metal collars...
↑Emerson, Gloria (27 January 1966). "Paris: Strictly for Small-Boned Girls". The New York Times. p.37. Retrieved 13 July 2023. Roger Vivier, who provides most of the new shoes for the haute couture, has made everything in clear plastic this year...
↑Steinem, Gloria (31 January 1965). "Gernreich's Progress; Or, Eve Unbound". The New York Times: SM18. ...Gernreich's...thigh-high plastic boots and visored headgear.
↑"Jean-Marie Armand". Couture Allure. 8 March 2011. Retrieved 13 December 2021. His designs were very modern and architectural, much like those of Courreges and Cardin.
Howell, Georgina (1978). "1963". In Vogue: Sixty Years of Celebrities and Fashion from British Vogue. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books Ltd. pp.280, 283. ISBN0-14-00-4955-X. Saint Laurent's black and white geometric shifts...Saint Laurent: Black ciré smock[, helmet,] and thigh-high alligator boots.
Peake, Andy (2018). "Chapeau Melon et Bottes de Cuir". Made for Walking. Atglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Fashion Press. p.57. ISBN978-0-7643-5499-1. Yves Saint Laurent's fall...1963...visored caps, black leather jerkins, and Roger Vivier's...thigh-high...boots in crocodile gave what [the Daily Mail's Iris] Ashley called 'a real space girl effect...'
Howell, Georgina (1978). "1966". In Vogue: Sixty Years of Celebrities and Fashion from British Vogue. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books Ltd. p.292. ISBN0-14-00-4955-X. Saint Laurent makes his shifts...transparent except where they are striped or chevroned with silver sequins.
↑Howell, Georgina (1978). "1966". In Vogue: Sixty Years of Celebrities and Fashion from British Vogue. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books Ltd. p.292. ISBN0-14-00-4955-X. Space projections...plastic, chrome, Dynel...[Y]ou wear...skirts that show the whole length of your legs, mops of artificial hair coloured pink, green and purple...and visor sunglasses....huge plastic disc earrings,...and eye make-up is designed to be seen from 100 yards, in streamlined eyeliners, black and white used alternately...
↑Howell, Georgina (1978). "1967-68". In Vogue: Sixty Years of Celebrities and Fashion from British Vogue. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books Ltd. p.296. ISBN0-14-00-4955-X. 1967-68...mark[ed] the change in direction from futurist to romantic fashion....[i]n reaction to the uniformity of geometric haircuts and 'functional' fashion, stiff carved tweed shifts and creaking plastic...
12"Pierre Cardin". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2016. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
↑"Lord of the Space Ladies". Life. Vol.58, no.20. 21 May 1965. p.47. ...Courrèges...liberates [women] from bras 'which in 10 years,' he predicts, 'will be as forgotten as whalebone corsets are today'.
↑Bender, Marylin (15 October 1964). "Under It All – Next to Nothing". The New York Times: 34. ...Rudi Gernreich, prime foe of the brassière...
↑Emerson, Gloria (4 February 1968). "Alas! The Poor Mini". The New York Times: 4. Courreges vetoed the wearing of girdles and brassieres, a campaign that Rudi Gernreich was waging across the Atlantic.
↑Steinem, Gloria (31 January 1965). "Gernreich's Progress; Or, Eve Unbound". The New York Times: SM18. [The new bras are] In contrast to the padding, stiff fabrics, and boning that...make...women look like...Sherman tanks....According to [bra manufacturer] Irwin Roseman,...'They tell me women have been dying, just dying for something soft and natural instead of the old up-lift.'
↑Bender, Marylin (15 October 1964). "Under It All – Next to Nothing". The New York Times: 34. ...Rudi Gernreich...has designed the No-Bra brassière...made of sheer nylon net...anchored to a strip of elastic...
↑Steinem, Gloria (31 January 1965). "Gernreich's Progress; Or, Eve Unbound". The New York Times: SM18. Gernreich's...no-bra bra is almost as famous as [his] topless bathing suit, and, understandably, far more popular....According to Irwin Roseman, vice-president of Exquisite Form, the firm that manufactures the bra,...'[I]t's the biggest thing in the industry'...
↑Howell, Georgina (1978). "1965". In Vogue: Sixty Years of Celebrities and Fashion from British Vogue. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books Ltd. p.288. ISBN0-14-00-4955-X. Skirts rise to mid-thigh, girls change over from stockings to tights and the London look becomes international.
