1960-1969 Peace Out Dude

The 1960s a decade full of shift dresses, mods, rockers and general pyschedelic madness.

Continuing from the pastel fifties the sixties were brighter by far. Mary Quant a fashion designer introduced the mini skirt whose hem lines would have made Victorians faint.

Quant also brought out the hotpants which having brought the victorians out of their stupor would've instantly clocked them out again. These "thigh" raising shorts were completly original and completly altered the British fashion community.

The sixties also brought in The Beatles if you haven't heard of these people where have you been the last 50 decades!

These 4 Brit boys had a mop top hair cut and had many top ten hits including Hey Jude and Yellow Submarine. In the Beatles there was one young Liverpudlian name of John Lennon, this peace keeper was a massive influence in many peoples lives. 

There was also Paul McCartney whose daughter Stella is a fashion designer who shall be mentioned  later on in the 1990s.

The sixties also brought out the flower power. The hippie movement was massively endorsed in this decade. This meant tie- dyed  everything form t shirts to socks(probably).

The free love (and drugs) are what led to the abstract prints that we always link to this wild era. 

Segregation was pushed to its limit in America it was so much so that black men, women and children had to use separate transportation and school until the Civil rights movement in the  mid 60s.  A well known ambassador for civil rights was Martin Luther King who expressed his views in a moving speech entitled I Have A Dream.

 

In the film Hairspray set in the early sixties there is mash ups of both fifties and sixties teaming geometric prints and gogo boots with poofy skirts.

Teens developed the vamp look from the 20s and turned it into the ultimate big eyed model like their idol Twiggy.

The improved look meant false eyelashes, heavy eye makeup and pale lips as well as the bob haircut.

Introducing the mods and rockers a gang fight that lasted 10 years. The mods rode scooters and wore tailored suits with thin ties teamed with parkas for suit protection.

The mods also prefered to get their clothes from the sixties hang out Carnaby Street in London.

The rockers however wore leather jackets and jeans and rode racing motorcycling. Reminisent of the fifties film Grease.

In 1969 man first landed on the moon this led to many space inspired tv programmes such as Star Trek and Doctor Who. These combined led to amazing dreams of the future.

Movies were changed as well there was infamous director Alfred Hitchcock who did  horror films like Psycho and The Birds. There was also such movies as Breakfast at Tiffanys with Audrey Hepburn with that iconic opening scene. I know it's branded as a 50s era film but it was actually released in 1961 so it has elements of the 50s and 60s combined. 

There was hope for aspiring spies everywhere when 007 came into cinemas everywhere. With his exquistely tailored suits and a "shaken not stirred" martini, not to mention his way with the women James Bond was the man's icon.

The sixties like its predecessor the fifties was a good year for musicals Sound of Music, Mary Poppins, Oliver! and West Side Story were renowned all over for their catchy songs (all together now "supercalifragilisticexpealidocious....")

There was also the less well known Hair.

 This brought out the hippie movement and was full to bursting with pyschedelic prints.

The movie business mourned one of their own when in 1962 Marilyn Monroe died of a suspected drug overdose she had a great career of movies and songs and was greatly linked with the husband of this woman,

 Jackie Kennedy was the First Woman of the USA meaning she was married to the President.

She endorsed pill box hats and pastel suits. The President in question was of course John F Kennedy who was a decent ruler although apparently somebody didn't agree, he was killed in 1963.

The music in the sixties evolved from the fifties into a more rockier version of rock n roll.

Bands like The Who, Pink Floyd who played pychedelic rock and others like The Rolling Stones (who just couldn't seem to get any satisfaction) and Beach Boys who were surf rock.

Most of these bands could be seen playing at the Woodstock festival a popular annual hippie gig.  

There were other new musical people as well like Dusty Springfield, Tom Jones and  Dolly Parton who made country singing popular.