The Woman on Los Feliz

1960s Fashion and music research

9/21/2011 L. Stewart

Introduction

This document is based on the fashion and music of the 1960s. It will cover what influenced the clothes and the music of the time, as well as what style clothes and hairstyle were worn in Los Feliz. Studies on examples of recent television shows with the 1960s style will also be covered for example 2007s Mad Men series famed for its authenticity.

Contents Page
Introduction.......................................................................................................................

Fashion:
1. What influenced the 1960s fashion a. Clothes Fashion.. b. Hair Fashion 2. Who were the important designers of the 1960s..

Music:
1. The music of the time 2. Music youth revolution.

Bibliography. Illustration List..

Fashion
What influenced the 1960s fashion? a. Clothes Fashion According to RetroWow.co.uk The leaders of mid 1960s style were the British. The Mods, aka Modernists, were characterized by their choice of style different from the 1950s and adopted new fads that would be imitated by many young people. As the Mods strongly influenced the fashion in London, 1960s fashion in general set the mode for the rest of the century as it became marketed mainly to young people. The look of the Mods was classy; they mimicked the clothing and hairstyles of high fashion designers in France and Italy; opting for tailored suits, which were topped by anoraks that became their trademark. The Mods dress style was often called the City Gent look. Shirts were slim, with a necessary button down collar accompanied by slim fitted pants. Levi's were the only type of jeans worn by Modernists. Flared trousers and bellbottoms led the way to the hippie stage introduced in the 1960s. Variations of polyester were worn along with acrylics. The Men's casual shirts were often plaid and buttoned down the front, while knee-length dresses were required wear for women in most public places. By mid-decade, miniskirts or hot pants, often worn with go-go boots,

were revealing legs, bodywear was revealing curves, and women's hair was either very short or long and lanky. Men's wear had a renaissance. Bright colors, double-breasted sports jackets, polyester pants suits with Nehru jackets, and turtlenecks were in vogue. By the end of the decade, ties, when worn, were up to 5" wide, patterned even when worn with stripes. Women wore peasant skirts or granny dresses and chunky shoes. Unisex dressing was popular; featuring bell bottomed jeans, love beads, and embellished t-shirts. Clothing was as likely to be purchased at surplus stores as boutiques.
*Barbie Dolls created by Mattel in 1959 were a fad and many young girls aspired to look like a Barbie, design idea*

b. Hairstyle Fashion

1960s began with crew cuts on men and bouffant hairstyles on women. Women's hair styles ranged from beehive hairdos in the early part of the decade to the very short styles popularized by Twiggy just five years later to a very long straight style as popularized by the hippies in the late 1960s. Between these extremes, the chin-length contour cut and the pageboy were also popular. The pillbox hat was fashionable, due almost entirely to the influence of Jacqueline Kennedy, who was a style-setter throughout the decade. . Head coverings changed dramatically towards the end of the decade as men's hats went out of style, replaced by the bandanna. As men let their hair grow long, the Afro became the hairstyle of choice for African Americans. Mop-top hairstyles were most popular for white and Hispanic men, beginning as a short version around 1963 through 1964, developing into a longer style worn during 1965-66, eventually evolving into an unkempt hippie version worn during the 1967-69 period which continued in the early 1970s. Facial hair Mens hair became longer and wider, with beards and moustaches, evolving in its extremity from simply having longer sideburns, to moustaches and goatees, to full-grown beards became popular with young men from 1966 onwards. Blacks of both genders wore their hair in an afro. Men also had the Pompadour hair style, usually accompanied by antique cars. *Greece Lightning

Who were the important designers of the 1960s?

Givenchy Hubert Givenchy helped to define the 1960s refined style by dressing its most elegant actress, Audrey Hepburn, both on screen and off. Givenchy's designs were used in Hepburn movies such as Charade,Paris When it Sizzles, How to Steal a Million, and of course, Breakfast at Tiffany's, for which he designed the most famous "Little Black Dress" of all time. Pucci: Most recognized for his trademark colorful psychedelic prints, Pucci contributed to other '60s trends like the palazzo pant suit and headscarf

Ossie Clark Ossie Clark made a name by dressing celebrities like the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Twiggy, Liza Minnell, and Talitha Getty. Together with his wife, Celia Birtwell who designed textiles for his collections, Clark's designs epitomized the 60s. Clark was also one of the first designers to do an accessible capsule collection with a major retailer, mass producing his designs at a lower price for British retailer Radley in 1968.