↑Hasson, Rachelle. "Fashion". World Book Year Book 1968: Events of 1967. Chicago, Illinois, USA: Field Enterprises Educational Corporation. p.336. Mini-skirts made pantie hose...popular because they not only gave the leg a hip-to-toe smoothness, but eliminated the possibility of garter-show.
↑Taylor, Angela (1 January 1965). "1964 – The Year When Everyone Had Fun with Fashion". The New York Times: 23. ...Gernreich...invented the 'No-Bra' bra, Warner's simultaneously brought out the sheer 'Body Stocking'.
↑Heathcote, Phyllis W. "Fashion and Dress". 1966 Britannica Book of the Year: Events of 1965. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. p.296. ...[L]eotards and...stockings had come on the market toward the close of 1964...[T]he impression was of an all-in-one undergarment worn...with a short skirt or pinafore dress on top. The idea of the outer or top garment being accessory to the basic undergarment...suggested an interesting new approach to dress and fashion formulas.
↑Heathcote, Phyllis W. "Fashion and Dress". Britannica Book of the Year 1970: Events of 1969. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. p.345. ISBN0-85229-144-2. Rib-knit 'catsuits'...were in heavy demand.
↑"Lord of the Space Ladies". Life. Vol.58, no.20. 21 May 1965. p.47. ...Courrèges...throws out high heels...'High heels are preposterous. They are just as absurd as the ancient practice of binding the feet of Chinese women'.
↑Adler, Nancy J. (15 November 1967). "Only in Los Angeles: Courreges in a Factory". The New York Times: 50. Other Courrèges sentiments:...'If you put high heels on 3 or 4-year-old children they will look old. Shoes with no heels can benefit women and take 10 years off their age'.
↑Bender, Marylin (28 May 1965). "Is This Courreges's Vision of Space-Age Women?". The New York Times: 28. [Courrèges's]...intention is to liberate young, fast-moving moderns from corsets, high heels, and other fashion appurtenances that strike him as fossilized vestiges...
↑Giraud, Francoise (12 September 1965). "After Courrèges, What Future for the Haute Couture?". The New York Times: 110. A dress by Courrèges...is something which completely modifies the balance of the body because it is impossible to wear it with high heels.
↑Bender, Marylin (23 October 1961). "Women Lose Lofty Stature". The New York Times: 32. ...[T]he first low-heeled shoe...was introduced by Roger Vivier in Paris five years ago [1956]....
↑Bender, Marylin (12 June 1963). "Vivier Finds Low Heel Fits Modern Life Best". The New York Times: 47. The low heel is more in keeping with modern life, explained Mr. Vivier...In the collection that he brought with him are lower, heavier heels for every occasion.
↑Emerson, Gloria (27 January 1966). "Paris: Strictly for Small-Boned Girls". The New York Times: 37. Throughout the collections, there were more flat-heeled shoes than ever before. No designer, it seems, would dream of showing a short short skirt with high heels.
↑Bender, Marylin (12 June 1963). "Vivier Finds Low Heel Fits Modern Life Best". The New York Times: 47. 'Le high, fine heel is finished. Le pointed toe is finished,...' added Roger Vivier...[T]oes are round, oval or rounded square, but never pointed.
↑Bender, Marylin (23 February 1970). "This Year Even the Shoe Designers are Confused". The New York Times: 46. Retrieved 24 August 2024. David Dulberg, shoe buyer of Saks Fifth Avenue,...said: '...Gals are put together differently today...They're not only slim but their whole stance is different. They're not pitched forward on high heels'...
↑Brown, Helen Gurley (2003) [1962]. Sex and the Single Girl. Bernard Geis Associates. ISBN9781569802526.
↑Friedan, Betty (2001) [1963]. The Feminine Mystique. W. W. Norton and Co. ISBN0-393-32257-2.
12Radner, Hilary (2001). "Embodying the Single Girl in the 1960s". In Joanne Entwistle and Elizabeth B. Wilson (ed.). Body Dressing. Bloomsbury Academic. pp.183–197. ISBN1859734448.
↑Dow, Bonnie J. (Spring 2003). "Feminism, Miss America, and Media Mythology". Rhetoric & Public Affairs. 6 (1): 127–149. doi:10.1353/rap.2003.0028. S2CID143094250.
↑Duffett, Judith (October 1968). WLM vs. Miss America. Voice of the Women's Liberation Movement. p.4.
