It Was Fifty Years Ago Today…
Lulue channels the Sixties in a houndstooth jacket, white mini, knee-high lace-up boots and of course the ubiquitous Vidal Sassoon bob (and, in the truest Sixties style, it’s a wig). Add giant white-framed sunglasses, hot pink fishnets, big jewellery and lashings of black warpaint, and she’s good to go … to a Sixties themed party at the very least.
The Sixties was the decade of youth: the new generation of Baby Boomers born following the war created a new market; a market that rebelled against all expressions of authority. Out went haute couture, and in came fashion off the streets.
The Mini
Tired of the neck and shoulders, fashion found a new erogenous zone: the midriff and thighs. The miniskirt was born in the early Sixties, first worn by art students in Manchester, and then marketed worldwide by Mary Quant in 1965. André Courrèges and Yves Saint Laurent also adopted the brief skirt in their Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter 1965 collections respectively. And also in 1965, what a scandal Jean Shrimpton caused by wearing a minidress to the Melbourne Cup Carnival!
The Bob
“Everyone wanted more hair, adding thickness and height, whether the cut was short and bobbed, or long, heavy and swinging,” Georgina Howell tells us in her book In Vogue: 75 Years of Style (Condé Nast Books, 1991). Vidal Sassoon’s new do was hard and architectural, requiring a revolution in makeup and the correct hat to complement his bob. To satisfy this desire for height, hairdressers encouraged the use of hairpieces instead of constant and damaging back-combing. Eye makeup darkened – false eyelashes were an essential component of the Sixties look, and lips paled into insignificance.
The Boots
According to Howell, “in summer you went bare-legged and rouged your knees. In the winter you covered your exposed limbs in thick patterned tights or stretch lace, and boots climbed up the legs in pursuit of hemlines.” (How I love that last phrase, boots in pursuit of hemlines!) The go-go boot is the quintessential Sixties footwear, and were originally low-heeled; Lulue’s black lace-ups are more akin to ‘kinky boots’. The term was coined in the UK in the early Sixties, when boots became a mainstream fashion item. Prior to this they were worn predominately in the underground fetish world of the dominatrix.
It was certainly a youthquake, but everything grows tame in time. Young people grow up, and their glory years become a mine for their grandchildren’s theme parties.
Check out more pics in the Out-takes & Extras album.
Thanks to Lulue for being such a gorgeous model yet again.