1960s Style: A Fashion History Lesson

Welcome to the next instalment of our series of fashion history lessons. Joanie’s Founder, Lucy, is taking us back through the eras with a rundown of who’s who and what was (and still is in our book!) cool way back when. Next up - 1960s style!

This month, it's the turn of the 1960s. Following the post-war baby boom and the 'birth of the teenager' in the 1950s, this huge influx of young people came of age in the 1960s - and a 'youthquake' erupted! In came a new generation with open minds and open hearts. In my humble opinion, this marks THE golden moment for fashion and music. We often talk about people being born in the wrong era, and that’s how I feel about the '60s - things were just cooler then, I’m sure of it!

1960s Style: The Basics

The 1950s Rock 'n' Roll era came to an abrupt end in 1959 when Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper tragically lost their lives in a plane crash - Don McLean dubbed this ‘the day the music died’ in his classic song American Pie. The transition from the '50s to the '60s was a time of great and rapid change, both politically and stylistically, as a 'Wind Of Change' swept through the world. Children who grew up dressing like 'mom and pop' in the 1950s found their own voices and their own style and began to push the boundaries.

Style in the early 1960s was all about maximum impact and minimum proportions - up came the hemlines, and in came the mini skirt and the shift dress. Twee tailoring took on new lines and 'swinging' silhouettes and in stepped trousers for women. The futuristic couture Space Age looks of the era still feel out of this world today! In the later sixties, in came the hippies, flower power and free love, where a 'far out' bohemian aesthetic was all the rage. Let's take a look back through the groovy 1960s era, its fashions and style icons whose clothes we'll cherish forever.

Early '60s Style

The Beautiful People, or 'BP’s' as they were known in the media, were the influencers of their time - upmarket, wealthy, stylish, still classic but with a new forward-thinking twist. Case in point: America's youngest ever President, John F Kennedy, and his glamorous wife, Jackie (the 'O' came later) with her iconic Coco Chanel skirt suits and matching pillbox hats, and oversized sunglasses, a yardstick of chic we still use today. Also, see Audrey Hepburn in Hubert de Givenchy's little black dresses, signature cat eyeliner and chignon hair.  

On the flip side of this was a movement for change, of protest and independence. Self-sufficient young women, or the 'Single Girls', began to wear the trousers both physically and metaphorically. They voted, they went out at night unaccompanied, and they began to stand up for what they believed in, whether that be antiwar, or civil rights. This rebellious spirit was mirrored in the fashions of the time, as out went the waist trainers and petticoats and in came short skirts, jeans, and more casual clothing.

This metamorphosis, or the Second Wave of Feminism, is chronicled in so many of the nostalgic '60s-themed TV shows we seem to love: see Mad Men (Peggy, Betty and of course Joanie), The Marvellous Mrs Maisel and Call the Midwife, where we'll often see references to the Beatnik poets, the Gaslight Club, the American Folk revolution featuring Bob Dylan and - another of our favourite Joanies - Joan Baez.

In 1961, JFK promised to send a man to the Moon, and the Space Race with Russia began in earnest. Intergalactic travel, innovative fabrics, and a fascination with the future coined a new era of design: ‘The Space Age.’ Designers Pierre Cardin, Andres Courrèges, and Paco Rabanne featured synthetic fibres, plastics, and PVC - silver metallics, transparent panels, and futuristic Op Art styled with GoGo boots. This lasted throughout the decade in various guises, notably with the cartoon The Jetsons, Jane Fonda’s stint as Barbarella (THE cult SciFi movie in 1968) and culminating in the moon landings in 1969 (or did it?).

Mid '60s Style

The soundtrack of the early-to-mid-sixties was girl groups: The Ronnettes, The Shirelles, The Supremes, Martha & The Vandellas - female vocal harmony groups singing R&B bangers. This was music written and developed specifically for the teenybopper audience, sung by girls of a similar age, dressed in fabulous matching dresses, with big bouncy blowouts or beehives and doll-like make-up. Standout stars included Ronnie Spector, whose husband Phil’s Wall of Sound production method defined the sound (but whose behaviour we deplore), and Diana Ross, who would go on to become the Queen of Motown Records. Over on the West Coast, ‘Surf Rock’ male vocal harmony ruled the waves, with laid-back Californian crooners The Beach Boys leading the way. Their seminal album ‘Pet Sounds’ sounds just as good today as it did back then.