↑Morris, Bernadine (26 October 1973). "For Today's Designers, Fashion Isn't Enough". The New York Times: 48. ...[W]hen he began doing suits in the early 1960's he practically launched the menswear fashion revolution. His first designs, known in Paris as the 'cigarette' line, were long and skinny and had Edwardian overtones.
↑"Cardin Designs Bright Plumage for the Males". The New York Times: 44. 15 March 1960. ...[Pierre Cardin's] new collection of ready-to-wear clothes for men....Some Cardin innovations include the unpadded Cardin shoulders that slope down at a steep grade, collarless jackets reminiscent of those worn by Russian officers, British clergymen or bellhops; buttonless sleeves, and a single slit in the back of the jackets....[S]ome of Cardin's more extravagant flights of fancy,...tight knickerbockers, foulard shirts and huge leather belts...
↑"The Iconic Fashion of the Beatles". National Museums Liverpool. Liverpool, Merseyside, England. Retrieved 20 February 2025. ...[T]he distinctive European chic suggested by the band's hair...was re-enforced in the most famous of Milling's creations, the grey collarless suit. Modeled on the high fashion styling of a suit first produced in 1960 by the Paris designer Pierre Cardin, the collarless suits became an equally iconic element of the band's visual style.
↑Jones, Glynis (2010). "Subcultural and Alternative Dress in Australia". Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. Vol.7. pp.216–223. doi:10.2752/bewdf/edch7034. ISBN9781847888563.
↑Vreeland, Diana, ed. (15 November 1966). "Men in Vogue". Vogue. 148 (9). New York, NY, USA: The Condé Nast Publications: 107. In 1966 he has: the biggest men's-wear store in Paris...; 400 Cardin [P]our [H]omme boutiques around the world, selling 200,000 suits a year; an annual volume of six million dollars...
Vreeland, Diana, ed. (15 November 1966). "Men in Vogue". Vogue. 148 (9). New York, NY, USA: The Condé Nast Publications: 107. Suit jacket is long, shaped close to the chest, cut high under the arms, flared like a riding jacket, with high inverted pleats rather than vents, absolutely no padding in the shoulders.
Emerson, Gloria (23 March 1966). "Cardin's Men's Wear Goes to New Lengths". The New York Times: 36. Cardin now prefers a deep inverted pleat in the back of the jacket....His jackets seem tighter than ever...Shoulders look wider but are still sharply squared.
↑Emerson, Gloria (30 July 1966). "Chanel and Cardin Share Spotlight in Paris". The New York Times: 16. Menswear shown today included jersey suits cut in the long, lean, small-waisted silhouette that Cardin likes...
↑Bender, Marilyn (3 September 1968). "Cardin Label Going on U.S.-Made Suits". The New York Times: 38. ...[H]e revived...the double-breasted style...three years ago [1965]...
↑Barry, Joseph (21 April 1968). "Cardin Discusses – "La Mode Masculine"". The New York Times: 84. 'I launched the first turtleneck sweater for evening wear two years ago [1966], at least'.
↑Emerson, Gloria (29 October 1965). "U.S. and Britain Contribute to Frenchmen's New Look". The New York Times: 46. ..slim trousers, but not pipestems, that give the illusion of being slightly wider beneath the knee than above it.
↑Vreeland, Diana, ed. (15 November 1966). "Men in Vogue". Vogue. 148 (9). New York, NY, USA: The Condé Nast Publications: 107. Trousers cut straight to the knee, then very slightly flared, canted lower in the back for a long, straight effect.
↑Emerson, Gloria (23 March 1966). "Cardin's Men's Wear Goes to New Lengths". The New York Times: 36. The summer look...means white pants with stripes down their sides, matching striped, wide belts and colored shirts....The shirts were in purple, orange and mauve, with the stripes picking up the same colors.
↑Emerson, Gloria (30 July 1966). "Chanel and Cardin Share Spotlight in Paris". The New York Times: 16. ...sweaters with asymmetrical zippers;...a black leather jacket that bristled with big zippers.
"Revolution in Men's Clothes". Life. Vol.60, no.19. 13 May 1966. p.87. Retrieved 15 February 2025. ...Pierre Cardin...turned his hand to men's ready-to-wear two years ago [1964], now selling $6 million worth annually. His formal suits, tightly fitted and flared to give a slender, small-waisted look, are a hit...
Emerson, Gloria (23 March 1966). "Cardin's Men's Wear Goes to New Lengths". The New York Times: 36. Cardin...led the long, long push to get men out of ugly suits that fit badly...
