Vaboomer -- Baby Boomer Views & News

1960s Fashion and Clothing: Groovy!

by Nancy Mehegan

1960s:  Hot, Mini, Maxi and Psychelic

Boutique shops began selling cheap and colorful clothing for younger people. Women started wearing mini skirts, leather boots and fake eyelashes. Men wore Paisley shirts.. Men also began to wear their hair long.   

Space age clothing starts to become popular. Different materials were used such as discs of metal or plastic linked together with wire. Psychelic colors emerge.

1965

Skirts Are Short

Mini skirts become much shorter. Op art becomes more popular. Optic trick using contrasting colors with black and white to make a sort of optical illusion. 

1966 - Psychedelic clothing -- Colors (acid colors) are brighter and bolder. Ruffles and love beads. 

1967 - The ethnic look is clothing picked up from other cultures. Woven fabrics from Central America and the Oriental look and the African/Middle Eastern looks were both port of the ethnic fashion. 

Skirts Are Long

 

1968-1969 - Skirts begin to lengthen. The "Hippie look" is now popular. The women wore long floor length dresses and skirts called "maxies". Men continued to grow their hair longer and their sideburns.  

Hot pants (extremely short shorts).  Preppy fashions for upper class youth: Madras plaids, oversize hairy sweaters, painstakingly matched accessories.

1960s Hair Styles: Remember the Flip?

by Nancy Mehegan

The "Flip" Hair Style

So adorable!

You used your fingers & a lot of hair spray to get a firm "flip".  We also placed grossgrain or velvet bows at the crown.

 

And Hair Ironing?

You needed to get your hair STRAIGHT!  I would place my hair on the ironing board and use the iron to get my hair perfectly straight. Or we used "Curl-Free" hair relaxer.

Geometric Style

Fall hair pieces, Sassoon geometric cuts. 

I even had my hair cut at Vidal Sassoon's Salon in Manhattan. 

The style was kind of weird on me, but I wanted to be "stylish".

Fun, fun, fun!

1960s Fashion: Remember the Mini Skirt?

by Nancy Mehegan

Did we DARE wear skirts so short?

Some credit fashion designer Mary Quant with its invention. Others say Jean Shrimpton popularized it. It was a popular fad, for sure.

There's a theory that skirt lengths are inversely proportionate to the prosperity of the economy.  Short skirts when the economy thrives.

As for hair, I tried to get my hair to look like Jean Shrimpton's -- but my bangs didn't work like hers.  Everything was the "London Look" -- the British invasion.

 

1960s fashion was such fun

Geometric Sassoon haircuts, Twiggy, Jean Shrimpton, Yardley cosmetics, Canoe cologne, "Fire and Ice" lipstick. 

Did I forget anything?