Through The Decades: 1960s Vintage Clothing

1966, Eugene, Oregon (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

by Emma Brown

The 1960's was a decade that broke barriers in terms of fashion, especially for women.

When purchasing vintage clothes, you are automatically buying into a piece of fashion history, but when buying vintage clothes from the swinging sixties, you really are buying a piece of history that moulded the fashion industry from then on.

The sixties is a decade of fashion that had so many trends that began in the era, that when buying vintage there is so much choice it's hard to pick.

In the beginning of the decade Jackie Kennedy was still wearing the famous skirt and trouser suits and pillbox hats, a trend that withstood nearly 7 years of season changes, so style was somewhat conservative.

However all that changed when Mary Quant, a Welsh designer and British fashion icon developed the mini skirt and encouraged women to hike up their hemlines. The majority of miniskirts or mini dresses had geometric patterns, some often with bell sleeves and/or polo necks.

The 'space' look was also an integral part of fashion culture and believe it or not, people donned goggles paired with go go boots and clothes made from PVC or sequins. All these looks were paired with big hair, false eyelashes and pale lipstick.

As the era moved on so did the culture and the fashion, with the hippy trend becoming huge psychedelic patterns were everywhere. Bandanas were paired with bell bottom jeans and paisley prints and the emphasis on having hair as high as the sky wasn't as important as in previous years.

However, probably one of the most significant trends to ever emerge into fashion, mainly for men, was the mod style.

The importance of this new way of dressing is integral to fashion today and is probably one of the main reason why 1960's vintage fashion is so sought after in today's day and age, given the fact that men like Paul Weller still make it 'cool' to embody the style.

The mod style personified British fashion of the era and very much moulded a new lifestyle as well as dress code.

Consisting of tight trousers, anoraks, shirts and ties, the key to pulling it off was combining a smart, gentlemanly look with a small amount of grunge to give an edge. The look was ultimately unisex and the women wore similar clothes and had short cropped hair.

This style has become something of a timeless classic, which in turn creates a need for vintage originals.

The whole scene reeks of the cool element that vintage brings and having a fundamental part of the first release of these fashions seems to be part of the process if you want to be a fully fledged mod.

Vintage fashion from the sixties is not for the faint hearted, and wearers have to be brave enough to make a statement with their clothes.

When choosing a trend to bring back to life from the sixties it is important to pick the right one, the styles are so iconic that it can sometimes look like fancy dress, the key thing with 1960s vintage clothes is to blend it so it looks kitsch, not cliche.

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