The Rest is History: Sixties fashion

It was really very modest by today's standards!

I remember making myself a white dress like that from a Simplicity pattern 🙂

Scarcely above the knee!

I can remember wearing skirts so short, I couldn't bend down, I had to squat. less above waist exposure but plenty - just - about below panty level.

Callistemon21

Scarcely above the knee!

I loved two tone shoes! It said that she was promoting a new synthetic fabric ( rayon??) She made the dress herself but they didn’t give her enough material so she made it shorter. The podcast also talked about Twiggy, Biba, Mary Quant etc then went onto the hippy stuff and how California then took over from London, which was never quite as swinging as the rest of the world thought it was. Why men’s suits had turn ups, Vidal Sassoon being a freedom fighter. They said Twiggys autobiography is surprisingly interesting. I don’t think the podcasters actually realised how clever she has been at reinventing herself. I’d forgotten that David Bailey and Jean Shrimpton were a couple for several years. It was a wonderful two hours of nostalgia fest. My favourite book about that era is Joe Boyd’s White Bicycles.

Mmm, will give this podcast a go😊

I loved 60s fashion. I enjoyed every minute if it. I was the right shape - tall and slim with long legs (I'm still tall!). I loved the Twiggy look. I've read her autobiography . It is interesting but full of name drops. Still I suppose her life was full if famous people.

I do remember the Jean Shrimpton incident. Happy times spent in the original small Biba shop in Kensington. I look at my leggy GDs now and think how lovely they would look in a mini dress

I couldn’t wear mini skirts as I have horrible fat legs. But I did have a Biba maxi dress. Black jersey, with buttons all down the front, a wide belt and a peplum. I lived in it. If I had one like it I’d live in it now. I’ve often thought of asking someone to make one for me but, without a pattern of the exact dress I might be disappointed as it was beautifully tailored. I think about it a lot.

I've still got the beautiful silver Biba dress that I bought in 1969. It was floor length, with big medieval sleeves, see through because it was silver and white lace but I had a long slip to go under it. It was a size 12 but today would be like a 6 or 8. I wore it to go to a car club dance with my fiance. He was horrified, apparently I should have had a nice little dress from Dorothy Perkins, but I didn't care because I looked amazing.

My wedding dress was shorter than that Jean Shrimpton dress.

I think Jean Shrimpton was also in trouble because she had bare legs!!!

Ladyleftfieldlover

I think Jean Shrimpton was also in trouble because she had bare legs!!!

That's what I remembered it wasn't so much the length but the absence of stockings.
There's an account here en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_shift_dress_of_Jean_Shrimpton
And no hat, gloves or stockings was too much!!!

Of course tights were then invented.

MayBee70
The material was crimplene.
My mums friend made me some beautiful dresses with the block colour design.

I've just added this to my list of podcasts. There's so much more to history than just war battles and politics!

I also listen to Dressed: The History of Fashion. The hosts are American, and they do cover some interesting topics. A bit of a focus on Hollywood or Broadway costume designers.

They were but most women were still in stockings. Got my first pair of tights in '66.

This isn't me obviously but I had this very outfit. It was a dress and coat, bottle green with white flowers in a fine needlecord. I remember it so well. I loved it.

1968:

MerylStreep

MayBee70
The material was crimplene.
My mums friend made me some beautiful dresses with the block colour design.

Crimplene was great to sew!
No fraying.

I loved the sixties look as well. We couldn't get tights in our pocket of the north and my aunt sent them from the Midlands,we all wanted the same shade ,can't remember the name.
My mother was horrified when I first went bare legged then when I came back from College like a Coco pop she decided to do the same herself. On my wedding photos you can see both my mothers and Mil's knees.
I tried to look like Jean Shrimpton and a small Boutique in our town got Mary Quant dresses in, I loved a red white and blue one. I wore some as smocks with maternity trousers when I had DD1 they were so short.

I remember during both my pregnancies in 1969 and 1972 wearing maternity dresses that just about covered my bump.
My grandmother was horrified.

Did anyone else wear lime green tights with black fishnets over the top and a tiny black skirt? I did.

Just before tights we had hold-ups - stockings with a wide band of lacy, grippy stuff at the top so no suspenders were needed.

Bella23

I loved the sixties look as well. We couldn't get tights in our pocket of the north and my aunt sent them from the Midlands,we all wanted the same shade ,can't remember the name.
My mother was horrified when I first went bare legged then when I came back from College like a Coco pop she decided to do the same herself. On my wedding photos you can see both my mothers and Mil's knees.
I tried to look like Jean Shrimpton and a small Boutique in our town got Mary Quant dresses in, I loved a red white and blue one. I wore some as smocks with maternity trousers when I had DD1 they were so short.

Bella23 was it American Tan?