Fashion through the Decades

                                               Flower Power
                              1960s
 Bright, swirling colours. Psychedelic, tie-dye shirts and long hair and beards were commonplace. Woman wore unbelievably short skirts and men wore tunics and capes. The foray into fantasy would not have been believed by people just a decade earlier.
Women were showing more skin than ever before.

 

For the first time in the 19th Century, London, not Paris, was the centre of the fashion world.
The Rockers tended to wear clothes like black leather jackets, whereas the Mods were more stylish and bohemian. By 1966, designer Mary Quant popularised the miniskirt.

Women’s trends early in the decade maintained the refined femininity of the previous decade. Jacqueline Kennedy, one of fashion's iconic legends, popularised many of the elegant styles seen in the beginning of the decade.

America's answer was the hippie movement. This youth subculture spawned trends like bell-bottom jeans and tie-dyed shirts.Towards the end of the decade, the androgynous hippie style emerged, influenced by the Vietnam War.  Both men and women wore “frayed bell-bottomed jeans, tie-dyed shirts, work shirts, and headbands and sandals. At times, women would go barefoot, and some went braless. Some other hippie-styles were fringed buckskin vests, flowing caftans, Mexican peasant blouses, gypsy-style skirts, scarves, bangles, and Indian prints. For the conservative hippie style, there were the ‘lounging’ or ‘hostess’ pyjamas, which consisted of a tunic top over floor-length culottes, and were usually made of polyester or chiffon.”

 The 1960s was a revolutionary decade. It highlighted an era of change and post-war citizen awareness.

 

Hippies fashion is unique to the 1960s. The fashion line defined self-expression from across the continents. The youth indulged in apparel and accessories that made them a part of daily adventure. The presence of rock music and citizen awareness enabled the fashion to promote individualism.