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The 1960s were a dividing point for American and European boys between the classic styles of the 1930s-50s and the styles more in vogue today. At the beginning of the decade mny Europoean boys, still some teenagers, wore short pants suits. By the end of the decade only little boys were still in shorts and even more important, fewer boys were wearing suits at all. Informal casual clothes became increasingly dominate. The Civil Rights Movement and the War in Vietnam were major events in America, causing young peope to
question authority and a host of previously unsalable social coventions. In Europe the Anti-War and Anti-nuclear campaigns flourished, the enviromental movement expanded. In Western Europe the 1969 Paris student movement put a massive crack in the ossified edifice of French education. One outcome was the virtual disappearance of French school uniforms. There were even stirings hehind the Iron Curtain that were to lead to the Prague Spring in the 1970s. Wile these movements had massive spcial implications, one impact was that children, even young children took control over what they would wear. Moms by the end of
the decade could no longer dictate what their children wore or in many cases how he cut his hair. Well this was most vapparent with teenagers, even elementary children gained considerable influence over their clothes.
Almost all fabrics we know of today were available. Day dresses and
suit sets were of light-to mediumweight, usually in natural or natural-look fabrics.
Significant differences existed between American and European boys' fashions in the 1960s, but social trends in these countries were beginning to create what was to become almost universal fashion trends.
All elements of American life began "heating up" in the 1960s. Since the early 1960s, the Civil Rights Movement had been fighting to eliminate racial segregation and the oppression of African-Americans. An off shoot of this was an increased interest in Africa and African culture. Feminism got a new lease on life after the publication of Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique in 1963. Increasingly the role of women in modern America was question. American women increasingly looked beyond the family for "fullfilment". The impact on our society and children is yet to be fully assessed. Protests erupted against the Vietnam War in the mid-1960s. Hippies held the first "Be-in" during 1967 as they revolted against the values of what they saw as a consumer-oriented society. Some experimented with hallucinogenic drugs for escape. The impact on consumer textiles of each of these events was significant. African-inspired textiles became popular. Blue jeans were ubiquitous, worn morning, noon, and night. Young protesters and hippies adopted blue jeans and incongrously, Army fatigues, as virtual uniforms of the movement and a symbols of solidarity with working people. Psychedelic colors and patterns adorned their tie-dyed and hand-painted garments.
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Clothing styles developed along simpler, more youthful lines during
the 1960s. Clothin began to appear in many more varried colors than
ever before. Tennagers finally arrived on the fashion scene. Rising
family incomes and teenage jobs foe spending money rather than to support
the family meant that there was a significant and growing new market to exploit. The fashion industryblostbno time in doing so. The 1960s were the first decade that had its own fashions directed specifically at teenagers. Before the Sixties, teenagers dressed like basically scaled-down versions of their parents as soon as they outgrew
juvenile styles. Young adults dressed in the same styles of dresses or suits that their mothers and fathers wore. There had previously existed fashion subcultures which were more or less limited to young people, such as the Edwardians (Teddy Boys), the "Rockers", and the Beatniks. However, since these movements existed as sub-cultures among the
non-conformists or the alienated youth, they were concentrated among
just a portion of the entire young population. The majority of teens continued to dress like their parents. The cult clothing styles of the
non-conformist young people were basically put together by the young
people themselves; there were no designers who catered specifically to
their preferences. The Mod movement of the early 1960s originated as
such a youth subculture. However, by the mid-1960s it had evolved
into a more generalized yet at the same time more outrageous form of
fashion. It led to an explosion of the youth culture which gave all
teenagers a style of dress they could call their own. This style was
very revolutionary but it eventually influenced the fashions of the
entire decade for people of all ages, changing fashion from mass-market
clothes all the way up to the haute couture industry. Parents were
initially better able to decide on the clothes of their younger children.
It was not long, however, before these styles were affecting even the clothes
of young boys.
The unifying themes of the protest movements
during the 1960s was to question authority. This filtered down to all
aspects of our culture and society, not the least was fashion. The
primary group participating in the movement was older teenagers and
young adults. They were the fashion setters. Younger boys, however, soon
followed their lead and the new fashions soon appeared even in elementary schools. Boys and girls rejected the "nice" traditional
clothes desired by their parents. The "buttoned-down" look was out. Boys wanted the tie-dyed shirts, fatigues, and jeans worn by the teenagers they emulated. As part of this process, dressy short pants suits began to disapper. This was especially true in America, but the process was also notable in Europe.
The ever-hungry fashion industry constantly
sought new ideas and inspirations. It was not long before these symbols of
protest had been co-opted by mainstream fashion, with varying results. Blue
jeans, of course, are still with us, but the polyester double-knit pantsuit left the
fiber with a negative image that polyester producers are still trying to live down. Comediand still
use polyester leisure suits as a source of derision.
Fashionable psychedelic-printed textiles were worn by men, women, and children
in garments ranging from underwear to men's shirts. Mens' and boys' clothing styles also changed radically in the 1960s. Esquire called the newly
colorful men's styles "The Peacock Revolution," and men and boys of all ages felt free to
grow their hair long and wear colorful prints, leisure suits, and Nehru jackets.
