60s Dress and Style

The Rock era began with conservative dress. Just check out some early pictures from Dick Clark’s American Bandstand, and you’ll see crew cuts on the boys and pony-tails or bouffant hairstyles on the girls. Knee length dresses were the norm for women and button down plaid shirts for men's casual wear.

Note that the guys were all wearing sports coats and dress shoes. This was the norm for school dances in many parts of the country. Canvas sneakers were just coming in to fashion but weren't in fashion for a dance. Leather sneakers or athletic shoes weren't around yet.

 

By the mid 60s, fashion had done a 180 degree turn. Miniskirts and hot-pants were in for girls, sometimes paired with go-go boots. Ponytails were gone and long, straight hair was in. Granny dresses, the peasant look, and clunky shoes were all in style.

Men’s hair styles grew long and shaggy, with beards, mustaches, and sideburns. The Afro was popular for blacks of both genders. Bright colors, Nehru jackets, and turtlenecks were in style.

Towards the end of the decade, unisex styles became popular, with bell-bottom jeans, screened or embroidered t-shirts, and love beads being the fashion of choice. And it's tough to forget for formal wear, those big wide ties, 5 inches was the standard in stripes and plaid, and it made no difference what other pattern it was worn with.