1960-1969: The Fab Years

          1960-1969: The Wow Years
          
  

      Origin
          Though pants were becoming more and more popular, dresses are hard to ignore especially since all women love to wear dresses. Dresses hold a high spot in fashion, especially at a time where women were ridding themselves of the stereotype that women had to wear dresses. What's also really exciting is that we can begin to see the development of the mini-skirts. Many, many young women enjoy wearing mini-skirts today. If the mini-skirt hadn't been invented then we probably would've still been stuck with knee-length skirts and pants. The 1960's was also the time when hippies began to appear. This was also a major change because the style was totally different from the normal social fashion.


"The 1960's saw the appearance of the mini-skirt. Up until that time, skirts and dresses in Australia finished sensibly at the knee. New soaring hemlines created huge controversy when they first appeared, exposing centimeters of thigh never before seen in public"
"Mini-skirts represent more than just a fashion landmark of the decade - they have become an icon of the general culture of rebellion that characterized the 1960s. Young people were rejecting the social standards of the past and so too was their fashion. Many devotees of the feminist movement of the 1960s also saw the mini-skirt as a claim to the right of women to proudly display their bodies as they wished"
                                                   
                                                                     (Audrey Hepburn sleeveless dress in 1962)
"1962 was marked by subtle, yet meaningful changes. The silhouette became slightly more form-fitting, but the lines didn’t try to accentuate curves"

     Purpose
         Pants, shorts, tops, dresses, socks, shoes, ect... everything is changing. The way the tops look, how short the shorts are, how loose (or tight) the dresses are, and even the shapes of the pants are changing. Now pants have become so common, that you begin to see them everyday in the daily lives of the people of America.

     Value
         Each outfit allows women to express what and how they feel. How confident they are, how happy and many other emotions or attitudes can be expressed through the way that each woman dressed. Also the clothes that the Hippies wore really expressed their views about the society that they lived in (and still live in today). Here are some of the Hippies Beliefs:

 Do not conform to society.
-Materialism is wrong.
-Technology is unnecessary and oftentimes dehumanizing.
-Be your own person, not who anyone else wants you to be.
Although each hippie embraced his or her own ideals as a part of their new culture, the stereotypical hippie:
-Practiced or were interested in Eastern Religions
-Had very liberal political views.
-Peace and love instead of hate and war.
-Expressed extreme tolerance and on the subject of sexuality and sex.
-Live life to the fullest
-Embrace the peace and love expressed by music, as well as the unification it creates among people, usually rock and roll.

"The lifestyle of a hippie centered around non-conformity, because hippie culture is all about embracing who you really are and rejecting the need to conform to their society or authorities."

                                                              



    Limitations
         As stated before, fashion doesn't give very much input to what was going on in America or around the world during this time period. The fashion of this period can't tell us about the war in Vietnam, or the protests going on in America at this time against the segregation and the unjust treatment of African Americans and the protests against the Vietnam war.

                           Here's a video that will help show in more detail the fashion of the 60's