1. Study The Fashion
Trend of Era
60s 70s 80s 90s
FOOT WEAR DESIGN &
DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE
MONIKA RATHOR
02-Mar-17
2. CONTENTS
FASHION OF TREND 60S
FASHION OF TREND 70S
FASHION OF TREND 80S
FASHION OF TREND 90S
3. Fashion trend of era of 60,s of womens and
men
1960s Fashion prior to the British invasion in
1964 was a continuation of the late 1950s. But
with the Beatles came a new and very different
fashion influencenot Paris or Milan but
“swinging” London.
The brand new post war “babyboomer”
generation was proving that it was a power to be
reckoned with. Theyhad energy and sheer
numbers on their side and they turned the
designers away from catering to the old and
wealthy to creating fashions specifically for
young adults. As the phenomenon continued
teens and even pre-teens were also included for
the first time.
Mary Quant out of her small boutique in London
hit upon the winning combinations and created a
fashion feeding frenzy starting with the mini skirt
and crowning with major fashion houses the
likes of Chanel and Dior following suit. Styles
which were previously driven by the necessities
of the middle class were now being designed for
young peoplewho constituted a newly
empowered buyers market.
4. In one fashion camp were the social anarchists
rebelling against the establishment as well as
mainstream styles. The Hippie movement
favored relaxed, comfortable and natural
clothing styles. The norm for most college age
kids was bluejeans and a tee shirt (tie-dyed or
not).
The other 1960s fashion style was in a lot of
ways much moreof a departure from what had
been the status quo. Featuring bright colors, leg
revealing lengths, and hyper tailored
designs Mod Fashions were a must for the “in
crowd”. Designers like Cardin, Emilio Pucci and
Paco Rabanne jumped on this fashion trend to
showcase their talents. 1960s fashion was bi-
5. polar in just about every way. The early sixties
were morereminiscent of the 1950s —
conservative and restrained; certainlymore
classic in style and design. Two other very
popular styles of the sixties which proved to be
more enduring were the mini skirt and bell
bottom pants.
The mini was the most seen fashion modification
of the decade. It was worn by everyone from the
trendiest celebrities to office workers, to
housewives. Along with the birth control pill
nothing else empowered women as much. The
mini embodied the growing woman’smovement
portraying both their individualityand sexuality.
6. Bell bottom pants
Several conservativestyles from JC Penney
A bell bottom outfit
A sailor outfit designed by Mary Quant 1966
7. Magazine ad from the 1960’s1960s was known as
the “Space Age” and fashionsreflected that with
the use of space age type materials.
By the late sixties Mod fashions had gone
couturier and were heavily influenced by the
European Design Houses.
8. Notice the European influence
Meanwhile in California the hippie movement
was gaining popularity.
Hippie fashion was relaxed, easy, inexpensive
and best of all anti-establishment. Its relevance
in fashion was fairly narrow but the impact the
youth who wore it had on society, music, culture
and politics was substantial.
Mod
influenced Tie-dying of carefree
9. hippie styles
and vice
versa
almost
anything
became
“chic”.
style
The one thing that went well with all of the 1960s
fashions was a pair of good looking boots.
Various sixties boot styles
These girls had the whole Nancy Sinatra “these
boots were made for walking” thing going on.
The late 1960s were the exact opposite. Bright,
swirling colors. Psychedelic, tie-dye shirts and
long hair and beards were commonplace.
Woman wore unbelievably short skirts and men
wore tunics and capes. The foray into fantasy
would not have been believed by people just a
decade earlier.
It’s almost like the 1950s bottled everyone up so
much that the late 1960s exploded like an old
pressure cooker. Women were showing more
skin than ever before.
For the first timein the 19th Century, London,
not Paris, was the center of the fashion world.
10. The British Invasion didn’t stop with The Beatles.
It swept into all parts of life, especially clothing.
But actually, lost in the two extremes is the mid-
60s, which I think actually had the coolest style,
albeit more subtle. I love the long, slender
shapes, the bright colors and the young, London
look. I have always wished the Mod style stuck
around a little longer. 1960s Shoes: 8 Popular
Shoe Styles
SHARES449
1960s shoes. Vintage (l) and new (r) 1960s shoe
styles.
