PAS8: The youth of the 60s

The 1960s marked the emergence of varying types of clothing for different occasions. Of course there was business wear as well as formal wear, but now there was also party wear for young people and the replacement of “day wear” with casual wear.

As the decade progressed, people began to realize that there was no need to get all dressed up to sit around and do nothing, so casual wear became much more popular, especially among young people. Due to the economic success of the 1950s, the 60s saw a large increase in young people attending college – which in turn produced adults who were not yet professionals. This new casual wear was aimed at these awkward unprofessional adults. Further there were two separate fashions that became popular; punk and preppy.

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These two types of styles for young people have continued to be relevant for the past 5 decades and even referred to now. Although we usually perceive preppy styled people to be more sociable and well rounded, the look can also lead people to view the wearers as superficial. On the other hand, the punk look is usually associated with troubled or different youth, but can also emphasize and celebrate individuality and non conformity. The most important takeaway that we get from this, however is that these look are both associated with youth. When someone dresses in these fashions they are expressing that they are still young and therefore expect to be treated as such. This still feeds into the idea that young people are unprofessional.

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Again with young people taking the helm of the media like never before, party/social fashion became MUCH less formalized! Many of the outfits being worn in the photos above are almost exactly the same as thins I’ve seen my friends wearing. I call this “party fashion” because it clearly isn’t casual, yet it is also not at all professional or formal. The cloths worn above are all meant to show off the body of the wearer in a way that expresses that they’re young and carefree. Again, this is why we consider less conservative clothing to be much more acceptable for young people but not older adults. In addition due to the sexualization of some of these looks they aren’t usually considered appropriate for teens either.

With the emergence of party culture in this era, there was also the development of cloths to match. These cloths became tied to a very specific age group – people old enough to be responsible for and handle themselves, yet young enough that they don’t have too many professional responsibilities. Therefore when people dress this way they are intending to be perceived as young and fun yet experienced and smart enough to know who they are and how they wish to be perceived.

2 thoughts on “PAS8: The youth of the 60s

  1. the fashion of the 60’s is one of my favorites, especially the greasers. interesting passion blog, ill have to check out your other periods of fashion

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