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Fashion Decades

Trouser suits, short skirts, kaftans, skin tight jeans, tank tops, gypsy skirts; these are all items of clothing that you’d expect to find in a 21st century wardrobe. However, they are also iconic fashion themes from bygone decades. Here we give you the low down on the changing face of fashion since the birth of world famous mini-skirt back in the 1960s.

Although the mini is probably the most well known item of clothing to come out of the 1960s, it didn’t actually make an appearance until 1966. Before then the trend was simply a continuation of the 1950s fashion – and for women his meant skirts and dresses well below the knee.

But the arrival of the mini skirt, associated largely with Mary Quant, totally changed the face of fashion in the UK and the rest of the world. Suddenly women were showing off their assets (that’s their legs, by the way) and with the change in look came a change in attitude as girls around the country opted for freedom and independence. For men 1960s fashion was about satin shirts, thin ties, tight-fitting trousers, and Chelsea boots.

By the 1970s, women had the power and confidence to choose who they wanted to be, and that was reflected in the fashion of the decade too. Women would be seen wearing short mini-skirts or full-length maxi-skirts, which today take the form of tiny denim minis and long gypsy skirts. Trousers were also a focal point of many women’s wardrobes, and these took the form of trouser suits and flares, while the shoes of the decade were platforms, which made a comeback for a short time in the 1990s (largely thanks to the Spice Girls).

Men sporting 1970s fashions would also be seen wearing platform shoes and flares, and they would finish off the look with brightly coloured shirts – John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever-style! But the dawning of a new decade saw flares taking a back seat to make way for straight legged trousers, while platform shoes were replaced with stiletto heels.

Influenced by TV shows such as Dallas and Dynasty, 1980s fashion was all about power dressing. This was the decade where few people went out without at least tailored jacket (complete with huge shoulder pads), but ideally wore in a complete suit. For casual wear men and women were seen sporting hugely decorated t-shirts and tight jeans, while the colours of the 1980s incorporated everything from fuchsia pinks to sea greens. Accessories were also hugely important in this era, with huge earrings, diamante jewellery, hats, and shawls all making an appearance on the catwalk and down the high street.

If you were a young woman in the 1990s chances are you felt a little more insecure about your body than the young women of the 1960s, 70s and 80s because the last 10 years of the 20th century was all about the supermodel! However, if you did find the courage to dress up and show off your curves then there were plenty of styles to choose from in the 90s. The most talked about fashion of this decade was the anti-fashion, which basically meant the rejection of 1980s fashion and the emergence of something altogether different – but not necessarily new.

The 1990s saw a revival in the 1970s hippie fashion when bell-bottom jeans, tie-dyed t-shirts, denim dungarees and crochet vests were all the rage – as evident when watching boyband of the day Take That’s music videos. This decade also brought the grunge look into the mainstream as young men and women donned stonewash jeans, Doc Martin boots, and black and white t-shirts.

Bringing fashionable decades right up to the present day, the early 2000s have all been about longer skirts, such as the very feminine gypsy style skirts that were popular in the summer of 2005, and jeans or shorter skirts teamed with knee high boots, which are popular autumn/winter choices. Recently culottes, tank tops and gold accessories have also appeared in high street fashion shops, which only goes to show that these days we can take the cool clothing of the 60s, 70s and 80s and give it a new look for the 21st century. The question is will we ever be wearing white stilettos or platform shoes again?

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