Pierre Cardin Pierre Cardin created innovative designs for both men and women during the 1960s. Thigh high boots, collarless jackets, and target emblazoned mini shift dresses in bright colors were his trademarks.

Andr Courrges The true creator of the "mini" skirt, Andr Courrges was more than a one trick pony. Courrges also brought us the go-go boot and established the triangle shaped shift dress as the defining silhouette for the '60s. Since Courrges was a high fashion label, it would be difficult and pricey to find an original, but his designs were widely copied for lower price points which are well within reach of todays vintage fashion treasure hunters. Flat white shoes or boots with a sift dress or cigarette pant suit would be a spot on Courrges-esque ensemble.

Music
The music of the time British rock bands such as The Who, The Small Faces, and The Kinks emerged from the Mod subculture. The Mods were known for the Modern Jazz they listened to as they showed their new styles off at local cafes. There were rock bands like The rockers who liked 1950s rock-and roll, wore black leather jackets, greased, pompadour hairstyles, and rode motorbikes. They rode on scooters, usually Vespas or Lambrettas. 1960, Elvis returned to the music scene from the US Army, joining the other white male vocalists at the top of the charts; Bobby Darin, Neil Sedaka, Jerry Lee Lewis, Paul Anka, Del Shannon and Frankie Avalon. America, however, was ready for a change. The Tamla Motown Record Company came on the scene, specializing in black rhythm and blues, aided in the emergence of female groups such as Gladys Knight and the Pips, Martha and the Vandellas, the Supremes, and Aretha Franklin, as well as some black men, including Smoky Robinson, James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, and the Temptations. Bob Dylan helped bring about a folk music revival, along with Joan Baez and Peter, Paul & Mary. The Beach Boys began recording music that appealed to high schoolers. The Beatles, from England, burst into popularity with innovative rock music that appealed to all ages. The Righteous Brothers were a popular white duo who used African American styling to create a distinctive sound. There was a major change in popular music in the mid-1960's, caused in part by the drug scene. Acid Rock, highly amplified and improvisational, and the more mellowpsychedelic rock gained prominence. When the Beatles turned to acid rock, their audience narrowed to the young. Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead grew out of the counterculture in 1967. The musical phenomena of the decade was Woodstock, a three day music festival that drew 400,000 hippies and featured peace, love, and happiness...and LSD. Folk music contributed to the counterculture.

The modular synthesizer (aka moog synthesizer), developed in 1960 by Robert Moog and Donald Buchla, marked a major change in serious music. Innovative composers were already experimenting with electro-acoustic music. Now they were able to go further with John Cage's 0'0 (Zero Silence) to be performed by anyone in anyway; Morton Subotnik's Silver Apples of the Moon; Robert Ashley's Wolfman. In 1967, Alvin Lucier, one of the co-founders of the Sonic Arts Union, created "Music for a Solo Performer," in which electrodes were attached to the performer's scalp. His alpha waves, controlled by his concentration, resonated from loudspeakers, accompanied by occasional percussion. Computers were used in music composition and sound synthesis, notably Max Mathews' Music IV and Music V. By the end of the decade, popular music was also using synthesizers and other electronic devices.

BiblioGraphy: Clothes fashion (Retrowow.co.uk.)accessed on 19.09.2011 Well Known Designers (http://vintageclothing.about.com/od/designerstolookfor/tp/1960sDesigners.htm)acessed) on 19.09.2011 Music of the time http://kclibrary.lonestar.edu/decade60.htmlhttp://kclibrary.lonestar.edu/decade60. html accessed on 19.09.2011

Illustration List: .Clothes: http.www.paperpast.comhtml.1960_fashion.html . Hair Styles: http://www.wtv-zone.com/dpjohnson/beautyandthebouffant/