Fashion is a way of presenting yourself in a certain way and expressing how you feel. The fashion industry defines the word “fashion” as what is trending at present. The fashion industry has been ever-changing since its conception. Nevertheless, thanks to the designers’ creative minds, the 60s saw a great revolution in fashion.
Aside from the game-changing events in the world of music, significant changes took place in the fashion industry. The 1960’s fashion trend, like the music trends, was very influential and still resonates today. If you’re someone who takes an avid interest in fashion, then the 60s is an era you don’t want to miss.
One can say that the ’60s was a revolutionary year for the fashion industry, with lots of things being invented and lots of endlessly fascinating fashion styles.
Top Fashions of The 1960s
Ivy League Look
In the 1960s, most men liked wearing slim-fit trousers, a polo or a button-down t-shirt, and a patterned sports coat. This was known as the Ivy look trend, which started on college campuses. It was later adopted by businessmen who started wearing it in conjunction with the traditional three-piece suit. This Ivy style was mainly influenced by British fashion and music artists.
Suits
Due to the popularity of certain movie stars and music artists wearing a slim-fit single breast continental style of suits with thin ties, the style became the most popular suit style in the ’60s. Hats were often seen with the suits such as the fedora, pork pie hat, and Irish hat.
Additionally, men used to wear dress shirts that were white, pinstriped, and pastels, allowing the outer clothing to be the main center of attention. The neckties were solid, wide-striped, or patterned but to keep the balance of colors, men usually wore plain, striped, dark, and skinny ties.
In addition, people used to wear skinny ties, mainly with thin lapel coats and narrow-collared shirts. Tuxedos were also pretty common with bow ties.
Bell Bottom Jeans
The bell-bottomed jeans saw huge popularity in the ’60s in both men and women. They were extremely common and were the trending fashion sense back in the day. They were most often seen with Chelsea boots or disco shoes. Songs were even made to highlight and talk about these pants, and as a result, bell-bottomed jeans are an instant and classic reminder of the 1960s and how widespread they were.
Casual Shirts
The country look was also popular in the 1960s. Polo shirts, skinny belts, and single pleat or flat trousers were a popular choice of casual clothes for conservative people.
Some of them had printed designs that reflected the space, and instead of buttons, many had zip-up collars. Classic fisherman shirts inspired the horizontal striped polo shirt, and 1950s bowling shirts inspired the vertical panel shirts.
Sweaters
Just like men’s shirts, sweaters also adopted similar colors, stripes, and color-blocked patterns. When Italian knitwear designers Missoni and Gino Paelo introduced innovative designs and knitting techniques, the pullover sweater and cardigan gained a new fashion status.
Turtlenecks, also known as sweater shirts, were often seen in contrasting stripes or constructed in large two-tone color blocks, a relic from the 1960s. The chevron stripes and widespread blocking, geometric tile designs, bulky knits, and novel textures like mohair became popular.
The Ivy League adopted the sweater revival with new techniques and classics like the tennis or Letterman sweaters, turtle necks, and V-neck cardigans.
Overcoats
Long coats for outerwear remained pretty consistent in the first half of the 1960s. People used to wear knee-length car coats and overcoats over suits. Moreover, people also wore boxy-bone colored mac coats, especially during the spring.
Guards coats, camel hair overcoats, polo coats, warm British coats are examples of such. They were all cut to hit just above the knee. The only difference in the shape of coats was that they were slimmer, with double-breast coats, particularly trench coats, which started the trend.
Slip-On Shoes
Even though most men liked wearing Oxfords and mac toe shoes for most occasions, the slip-on loafer type shoes also became immensely popular in that era. Even the most conservative men would wear the slip-on pair of shoes instead of buying regular shoes and going through the hassle of tying the laces every time they put them on.
Shoe toes were pointed in the early 1960s and later on were introduced flattened. People preferred black shoes over brown and shiny over matte. The Ivy kids used to love the classic penny loafer or moccasin shoes.
The most significant invention during the 60s was the white leather loafer with a black sole, worn with white slacks and sportswear in the summer. Overall, the shoe designs were simple and sleek, pushing the boundaries while at the same time keeping the idea of the standard shoes in mind.
Hats
The introduction of the new style of suits also gave rise to the popularity of hats with the suits. The hats started becoming trending when people started noticing that the combination of different hats works amazingly together. It added to the look, set a person apart from others, and emphasized his looks.
As a result, new types of hats were developed to reflect a new culture. The first hat that was made was a fedora that had a small crown, V-dent, narrow brim, and a snap-up brim at the back. The hats were made from dark felt in the winters and coconut straws in the summer. The hatbands became more detailed in design than the typical white stripes. These hats looked great with the new slim suits.
The 60s Hippie’s Man
Around 1967, a new age of culture and fashion began to take over. In big cities, counterculture events, meetings, and peaceful protests took place in retaliation to capitalism and consumerism while advocating for nature and naturalism.
The movement was all about spreading love and peace and moving away from the greedy capitalistic nature of the companies; this movement is known as the hippie movement. The Ivy look faded soon as the hippy look dominated the fashion industry in the late 60s with their recycled vintage, back to the earth roots, and peaceful defiance.
These three different looks influenced each other somehow, creating an overall fashion statement as a result. Tie-dye shirts and batik fabrics were among the popular things you’d find within the community.
1960s Men’s Fashion – Elegant and Smooth
The 1960s was a time of innovation for the fashion industry. Many things became known and popular from the 1960s, from sports coats to dress shirts and ties. Regardless of how old the fashion of the 1960s was, it is still remembered today by everyone, and people still do dress up like the 60s now and then to honor the classic era.