Parents and schools at first resisted, but by the end of the decade, long hair for boys had become
increasingly common.
The sixties brought the Peacock Revolution - a phrase popularized in this country by
George Frazier, a former columnist for Esquire magazine and the Boston Globe -
which began on Carnaby Street in London and featured a whole array of new looks,
including the Nehru jacket and the Edwardian suit. In contrast to the fifties, during
which time choices were limited, a wide range of alternatives was now available as the
focus moved to youth and protest. The designer Pierre Cardin even created an
American version of the slim-lined European silhouette, which, along with the immense
popularity of jeans, led to the acceptance of extreme fittedness in clothing - a far cry
from the casual, comfortable elegance of preceding generations.
During this period, the American designer Ralph Lauren was attempting to convince
the American male that there was a viable alternative to this high-style clothing. This
alternative was a version of the two-button shaped suit with natural shoulders that had
been introduced by Paul Stuart in 1954 and briefly popularized by John Kennedy
during his presidency. Lauren updated the Stuart suit by using the kind of fabrics
usually reserved for custom-made suits and dramatizing the silhouette by enlarging the
lapel and giving more shape to the jacket. Lauren�s following remained small,
however, as most men leaned toward the jazzier Cardin-style suit.
One of the enduring American fashions from the 1960s is the "preppy"
buttoned-down style. Preppy standards included blue blazers, button-down shirts, stripped
ties, kaki pants, and penny loafers. The yuppies of the late 1980s got
their clean-cut starts as the preppies of the early '80s. How to spot a
prep in action? Look for cotton Izod shirts with the collars turned up,
tassled loafers, crew neck sweaters worn over neat turtlenecks and the
casual sweater slung over the shoulders with the sleeve ends cuffed over
one another. The much-satorized, but enduring preppy look is
an aspirational style based on the crisp sartorial codes of the Eastern
White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP) upper-middle class. (The
term itself derives from expensive precollege "prep" or preparatory
schools. This refers to American secondary-level preparatory schools.)
The height of preppy era was the early '80s, when Lisa
Birnbach's WASPish The Official Preppy Handbook sat astride
best-seller lists and America was merry on the heady draft of
Reaganism. Along with many other '80s excesses, the trend faded, but
it had something of a renaissance in 1993-94. This time, preppy style
was both a sardonic statement by B-Boys (Ralph Lauren, Tommy
Hilfiger, ect.) and an ironic talisman for non-aspirational whites. The
Beastie Boy/Sonic Youth-linked X-Girl clothing line concisely expressed this
latter strain with a T-shirt bearing the words "X-Girl Prep"; inlaid into
the shirt's faux-heraldic crest was the word "snooty."
While increasingly rare, a few boys were nicekly dressed in the
1960s. British fashions still influenced American mothers, a least wealty or well to do
families. The Kennedy's had a great impact on American fashion.
Jacki's impact on womens' fashions was legendary. The Kennedy
children impacted children's fashions. The most famous Kennedy boy, of
course,
was John John. His wearng of a short pants suit,
with rather short shorts,
in the middle of the winter was noted by many mothers. His shortalls
and red strap
closed-toe sandals
also impressed fashion concious mothers. Even after
going to New York he was often seen in shorts, knee socks, and "t" bar
sandals until he was about 10. These outfits probably did't endear John to his friends. (Incidentally
John didn't like to be called John-John, his famous kickname appears to have been a press creation.) Jacki's choices in clothes for both John and Carolyn were more English than American. While noticed, few American mothers could keep hope to keep their
boys in shorts passed the shortalls/Eton suit phase. Perhaps more influential was John John's bangs. Ethel Kennedy kept her younger boys in black short pants suits and knee socks. But these were the last few times that
such fashionable clothes would be seen on American children.
Movies and Televison: Interesting details on boys'
clothing styles can often be seen in old movies and television shows or shows with period settings. As in
the later 1950s, the boys pictured on American television never wore short pants. Certainly not for
dressy occasions, but not even for play.
Congress passed the Textile Fiber
Products Identification Act (TFPIA) in 1960. The proliferation of
manufactured fibers proved confusing. When only natural fibers and
rayon were in
use, it was
relatively easy to tell one type of fabric from another. With
manufactured fibers,
and especially with blends, it was virtually impossible to know just
which fibers one was dealing with. TFPIA simplified matters by requiring
that apparel be labeled as to fiber content.
Boys in America increasinly reserved their suit for very special
occasions. Even church did not merit a suit. Boys' suits
were mostly single breasted with narrow ties and lapels. There
were also some new fabrics such as searsucker.
Some boys wore searsucker or Madras jackers with contrasting shorts.
Cord suits were also available. Boys mostly
dressed up in long pants suits.
Short pants suits were never as common in America as in Europe. As the
decade progressed fewer and fewer boys dressed up in shorts.
