The 1960s was a dynamic period for fashion. At the start of the 60s, everyone adored the fashions of Jackie Kennedy. Jackie was always adorned in dresses or suits with perfectly matching accessories, but after the assassination of her husband, John F. Kennedy, see was not in the public eye anymore.
Women started looking for a new style inspiration after Jackie Kennedy, so many began to follow the trends of Brigitte Bardot. Bardot’s style was significantly different than Jackie Kennedy’s. Brigitte Bardot was sultry and often wore off-the-shoulder dresses paired with her wild, wavy blonde hair updos and heavy eye-makeup.
While some may have followed Bardot’s style, many, especially younger women started following the Mod movement. The Mod movement was created by Mary Quant and characterized by short shift dresses, geometric patterns, bold colors, black turtlenecks, and white go-go boots.
Also, at the time, materials like vinyl were commonly being used to create shoes like Mary Janes, oxfords, saddle shoes, and loafers in a wide range of varying colors. To match their colorful new vinyl shoes, many women would pair them with geometric, giant plastic earrings and bangles.
Young women that sported the Mod style also wore the iconic hairstyles that went along with it, like the pixie cut, the bob, and the beehive. Also, prevalent was the unique doll-like makeup; women would wear pale blue eyeshadow with thick black kohl eyeliner and almost cartoon-like false lashes paired with baby pink lipstick (1960-1969).
This look was made popular by models like Twiggy and Jean Shrimpton. Mary Quant wanted her style to be fun and freeing, almost like an extended childhood for young adults. Towards the end of the 60s, many women began wearing more natural colors, comfortable clothes. In New York, 1969, the hippie music festival, Woodstock, inspired the clothing that would dominate the next decade.
According to Daniel James Cole and Nancy Deihl, “The major theme of fashion in the 1970s is variety. The late 1960s established fashion genres that were explored further by designers in the 1970s.” In the early seventies, the fashions of the hippie movement were popularized; hippie women would be found wearing bohemian style clothing such as prairie dresses, peasant blouses, vests, fur coats, and bell bottom jeans.
Hippies would adorn themselves in a multitude of chunky accessories like oversized tortoise shades, wide brim hats, chunky necklaces. Women usually didn’t wear much makeup during this time, but if they did, they would often wear something pearlescent to give them a natural glow. Bronzers and lip gloss became popular at this time, but nothing was as important as hair!
There were so many hairstyles to choose from back then—waves, bowl cut, afro, shag, pageboy, feathered, mullet—the styles were endless. Also, during this decade, many new trends such as the graphic tee, hot pants, and pantsuits were prevalent as well.
In the late seventies, the punk movement made way into the fashion culture as a rebellion against the hippie movement. Punk fashion was exemplified by black leather, studs, fishnets, cheetah prints, and heavy makeup topped with red lips. Many would emulate the fashions of their favorite punk musicians. The Punk movement may have stayed in the 70s, but it did not end there.
The cultural movement of hippies has never placed fashion in the center although its iconic styles and silhouettes played a significant role in the further development of fashion. Originated in the 1960s, hippies became an international collective of individuals that opposed the capitalist rule and heavily supported the anti-war narrative that the government of that time failed to address.
The fundamental ethos of hippies that was conveyed in harmony with nature, artistic experimentation, and the use of recreational drugs reflected the bold floral and psychedelic patterns of clothing, unrestricted cuts, and choices of natural fabrics such as linen, cotton, wool, and hemp.
Thus, hippies represented a spirit and an essence of freedom rather than a particular clothing style; however, without even trying, they influenced the development of fashion and are still recognized as massive trendsetters that modern designers aspire to even today.