11. 1964 Shoes
The 1960s like the 1920s was a decade for the
young. Not that one had to be young just dress
in a childish, androgynous fashion. Gone were
the days of the refined and elegant 1950s woman
with her high stiletto heels. The new generation
wanted to be comfortable, free spirited and
cheap! Couture shoe fashion was replaced by
street fashion. Expensive materials and long life
12. was snubbed for penny saving throw away
styles that made it possibleto own dozens
of 1960s shoes for every season. Soundslike
today’s market?
1968 Colorful PVC Shoes
1960s shoe styles reflected the change in
fashion. Instead of big heels, shoes were now
13. flat, very flat. Many had small square heels and a
single Mary Jane strap just like a doll’s shoes.
Flat and low heel shoes were comfortable, easy
to wear, easy to live life in. Just what every
woman wanted in her 1960s clothes.
Shoes were also cheaper because new
inventionsin types of plastic and vinyl made
making shoes inexpensive to mass produce.
They didn’t last long but they didn’t need to
either. With new materials came new, brighter
colors, that matched whatever trendy color was
in fashion that season. Baby pink, lime green,
deep purple, mustard yellow, and sky blue to
name a few.
14. Long legs, funky tights, flat two tone shoes. Very
mod indeed!
The short skirts and dresses of the 60s exposed
leg- lots of leg- which influenced shoe fashion as
well. To keep from accidentally showing
her panties, a woman sat with her knees together
but feet apart, making her shoes all the more
noticeable. With so much leg exposed and
15. bright colored shoes, women’s footwear
becamea focal point rather than an accessory.
Besides the general silhouetteof flat shoes,
there were multiple variations of flats as well as
boots in the 1960s.
1960s Pointed Flat Shoes
Pointed Toe Flats
The late 1950s winklepicker with sharp pointed
toe combined with a flat ballet shoe and created
the pointy toe flat of the early ’60s. It looked
innocent with mini skirts making them less
16. sexual than when paired with high heels. The
shoe tip extended past the natural toe line so
that they no longer pinched a woman’s foot and
gave her bunions, ouch! The extra length was a
bit awkward to walk in however. By the mid ’60s
the toe was reduced to a rounder almond shape
toe to everyone’srelief.
1964 Two Tone Oxford Flats
17. Flats came in all sorts of
designs including loafers, moccasins, saddle
shoes, lace up oxfords, single or multi straps, T
straps, monk straps, slingbacks, mules, and
wedges. Basicallyif the shoe came in a heeled
version before the 1960s it now was a flat.
In my opinion these ’60s flats are really fun and
cute to wear. Maybe without the pointy toes but
to have so many design choices without
heels was a good step in footwear history.
18. Pointy Toe Flats and Slip Ons
1960s Mary Jane Shoes
Of all flats and heels in the 1960s the early years
embraced the return of the dancing shoe of the
’20s and ’30s. With sturdy cuban heel, shapely
body and thin straps, they made a women’slegs
look like thin dancers legs. Heel height varied
from 2-3 inch pumpsto low 1/2 to 1.5 flat heels. It
was one of the few styles of high heels to remain
in fashion for most of the 1960s.
19. Baby Doll Style with Mary Jane Shoes
The doll face look of the early 1960s made
the classic Mary Jane shoes even more popular.
With a single strap across the vamp, round toe,
and short cuban heel it was very “cute” and
quite comfortable too. Paired with thick white
stockings and an empire top mini dress the doll
look was complete.
20. Mary Janes came in solid colors as well as two
tone combinations. Black shoes accented in
white had been on trend for 50 years. Almost any
color shoe with white trim was now worn in the
1960s as well as dark on dark colors (ie brown
on black.) Straps started out thin in the early
years and becamewider with heavy buckles by
the mid 60s.
Multi strap Mary Jane shoes also had a presence
in the ’60s. Single and multi strap Mary Janes
e 1960s was a decade of sweeping change
throughout the fashion world generating ideas
and images which still appear modern today.
Whereas fashion had previously been aimed at a
21. wealthy, mature elite, the tastes and preferences
of young people now became important. At the
beginning of the decade, the market was
dominated by Parisian designers of expensive
haute couturegarments. Formal suits for women
underwent a structural changeresulting in
looser lines and shorter skirts.
