Fashion History: Early 1960s
Sixties fashion was not just about hippies, world peace, and drugs; it was about class. Hippie fashion didn’t hit the scene until the late 1960s, and it was the early 1960s when women everywhere copied the Jackie O look.
Yes, the first lady of the United States was a fashion icon. Jackie Kennedy wore large square or round sunglasses, the pillbox hat, and dress suits. It was Jackie O who popularized the Chanel suit and embodied the class and elegance of the early 60s.
Much of early 60s fashion was slowly weaning away from the 1950s. Yet, you could still spot a dress with a circle skirt and pinched in waist line, but in the early 60s the skirts were not as full and not as long. Shift dresses were always seen in the early 60s, as well as capri trousers and stilett
o heels.
No one knows these early 60s styles better than Janie Byrant, the costume designer for AMC’s Emmy award winning show Mad Men. The show has sparked an interest in vintage fashion and has given the fashion world new inspiration. Michael Kors 2008 fall collection was derived from Mad Men, and Banana Republic has launched a Mad Men inspired collection as well.
The fashion-forward women of the early 1960s had Jackie Kennedy as a reference. Today we have Mad Men referencing a bygone era, while offering inspiration for modern fashion-forward women everywhere.