Bender, Marylin (3 September 1968). "Cardin Label Going on U.S.-Made Suits". The New York Times: 38. ...Pierre Cardin...instigated the renaissance of the shaped suit...
Van Gelder, Lawrence (16 December 1975). "What's in a Designer's Name?". The New York Times: 52. At Bloomingdale's,...Jack Schultz, the vice president for men's merchandise,...said, 'A guy like Cardin, who really designed the goods in Paris, came out with a new silhouette, which was close fitting, shaped to fit the body, making a man look and feel different from the sack clothing being sold at this time'.
↑Vreeland, Diana, ed. (15 September 1966). "Men in Vogue". Vogue. 148 (5). New York, NY, USA: The Condé Nast Publications: 87. American men have been bringing back Cardin suits, hats, ties, shirts, and the rest from Europe all year...[O]ne Chicago executive worried more about his Cardin suit than his credit cards when the airline lost his baggage...[I]n two weeks, Bonwit Teller breaks out the best of Cardin...in a new men's shop.
↑Vreeland, Diana, ed. (15 November 1966). "Men in Vogue". Vogue. 148 (9). New York, NY, USA: The Condé Nast Publications: 107. One man walked out of Bonwit's Cardin shop after ordering jackets, trousers, raincoat, sweaters, shirts, and ties..and hat...Other men were busy grabbing up the clothes in the shop as if they were free. It is obvious New York has been waiting eagerly for M. Cardin to hit town.
↑Bender, Marylin (12 April 1967). "The Cardin Look: From Bonwit's Boutique to Steubenville, Ohio". The New York Times: 50. Bonwit Teller has slid into the men's clothing business. When the Fifth Avenue women's specialty store opened its PIerre Cardin men's boutique in October, it was planned to stock only neckties, hats and other accessories as well as some odd jackets and slacks. A few suits were sent from Paris for the premiere to display Cardin's shaped, neo-Edwardian silhouette. However, the suits caught on, Bonwit's ordered more and the Cardin boutique expanded into a full-fledged Cardin men's department.
↑Van Gelder, Lawrence (16 December 1975). "What's in a Designer's Name?". The New York Times: 52. At Bloomingdale's, recalled Jack Schultz, the vice president for men's merchandise, Cardin clothing for men...was offered for sale in 1964. 'We didn't realize that Cardin as a label would mean anything,' he said. 'We found there was a phenomenal response to the merchandise.'
↑Vreeland, Diana, ed. (1 October 1965). "Vogue's Own Boutique". Vogue. 146 (6). New York, NY, USA: The Condé Nast Publications: 182. The men have two of the most talked-about boutiques [in Paris]....In Cardin's boutique, the tailoring is extraordinary. The secret is that they employ only Turkish tailors trained in England.
↑"Revolution in Men's Clothes". Life. Vol.60, no.19. 13 May 1966. p.87. Retrieved 15 February 2025. France's rival to [UK menswear designer John] Stephen as a male fashion revolutionary...is the renowned couturier Pierre Cardin...
↑Taylor, Angela (13 November 1970). "It's for Men Only: A Mink by Cardin". The New York Times: 49. Pierre Cardin...fathered the peacock revolution in the 1960's with his nipped‐in men's fashions...
↑Bender, Marylin (14 October 1969). "Maxi? To Cardin, C'est Bon". The New York Times: 42. '[Cardin] is the space couturier,' said Mrs. [Nicole] Alphand, referring to the cosmonaut style introduced for men and women three years ago [1966].
↑Barry, Joseph (21 April 1968). "Cardin Discusses – 'La Mode Masculine'". The New York Times: 84. ...'I propose the "Cosmocorps",' [says Cardin]...[For t]he male models in 'Cosmocorps'...outerspacemen seems to be what Cardin may have had in mind.
↑"The Peacock Revolution". The Peacock Revolution and the Beatles: British Men's Fashion from 1963–1973. Retrieved 7 October 2017.
↑Vreeland, Diana, ed. (1 September 1967). "Men in Vogue". Vogue. 150 (4). New York, NY, USA: The Condé Nast Publications: 231. In Paris, the Great Leap Forward is into the 'Mao' suit. Just now the mandarin-collared jacket is just what every smart Parisian wants to put his or her neck into.
↑Vreeland, Diana, ed. (15 March 1968). "Vogue's Own Boutique". Vogue. 151 (6). New York, NY, USA: The Condé Nast Publications: 135. Sonny [Bono]...baby-blue pebbly sateen trousers, Mao-collar shirt – blue-and-silver brocade cummerbund...
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