Yet the shape of clothes was soon transformed
by new ideas emerging from the London pop
scene. In Britain, musical taste and styles of
dress were closely linked and it was the mod
look which first popularised the simple
geometric shapes typical of the 1960s. By the
mid-sixties, the flared A-line was in style for
dresses, skirts and coats. Slim fitting, brightly
coloured garments were sold cheaply in
boutiquesall over 'Swinging London' and had
tremendous influence throughout Europe and
the US.
Men's suits became sleeker and were often
accessorised with bright, bold shirts and high-
heeled boots. The flamboyant look was in,
signalled by wider trousersand lapels, like those
belonging to the blue checked Tommy Nutter
suit seen below. Designersexperimented with
shiny new waterproof materials with a modern
23. Boutiques, like Quant's Bazaar and Barbara
Hulanicki's Biba provided inexpensively made
clothing suited to a busy, urban lifestyle. Instead
of buying outfits designed for specific occasions
or times of the day, people preferred separates
which they could combine in different ways.
The miniskirt was the mosteye-catching
garment of the decade, designed for an ideally
skinny femaleform. Women wore pale
foundation and emphasised their eyes with kohl,
mascara and false eyelashes. Hair was long and
straight or worn in a shaped bob or wedge, as
invented by the hairdresser Vidal Sassoon.
Designers of clothes and textiles celebrated
modernity. Space-age silver was mixed with
primary coloured printstaken from Pop and Op
Art. Novel fashion materials were introduced,
including shiny, wet-look PVC, easy-care
acrylics and polyesters.
25. becameincreasinglyunisex as men and women
shopped at the same boutiques for similar items.
Textiles
Heal's, Hull Traders and Conran Fabrics all
bought patterns from young freelance designers
who took their inspiration from contemporary art
and graphics like Andy Warhol's Pop images and
the dazzling Op art paintings of Bridget Riley.
Brightly coloured large-scale geometric repeats
were favourites for both dress and furnishing
fabrics. Later in the decade, floral patterns were
seen everywhere. Victorian decor was
rediscovered and motifsborrowed from Art
Nouveau and Art Deco were given a new lease of
life by the addition of psychedeliccolours.
28. At the same time, quirkyinterior decorationsand
pop musiclent the boutique an individuality
which was lacking in the newly built chain stores
which were taking over the high street.
John Stephen was one of the first to open a
boutique selling menswear on Carnaby Street.
Demand was such that he ended up owning
eight moreshops in the same location.
Meanwhile, Michael Fish established Mr. Fish,
selling psychedelic-inspired outfits
provocatively close to Savile Row. Exotically
named outlets opening their doors on the King's
Road included Bazaar and Michael Rainey's
Hung On You. Other Chelsea shops were Nigel
Waymouth's Granny Takes A Trip, where
fashionable hippies shopped for antique
clothing, and Quorum run by Ossie Clark and
Alice Pollock. Biba's first premises were an old
chemist's shop in Kensington, but the business
eventuallyexpanded to take over a huge 1930s-
built department store on Kensington High
Street, where Barbara Hulanicki held parties in
the roof garden.
29. Changes in men’s fashion in the 1960s were just
as drastic for men as they were for women. Like
women, men wore basicallythe same thing in
the early 60s as they did in the late 50s. By 1964,
though, things started to change.
One change that is quite noticeable, the pants
becamemuch tighter. The fit around the thigh
was sporty and not at all the relaxed fit that men
were accustomed to.
The pea coat was quite popular for men in the
mid-60s. Well, basically anything that looked
straight outta London was good to go in the mid-
60s. The Beatles were leading the way, as hair
started to grow longer and pants fit tighter. Men
still wore boots and hats.
30. The late 60s brought a whole new range of styles
for men. In 1969 seeing a man wear a scarf was
commonplace. But it wasn’t a big, wool scarf of
today. It was a silk scarf that was tied like a
loose tie. Check out the pictures below. It was a
very effeminate look compared to fashions of the
past.
Also, men’s pants became flared at the bottom
almost like women’spants. It’s quite clear that at
that time, women’s clothes were becoming more
masculinewhile men’s clothes were becoming
more effeminate.
And boy, was it groovy. (Sorry, had to say it.)
Men’s Fashion Ads from Catalogs in the 1960s
31. Fashion in 1970
Hemlines were the headlines in 1970. Across the
fashion industry, designersdropped skirt
lengths anywherebetween the knee and ankle
and called it the Midi Look or midi skirt. Either
you midi’d or you didn’t.
