1970-1980

By the 1970's women were more independent, some women had jobs and they wore what they wanted to wear that day. Holidays abroad was also becoming more popular as package holidays were offered and more people had disposable income. Therefore this widened fashion in Britain. 
Short skirts were replaced by long, loose A-line dresses (maxi) that came just above the floor length, although the mini was still worn. They were printed with flower power patterns in feminine fabric. This related to the hippies, that continued from the sixties into the seventies as a known trend. Hippies preached love, freedom and peace. They took the issue with racial inequality, sexual discrimination, and civil rights. Hippies did this by protesting. 

Primary photograph

Primary photograph

Other trends in the seventies included trousers, in particular, flares, loon pants and bell bottoms. Blue jeans were no longer the attire for the working class, and denim was worn by nearly everyone. The 1970's was the decade when fashion for unisex blossomed, men and women started to wear clothes that were gender natural and sometimes couple were seen wearing the same outfit.


One of my favorite trends from the seventies would be the jumpsuit. Full of bright colours, shimmer and sequins. It highlighted the body's assets. These days you would have to be very brave and confident to wear such a jumpsuit but that's what i loved about seventies fashion. The freedom and passion was shown on the clothes.

Look how striking this jumpsuit is by Aussie Clark, an iconic designer in the seventies. This garment just screams the seventies, the bold print and vivid colours with the long fringing. Its certainly a design that would make heads turn, but that's what i love about the seventies.

Again like the sixties, the seventies still inspires fashion today. Currently in 2015, the trends are all about the 1970's fashion, especially the flower power aspect. 

1960-1970

There were many changes in Fashion in the 1960's. You can clearly see these changed if you look back throughout the past decades. Bold print and bright colours were introduced. There were multiple choices of designers such as Yves Saint Laurent, Biba, Givenchy,Pierre Cardin, Mary Quant and many more. The Fashion industry started to grow bigger and new trends started the glam rock sixties. 

Fashion became a lot more open, the youth were now very important in the fashion industry not just the mature and wealthy. Designer Mary Quant is famous for producing the skimming mini skirt that set 6 or 7 inches above the knee. This trend took off for young people, partly because it was so different and the youth and young adults tended to wear is, due to how controversial it was. Women were showing a lot more skin, the fashionable trend of knee high boots that provided a glove-like-fit, covered up the leg up the knee. A very sexy look. 

Mary Quant's mini skirt. Also know as the Chelsea look

Music influenced fashion as rock and pop became popular in 1960'S Britain, therefor it began fashion and music were linked. More people began to develop their own individual sense of style. The sixties is often known for introducing the hippie look and some still like that style today. 

The most famous female fashion icon in the 1960's would have to be the model Twiggy. Twiggy became the face of fashion from 1966, at the young age of 16. she grow into a international supermodel and many young women desired to look like her and to have her sense of style, with her boyish haircut and striking eye lashes. What i admire about twiggy is how even she had retired from modeling she still shows an interest in the fashion industry, since 2005, twiggy has been acting as the face of Marks&Spencer in their advertising campaigns.

Yves Saint Laurent

Yves Saint Laurent had a major impact in fashion from the 1960's to the present day. He dominated 1960 and 70's fashion because he revolutionized the female wardrobe by popularizing women's trousers, and raised the status to ready-to-wear clothes. 
Yves started off his career in fashion by working for the legendary Christian Dior, in which he was employed as an assistant. He eventually became Dior's creative head at the young age of 21. One of his famous creations was his first solo collection, the Trapeze. This dress was A-line shape and short and swung from narrow shoulders.

Another classic by Yves Saint Laurent were the "Mondrian" colour-block dresses created in 1965, inspired by the painting and the Pop-Art collection. this was Yves first successful creation from him own brand, as he got replaced at Dior whilst he was in the army for a short time in 1960. The "Mondrian" dresses really made his brand stand out as everyone loved this new, exciting idea. i personally love this dress, its bold and dramatic. When you look at it you automatically think 1960's! 

Other famous signature Yves Saint Laurent pieces include the jumpsuit, the sheer blouse and the smoking suit. 

1950-1960

The 1950's fashion changed dramatically. I think this is due to the post war effect. As 1940's fashion  was very minimalist with not much glamour until the last few years of the decade. Make up returned, with it being bolder. Dresses and skirts had full skirts and tiny waists, influenced by Christian Dior. Not forgetting of course, the beautiful evening dresses that brought back the elegance and glamour in fashion. The excitement of the 1950's really brought fashion to a new era. i can really notice the changes since the 1940's, especially in mid 1950's where clothes got more colourful and sexier. The most popular fashion houses were not the only influence in the new style however.

primary sourced image from the V&A museum 

Hollywood had it influences in fashion, mainly because of the famous actresses such as, Audrey Hepburn,and Marilyn Monroe that had portrayed their own personal style. Women of the 1950's wanted to look glamorous like them. These particular actresses are known for their impact in fashion, they had very different styles. Hepburn was known for her grace and class, however Monroe was a major sex symbol, showing off her curvaceous figure and wearing red lipstick, she was a very glamours lady "your clothes should be tight enough to show you're a woman but loose enough to show you're a lady"Marilyn Monroe. Nevertheless both actresses still influence woman fashion today.














































Teenagers were also getting more independent with dressing. younger people under 18 started to use fashion as a way of self-expressing. this encouraged them to get part time jobs to buy new clothes. Teenagers became influenced by film,television, magazines and famous people. This was the beginning to media impacting on young people. Trends started to occur for different age groups. 




I love this era, its so colourful and glamorous. It shows the development of fashion and people starting expressing themselves in fashion. 1950's style is still influences fashion today and will continue to because of its elegance, class and those beautiful full skirts coming from the waist. Its odd to think how much has changed in fashion in just 50 years, the 1900 were completely different compared with the 1950's fashion.

1940-1950

World War II Fashion

In the decade on 1940 the second world war began, and like the first world war, it cause massive impact on women's fashion. 
Most of the big time fashion houses closed and designing new clothes stood still for at.There wasn't any real design from 1939 to 1945 and people were cutting up dresses from the past. using a slogan "make do and mend" to encourage this. Many people also wore uniforms and working clothes. women still cared about their appearance though. A scarf was worn around the head for protection from the machines, women tended to work in factories helping out in the war.the shortage or tights meant women drew lines down their legs with a eye pencil, representing the line at the back of tights. Day dresses with these pretend tights became the norm in  1940's British fashion. the day dresses were influenced from america as the war brought men over from america to Britain and therefore shared their culture. These dresses were short (most came to the knee, others higher)and very practical, this meant it was easy to move around in and dance. dancing which was very much needed in bleak times. I like how the little day dress brought a lift back into that terrible time, I love the colours and the style of the dress, its simple yet flattering. 

The New Look 

two years after the second world war ended, french designer Christian Dior introduced the New Look. The silhouette he defined had had its beginnings in the late 1930's, but during the war its development was put on hold until countries started showing again in 1944. Before and during the war a square-shouldered and boxy utility suit, which saved on fabrics during rationing. The New Look collection launched in February 1947, included rounded or sloped shoulders; a tiny, nipped-in waist (achieved via a short corset and other undergarments); padded and rounded hips; and a very full skirt with heavy pleating. extra fabric and a petticoat helped create the skirt's fullness. This return to extravagance and the femininity of the past was perplexing to some, but others found it refreshing and alluring.