Over in the UK, swinging London became the era's capital of counterculture cool as Beatlemania gripped the nation. The ‘Fab Four’ mop-topped, Mod lads from Liverpool became international stars, and in 1965, broke America and the British Invasion commenced. Brittania ruled the radio waves with The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Kinks, Dusty Springfield and Sandie Shaw providing the sounds. In the swinging city, Carnaby Street and Kings Road became culture hubs for both fashion and music as Mod style ruled the runways and the streets. Mary Quant miniskirts, Biba boots, and Vidal Sassoon bob haircuts were modelled by Jean Shrimpton, Patti Boyd, and Twiggy and captured on film by legendary photographer David Bailey. They drove the iconic Mini Cooper, or slinkier the Jaguar E Type draped in Union Jacks, and the British look prevailed.

While I wasn't lucky enough to be alive during these years to experience this first-hand, my parents were. The music and stories from this period accompanied my childhood, and on a Sunday night, we were allowed to stay up late to watch Heartbeat, the Yorkshire retelling of this era that will resonate with many of the early millennials amongst us - in particular, Gina, a forever fashion idol of mine! 

Across 'Le Channel,' the French style of this era cannot go without mention. The YéYé girls I find timelessly inspiring - France Gall, Sylvie Vartan, and Françoise Hardy. The ever-chic Jane Birkin and her fascinating husband Serge Gainsbourg. French New Wave cinema of Jean Luc Godard, Jean Seberg, Brigitte Bardot et al. This ‘je ne sais quoi’ was also parodied perfectly by Megan Draper singing Zou Bisou Bisou in Mad Men.

Late '60s Style

As the liberation of minds grew, so did the hair. Hippie-style flowing locks, CND peace signs, and flower power became shorthand for bohemian style, as 'peace and love’ became the mantra of the day. Following anti-war and civil rights protests, the first Summer of Love happened in 1967. The flower children flocked to the Monterey Pop Festival in VW campers to see Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and The Who at what would be the blueprint for all music festivals that followed. Maxi dresses and bellbottoms became the silhouettes synonymous with this scene - bras were burned in a display of feminism as free love ruled. Experimentation was the name of the game, with LSD being the psychedelic drug du jour: Lucy in The Sky with Diamonds (my theme tune), and the Beatles Sgt Peppers’ album also told this tale. The festival frenzy culminated in the dizzy heights of the Woodstock and Isle of White music festivals in 1969 and the notorious Altamont that concluded the decade on a more sour note.

1969 turned out to be a particularly eventful year in history: at the close of the decade, mankind finally did reach the Moon, all four Beatles played together for the last time ever, the Stonewall riots would change LGBTQ+ rights forever, and Sharon Tate was murdered by the Manson family (see Once Upon a Time in Hollywood). As the '60s became the '70s, this pivotal moment in time marked a move away from peace, love, and light toward a darker, edgier, rockier edge that would become more prevalent over the next decade.

Now, I’m a magpie for most 1960s nostalgia, but I can pinpoint my perfect fashion moment to the summer of 1968: specifically to Lauren Canyon, Los Angeles. (Residents of the time included Mama Cass, most of The Eagles, James Taylor, Jim Morrison, Gram Parsons and Linda Ronstadt to name but a few). More specifically still, to one of Frank Zappa’s legendary Log Cabin parties. I just love that dreamy sepia-tinted Hollywood aesthetic mixed with the chaos of the British invasion - it’s that melting pot feel: think Joni Mitchell (yet another of our favourite Joanies) ten-pin bowling with Rod Stewart… Google it.

No history of the '60s would be complete without referencing Andy Warhol, Pop Art, the Factory, and his gamine muse Edie Sedgwick. A special mention from me must also go to the Queen of the Chelsea NYC girls, Nico (the most perfect hair/fringe/bangs of all time) and the Velvet Underground, who I’m still bananas about today.

Most of my memories of the '60s are ones of optimism, high spirits and confidence.

Mary Quant

If I had to define the '60s in a quote, I’d have to go to another heroine of mine, Mary Quant, whose designs, for me, define the 1960s and look just as fresh today as they did over 60 years ago. Remember that quote when you’re getting dressed, and remember, confidence goes with everything!

Thanks for reading. - L