1970 Fashion: “Stop the Midi” Pin
Miniskirt lovers picketed New York City shops
that carried the new length. After years of
building short skirted wardrobes, they weren’t
about to change now. Others thought the longer
skirt aged them. Whatever the reason, the midi
skirt was a debacle that sent the fashion industry
spiraling downward.
The midi was slightly differentthan long skirts
from the 1950s. It was slit and slashed, laced-up
or zipped-up, strapped or wrapped to one side
and sometimes buttoned down the front. It
flattered the young and thin most, because it
emphasized a small midriff, waist and hips. How
the leg met the hem was its most critical feature.
Ponchos, gauchos and capes afforded a
fashionable alternative to the midi. Mid-calf
32. length culottes called gaucho pants were the hit
of many a fall fashion show.
The Moroccan theme was big in 1970. Capes
striped like bedspreads, along with folk-
embroidered Hungarian peasant blousesgave
fashion in 1970 a distinctly ethnic flavor.
Accessories were worn from head to toe. They
were most vital part of the new look. Chokers,
dog collars and handcrafted neck ornaments
replaced standard jewelry. Some new jewelry
embraced natural elementslike wood, shells,
stones, feathers, Indian beads and leather.
Bags and purses were strapped tightly under the
arm or worn in mailman fashion across the
chest, much like they were in 2011.
Boots were sold in numbers never before seen.
Every type of boot imaginable was sold, in all
shapes, sizes and materials.
Pastels and vivid colors were much more
subdued than in 1969. The midi came in somber
shades like purple, grape, raisin, plum, murky
green or indigo. Again, women didn’t like the
midi.
33. Bill Blass was elected to the Coty Hall of Fame in
1970. 1970s Fashion for Men & Boys
The fashion breakthroughs that began for men in
the late 1960s continued into the 1970s.
For years, men’s fashion changed very little. Hair
styles changed morethan clothes, and most
differencesyou find are subtle. Starting in the
mid-60s, men’s pants became more slim fitting.
This was a huge departure from previous years.
The changes kept on coming and by 1972 it was
normal to see a man in low-risebell bottomsand
platform shoes. This outfit would have been
heartily laughed at just ten years before.
Men’s clothing got tighter and tighter. A large
portion of the clothes from this era were made of
34. polyester or a blend of cotton and polyester.
Later in the decade, velour and terry cloth
becamea very popular choice of fabric for men’s
shirts.
Two very different types of suits were loved by
men of the 1970s. First, the leisure suit, which
was introduced around 1972, exploded in
popularity after John Travolta’s smash hit
“Saturday Night Fever.”
The other suit was the track suit. Although the
track suit is more often associated with the 80s
(as worn by the Beastie Boys, for example), they
were quite popular in the late 70s. In fact,
sportswear in general was worn almost
everywhere.
Men weren’t wearing hats anymore, their hair
was much longer and they didn’t always tuck
their shirts in. Facial hair was great, but if you
didn’t have chest hair then you better get a really
big, gold medallion to cover up your bare chest.
Collarswere wide and the pants were tight.
That’s men’s fashion in the seventies, baby.
1970s Men’s Fashion Advertisementsfrom
Catalogs
35. Fashion in the 1980s
1980s fashion can be commended for its
creativity. Some fashion designersabandoned
history, someborrowed from it, while others
tried to design the future. Designers abandoned
all convention — and their creations were
interesting to say the least.
The early 80s were somewhat subdued in color,
where we see a lot browns and tans and
oranges. Blocky shapes were everywhere and
dressing like a tennis player was the cool thing
to do. Velour was hot and velvet was even hotter.
For both men and women, the waistline was a
little high.
36. But let’s face it, early 1980s fashion was very
similar to the late 1970s. In 1983 there was a
slight 1950s-style throwback, especially in
women’s dresses. By the mid-80s, pop music
stars like Cyndi Lauper were ushering in an
entirely new style — one that many people
associate with the 1980s to this day.
Bright colored accessories like sunglasses,
bangles and hoop earrings were a necessity.
Teased hair, loud makeup and neon were an
important part of this style. This style was
obviously more popular with the younger crowd.
But that didn’t mean “regular” women in the
1980s couldn’t have fun. It was an exceptionally
flexible time when a woman could wear skin-
tight cotton stirrup pants with leggings and a
giant turtleneck sweater one day — and
parachute pants with a small v-neck top and a
high-waist belt the next.
