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Hiteksha Bakhru U05S How did the feminist movement affect fashion in 1960s? The feminist movement, also known as the Women’s Liberation Movement was a continuous battle for over 100 years. The life of a woman before the 1960s had been difficult, they were denied basic rights, had been trapped in their homes as housewives and were discriminated at the workplace. However, this all changed after the war between America and Vietnam. The movement helped bring changes through implementation of new policies and radical ways of thinking. As a result, many significant changes were accomplished during the 1960s. These changes were also noticeable in the fashion industry in terms of how they dressed, what patterns they admired, what styles they followed and what materials were commonly used. Young individuals of the 60s were tired of the same old rules and the conservative society. Throughout the time of post war period, they were ​ rebuilding everything from scratch as their financial and social conditions were horrible. They were earning money but at the same time getting allowance from their parents. Consequently, they were able to create their own identity and were moving towards being the leaders of fashion. For the first time, they had different options and opinions to their parents. Youngsters started making clothes they wanted to wear ­ clothes that were more about looking forward to the future: sharp, bold, minimalist, modernist. Op Art became popular during this time by artist Bridget Riley who created amazing pattern work of black and white shapes of different thickness and positions. This created an optical illusion in front of your eyes and it portrayed the art as it were bulging, twisting or moving. People had not seen anything like this as it was quite dramatic and were inspired by this new op art. This resulted in such patterns being used on everything from clothes, advertisements, stationery, wallpaper to even upholstery fabrics. Pop art, a separate movement altogether also had a huge influence on fashion during the mid 1960s. Graphic work of famous artists such as Andy Warhol was printed onto clothing. He turned his art into fashion items. He even started to print his designs onto paper dresses which were becoming the in trend at that time. The most recognised dress that he created was the Souper Dress, that featured his soup cans print. These pop art inspired paper dresses were the next craze in the fashion world during the sixties. Even today, contemporary designers take inspiration from designs of that time. Another well­known iconic designer Yves Saint Laurent turned a Piet Mondrian painting into a dress. The inspiration for this dress was from the painting’s famous grid and primary colors like Composition with Yellow, Red and Blue. As a result, sixties fashion was rooted in vibrant and catchy patterns. The young generation of the sixties were more free, especially when it came to what they wore. They were not afraid to show themselves or be a part of controversies. They made the changes, they created trends in fashion that were so different from what they were wearing in the past. They acquired more money than before and continuously announced to the world that they were a different generation from their parents and grandparents. A popular style that marked a sign of liberation for women was the mini skirt. It was designed by Mary Quant. The skirt was 6­7 inches above the knee, and this was a huge change at the time because earlier everyone wore full­length longer skirts. Mary Quant’s style took fashion away from grown up, old school, traditional to a more playful, youth driven, new and trending look. Her dresses were short with bold and colorful mod prints. This trend took off only because it was a change from the norm and it was different. In fact, people accepted Hiteksha Bakhru U05S How did the feminist movement affect fashion in 1960s? this style and it soon became a global trend. The miniskirt symbolised that women can run and show their beauty without any limitations or restrictions. A strong personality was created and set the tone for the 1960s as “fashion­is­fun”. The youth seemed to have dominated a lot of the fashion in the 1960s. It was a youth driven culture. The fashion also reflected that, the “baby doll” look was incorporated into their dressing style. This included oversize collars, bows and trims. Other favorites were kitten heel pumps, Mary Jane strap shoes and flat sneakers. Dresses were slightly above the knee hemline, looser than 50s pencil dresses, somewhat shapeless and became shorter and shorter. The shorter the dress, the more confident she was. Women gained sexual power through fashion, short skirts and dresses was not to attract men but was a way for women to decide if they wanted that attention. Another Mary Quant invention that caught the attention of this audience was the jumper dress which again had a playful, fun side to it. There were a lot of changes in a women’s status too. Initially, they were expected to follow one route, marry at a young age, start a family quickly, spend entire life homemaking. They took responsibility of housekeeping and childcare. However, during the 1960s feminist movement, women were not just serving their own family, but also went out to work to support their household and country. As women started working, Coco Chanel started to divert her simple and practical designs to women. These designs were creatively taken from menswear. She sold flannel blazers, straight linen skirts, sailor tops, long jersey sweaters and ​ skirt­jackets. Such clothing made it easier for women to work and they were definitely more efficient. Chanel made her patterns look sophisticated yet the ​ patterns were not made using bold colors so that it could be worn on a daily basis. Coco Chanel was the first person to bring such fashion for women. Yves Saint Laurent also impacted fashion during this time. On the other hand while women was trying to get attention from men, Coco Chanel gave women simple and neat trousers for their leisure time but Yves Saint Laurent gave women trousers for other occasions which suggested women power and power of equality between both men and women. He took khaki linens of an explorer and designed a Safari suit. He even took a sailor’s pea coat, an agricultural worker’s cotton smock, sportsman’s blazer and shorts, military man’s trench coat and gave them to women. He gave the women of that time a little bit of attitude and a swagger feel. This way women felt more independent at their workplace. He too gave women power, power of equality ­ between men and women. As you can see, pant suits were copied from men’s suits but customised to women’s sizes and proportions. To some, this fashion trend may have given power to women, to others it was an insult to femininity. As time moved towards the hippie movement, there was a trend of earth tone colors and floral patterns. People who were in opposition to the Vietnam war were called hippies. They wanted spread peace and love during this period and flower was the most representative symbol of this. As a result, flower power was an important slogan to the hippies and it greatly influenced their fashion style. They wore flowers in their hair and even painted the Hiteksha Bakhru U05S How did the feminist movement affect fashion in 1960s? pattern on their face. The floral patterns were popular on tops, dresses, as well as patches of them adorned on skirts and jeans. They displayed as much natural beauty as possible. Clothing and fashion was more simple and basic. It was almost an anti­fashion movement where there were no rules to fashion, however this later on became the main­stream fashion style and was adopted by many. Forest green, sunshine yellow and denim blue were signature colors of the hippies. Clothes were also out of proportions with big hats, long coats and vests. All of this was symbolic to nature. Ethnic details were covered on pieces of clothing. Designers took inspiration from this and young individuals. Other style also included bell­bottom jeans, tie­dye and batik fabrics and paisley prints. Hippies believed in displaying natural beauty rather than facing the ugliness of the world. Furthermore, the hippies even inspired the Oriental and African/Middle eastern looks. During the feminist movement, young women abandoned conventions of feminine appearances. Women had a problem with the fashion and beauty industries because women were casted as sexual objects. Before this era, jeans were only worn by men but in the late 1960s jeans became a unisex uniform for the youth. Hence, jeans worn by both men and women was a huge faux pas in fashion. Women also fought for their rights in the 1960s, some made a "Freedom Trash Can" where they threw objects such as bras, heels, hair curlers, girdles, and women magazines, especially those magazines that focused on appearance and beauty such as Cosmo and Playboy. Women of this time started to wear pants and clothes that weren't figure hugging and clothes that weren't actually catered for them. The clothes and accessories at that time further blurred the distinction between the sexes. When it came to fabrics, 1960s fashion was influenced by the surrounding space exploration and the first moon landing. Different materials such as discs of metal, plastic put together with wire, leather and PVC were used and metallic and neon colors gained popularity. In addition, synthetics such as polyester, nylon, acrylic, vinyl and PVC become very popular.

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