Some little boys wore shortalls, a new style intoduced at the beginning
of the decade. Jackie Kennedy and the way she dressed John John had the impact of promting this style. Slightly older little boys might wear Eton suits. At about 7 or 8 th ey might get
regular short pants suits which they would wear for a few years, but rarely beyond 10
or 11. By the end of the decade, however, even this was declined greatly. For most American mothers it was a struggle beginning at about 7 years
to keep boys in short pants suits. Most of the parents that did were wealthy and sent their
children to private schools which had short pants as a uniform.
Knee socks were not as common as in Europe, but worn by well dressed boys
for special occasions.
One contributor describes seeing two brothers dressed in dark blue short
pants suits attending church. It was the last time he rembers seeing boys
in short pants suits. It is interesting to note the younger boy wearing
ankle socks and the older brother kneesocks. I
assume their mother did this thinking ankle socks were more suitable for younger boys. However, by the 1950s and especially 60s, kneesocks in America had become associated as girls
clothes. Remember this was one of the taunts at
Beaver in that clasic television series episode about Aunt Martha's
visit. (Interestingly in the book his father after bring Beaver his
long pants mentions his memories of having to wear white stockings when
he was a boy. So I wonder what the older boy thought of wearing the
kneesocks.
As the population moved to the more informal suburbs,
boys dressed up less and less. Suits and even blazers were less
commonly worn. Even occasions formerly requiring
suits and ties such as church and
parties increasingly were more casual events for boys. As a result,
dress
occasions like church or dance classes were often meant a mix
of clothing. Some parents holding to the old conventions. At the
beginning of the decade there would still be some boys up
to about 12 in short pants suits. By the end of the decade, however,
only
younger boys of 7 or 8 years might be seen in dressy shorts, and
even this was increasingly
rare.
Shorts were becoming increasingly popular among boys
as casual play wear. They certainly appealed to hard pressed moms because
of the ease of washing them. Manufacturers had found consumers receptive to clothing that did not require
ironing but that also had the look and feel of cotton. Clothing was given
wrinkle-resistant finishes (these had first appeared in 1929). Resin-finished cotton
or cotton and polyester garments were marketed as "wash-and-wear" or "easy
care."
A new style was inroduced, "camp shorts" with
larger pockets. Toward the end of the decade "cut offs" became popular.
They emphasized that they were casual, not dress wear. The idea being that
one did not purchase a proper pair of
shorts, but rather salvaged an old pair of worn out log
pants bt cutting off the legs. Some younger boys began wearing these
casual styles to school. Older boys could now
be seen wear Bermuda shorts" or "Bermies"
for casual wear, always with white athletic socks and tennis shoes.
While dress shorts were becoming less common, play shorts were becoming
more popul ar.
Dress clothes
Many boys in England commonly wore short pants suits at the beginning of the
decade. The suits were generally worn with knee socks. Shorts on even older boys were still
common at the beginning of the decade. Parents were, however, beginning to discuss the
fashion of having boys werar shorts, even in the
winter.
But this style passed to younger and younger boys as the decade progressed.
By the end of the decade almost few
British boys beyond the age of 11 still wore short pants suits, although many boys, even some in
the first years of their secondary school wore shorts. (Some private
schools still required all their boys to wear shorts.) British Boy Scouts
went to long pants, further influencing the trend away from shorts.
School clothes
School uniforms began to change in the 1960s. Most schools still required them, both state and private schools. Caps began to disappear. Toward the end of the decade, older boys began tomlobby for long pants. Womens' styles changed again and may affected boys' styles. One new fashion appears to have had a significant impact on boys' fashions. Skirt lengths began to rise higher and higher. Rising hem lines and "hot pants," very brief short pants, for young women were widely discussed in the press. Thi s made boys
in older boys in England and the Continent still wearing shorts, generally as part of a school uniform, increasingly self conscious and by the late 1960s and early
1970s even conservative schools were shifting to long pants.
Play clothes
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Dress clothes
In Europe shorts were still common, but becoming less so. The Paris student movement that erupted in 1968 had a great impact on French education. An off shoot of the empowerment of young people was the rapid disappearance of short pants suits for boys even in elementary school. The disappearance of dress shorts was part of the increasing influence of the boy's own opinions. This was facilitated in the late 1960s by the anti-war movement and the decrediting of adults abnd adult conventions Wearing old ragged clothes became stylish. Boys didn't want to wear suits at all, especially short pants suits.
School clothes
Unlike England, Continental European schools were generally less
insistent on shorts and by
the end of the decade it was realtively rare to see an older boy in
a short pants suit. A few private schools did continue to require
shorts.
Play/casual clothes
French and German boys, like their American
counterparts all wanted to wear jeans.
"T"-shirts also began to appear
in Europe. American boys did begin to wear shorts more for play. Many manufacturers began to put morecolor in childrens' clothes.
Traveling in Europe: 1960s: A fashion writer advises American
mothers on how to dress boys while taveling in Europe.
The Beautiful People: Another America fashion writer advises on how to dress boys.
The 1960s: Shorts, jeans, and France.
The 1960s: American mothers buy clothes.
The 1960s: American private school.
The 1950s-60s: John
The 1950s-60s: Grey flannels
The 1960s: Michael and his school uniform
The 1960s in England: Away with frozen knees
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