1961 - Fashion takes a Turn!
This blog is part of a series where we look at the styles of the 1960s: A decade of change.
We start the decade with traditional values and feminine fashions but end the decade with more contemporary values and laid back, funky or casual styles.
My last blog was about the fashions of 1960, which continued to display the traditional values and styles for women with the lovely billowing, full skirts that continued from the 1950s. And this 1950s style was itself a continuation of Christian Dior’s “New Look” which came out in 1947. This style, along with pencil skirts and dresses, capris and sweet button-up-the-back short sleeved shirts were all the rage as we entered 1961.
In 1961, as with previous years, it was designers that would create the styles women would wear. Enter Jacqueline Kennedy. In 1961 John F. Kennedy was elected president of the United States and the world was smitten by his wife. Her style was simple and elegant. Every woman wanted to look like Jackie Kennedy.
This style still translates today, in part, because of the easy elegance it exemplified. As a result of her simply tailored clothing, women around the world would start wearing slightly bouffant hairdos, simple jewelry, and stunning but uncomplicated shift dresses with matching jackets and straightforward, gathered-at-the-waist, cotton dresses. And who could forget the fantastic pillbox hat?
The circle dresses were still in fashion, of course, but as the world drooled over the US’s first lady, her designers were put on center stage. Oleg Cassini, Jackie’s exclusive designer in 1961, was also known for designing fashion for the Hollywood starlets.
Becoming Jackie’s designer meant he would dress one of the most popular and influential women of the decade. Cassini is known to have said: “I dressed Jackie to be a star in a major film, which she was, the most famous first lady of all time. I became her secretary of style.” But Jackie herself was the director of this show.
And when The Dick Van Dyke show aired in 1961 we got to see Mary Tyler Moore wearing Jackie’s hairstyle. Mary wore beautiful dresses and Jackie-inspired sleek looks.
Breakfast at Tiffany’s was another movie known for style and grace. Women watched and responded.
But it was in 1961 that people all over North America were considering building nuclear bomb shelters due to Cold War tensions. People still remembered the impact of WWII and wanted to wrest control of their destinies. Women wanted to direct their lives as well. In November of 1961 there was a Women’s Strike for Peace. Women wanted a say. And these political and social events started to create subtle fashion changes. Women wanted stability, to take control and to look like Jacqueline Kennedy.
This is where, in my opinion, you start to see a shift from designers calling the shots to the designers taking their cues from the people and creating fashion that women want.
Did Coco Channel do this prior to 1961? It’s true that she made the fashions she expected the modern woman would want to wear. But I believe that it is here that we start to see that trend of looking at women’s aspirations and translating that into to how to dress them.
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