1960AD-1969AD
Due to the teenager being ‘invented’ in the 1950’s with their disposable income, they were all now coming of age and the 1960’s was their decade. These “baby boomers” were creating the fashions of the time, especially in London.
Skincare:
Skincare became better and so did skin complexions; ‘The Dove Bar Bar’ came about in this era and helped people to choose skincare according to skin type. SPF lotion was becoming popular as people realised they needed to protect their skin from the Sun.
Make-up
In the early 60’s, the cat-eye and red lip look was still around, however as time went on, sub-culture fashion such as the ‘Mods’ (short for ‘Modernist’) took over, then later on in the 60’s, the Hippy “flower power” movement came about, along with the feminist movement all about equality and the end of discrimination. Feminists and Hippies tended not to wear any or much make-up; however some feminists embraced make-up as a badge of honour.
The Mod look, or ‘The London Look’, was all about the eyes and was a ‘baby doll face’ with false lashes and pale lips.
As skin was generally better, there was less of a need for heavy foundation, so as the years moved on, women would wear less and less, some even just using a little translucent powder. Although, foundation came in liquid, cream and powder form, there were lightweight and sheer foundations that became popular and created more of a natural base on the skin.
Blusher was applied lightly to the cheeks, temples, hair line and under the jaw to give a bit of contouring to the face. It came in crème, liquid washes and solids which were applied with a damp sponge, all with a matte finish. Pastel colours were the most popular, such as pinks, corals and peach, also shades of red.
Eyebrows were groomed and defined with a brow pencil or eyeliner. Hippies would usually leave their eyebrows to be natural.
Eye shadows were matched to eye colours, although the Mod look was distinctively black and white. With a strong black line in the crease of the eye, then a white, grey or blue eye shadow on the lid. Also, applying a lighter eye shadow colour under the eye brow became fashion. Powder eye shadows were matte, though some cream, crayon and liquid formulas were shimmery. A few different eye shadow colours could be used for one make-up look, such as a lighter colour in the inner corners of the eyes to make them look bigger.
Black liquid eyeliner (or block mascara used as eyeliner) was applied in a thick line on the top lash line; white pencil eyeliner was used on the waterline, in 1967 it was highly fashionable to use the white eyeliner next to the black eyeliner. Then lots of mascara on the top and bottom lashes, it came in a tube with a little wand. Other lash products were around, such as Revlon’s ‘Fabulash’ which lengthened, curled and coloured the lashes!
False eyelashes were the ultimate accessory from about 1964; some women even wore two or three sets on tops of each other. They came in a variety of styles such as volume, strip and individual. They would wear them on the top and bottom lashes, with some following the trend of Twiggy by drawing on extra eyelashes with eyeliner. They were made from human hair, synthetic or animal hair such as mink, seal or sable.
Lips were kept pale so they didn’t draw attention away from the eyes. Some people would cover them with foundation so they blended into the rest of their face, though pale pink lipstick was popular, with some Mod women using white lipstick!
In Hippy “flower power” culture, body and face painting was popular and was classed as a “riot of colour”.
Hair:
Just like make-up, hair styles were influenced by rock stars, film and TV stars, along with sub-culture social movements.
In the beginning of the 1960’s, hair would never be left down without styling, however, by the end of the decade this was very normal, especially with hippies who would leave their hair long with usually a middle parting.
The hairdresser Vidal Sassoon reinvented women’s hairdressing, cutting artistic precision hairstyles such as the bob and the pixie.
Other influential hairdressers, such as Louis Alexandre came up with ‘the artichoke’ haircut, which was short petal-shaped layers then teased to stand out.
Hair was worn big and high, in styles such as the ‘bouffant’, which was backcombed and rounded and could be worn sleek or with curls or with the ends flicked up. The ‘beehive’ was a cone shaped up-do which also involved a lot of backcombing. Hair pieces could be worn to add height, they didn’t even need to match the hair colour, there was no shame in wearing a wig or fake hair.
Black women had been straightening their hair for decades to “fit in”, however, which started as a sign of political activism, they started to wear their hair natural and short. Then as the decade went on, their afro’s grew and became a fashion statement, then many white women started to get their hair tightly permed create an ‘afro look’.
Better hair tools were invented such as electric tongs and “Carmen Rollers” in 1965, which made it a lot easier for women to style their hair at home instead of at the hairdressers. However if they wanted to have straight hair, they would blow dry it or use an iron by placing a paper bag over the hair and ironing over the top.
Hair accessories were bows of all sizes, combs and slides made from plastic and decorated with rhinestones and bright swirls or black and white mod patterns, headbands made from plastic or fabric in all sorts of sizes and widths, also worn by hippies across the forehead instead of on top of the head. Hippies also liked to wear feathers, leather bands and flowers in their hair.
Hair colours were also developing and home hair dye kits improved making it easier for people to colour their hair at home.
NEXT: 1970’s
BACK: 1950’s