Society’s love for brand was epitomized by its
inexplicable love for wearing Coca-Cola brand
clothing in 1987. MTV had a huge impacton
fashion, as teens across the U.S. were tuning in
to watch music videos starring wildly dressed
celebrities. Suddenly it becamemuch easier for
37. a fad to spread across the country faster than
wildfire.
By the late 80s, Nike had grown into one of the
most profitable clothing companies in the world.
Like Coke vs. Pepsi, Reebok vs. Nike was the
athletic wear battle of the decade. With the help
of Michael Jordan, Nike won the war. In 1988,
every kid had to have a pair of Air Jordans and a
Chicago Bulls baseball cap.
If you ever hear someone talk about “Cosby
sweaters”, they are referring to sweaters that
were most popular in 1989. By then, women’s
clothing had gotten considerablymore baggy as
women clamored for styles that hearkened back
to a more conservative time.
The best example of late-1980s for boys is Zack
Morris (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) from Saved by the
Bell. One look at a 1989 catalog feels like a
glimpse into the troublemaking teen’s bedroom
floor.
38. Fashion for Men & Boys
Men’s fashion in the 1980s ranged from ultra
sleek and modern to downright embarrassing.
Don’t believe us? Look at some of the pictures
below.
Men’s clothing in the eighties was snug fitting
and comfortable. Soft fabrics were everywhere
and, while they clothes were still tight compared
to today, they weren’t skin tight like the
seventies.
Activewear was a popular choice for men and
boys alike. Matching sweatpants and sweatshirts
flew off the shelves for the entire decade.
Especially sportswear that supported pro sports
39. teams. NFL-licensed clothing dominated
schoolyards across the United States.
If a boy wasn’t wearing NFL clothing, then he
was sporting a sweatshirt featuring his favorite
cartoon character or superhero.
Teenage boys wore lots and lots of denim.
Denim jackets were complimented by matching
denim jeans. Also corduroy pants were a hot
item.
Athletic shoes were becoming a fashion symbol,
climaxing with the popularity of Nike Air Jordan
shoes in the late 80s. A good pair of Jordans
was nicely complimented by a Starter jacket in
1989.
Men in the early 1980s loved wearing long sleeve
velour shirts. Wrangler and Levi’s were the jeans
makersof choice. Turtlenecks were incredibly
popular throughoutthe decade, especially when
worn under an wild-colored thick, itchy sweater.
In the early 80s, men rocked a thick mustache,
but by the end of the decade they had become
much less popular. Chest hair and gold
medallionswere not exposed much past 1984,
except by your creepy uncle.
40. Men’s suits were relatively conservative,
seeminglythe only clothing in the eighties that
wasn’t drowned in bright colors.
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1980s Men’s Fashion Pictures
41. Fashion in 1980
Women’s clothing in 1980 ran the gamutfrom
conservative to opulentfantasy. Many designers
reached back in history for inspiration. The
looked to the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the
Victorian era and even the Peruvian Indians for
something “new.” A few avant-gardedesigners
took their cues from futurism and designed
clothes that looked like uniforms for space
travel.
1980 witnessed a revival of the classic “preppie”
look that began in New England prep schools in
the 40s and 50s.
International fashion was influenced by
American sportswear more so in 1980 than it had
been since the jeans of the 60s. Western clothes
began to make a comeback as well.
China saw its first American fashion show in
1980, when Halston presented his large
collection. Chinese reactions ranged from polite
admiration to outright dismay.
Designers did what they could to try to please
women. They opted for choice. Hemlines
42. bounced up and down and there was no
prescribed length — day or night. Shapes ranged
from slim to extremely full and blousons
returned.
Velvet was popular around the clock and women
wore lace with tweeds and leather. Clothes could
be made of any color, with emphasis on blocks
and asymmetrical bands of two or more colors.
Men’s dressing styles changed very little in 1980.
One noticeable development for men’s fashion
was that it was becoming moreacceptable for
men to wear sport coats and slacks to events
that previously required a suit.
Fashion in the 1990s
43. Fashion in the early 1990s was generally loose
fitting and colorful. Unlessyou were going for
the grunge look, then color was the enemy.
Who remembers pegging Skidz pants bought
from Merry Go Round? We had to wear Air
Jordans, too. Our t-shirts were big and our
shorts were extra long. The tapered pants were a
big deal. If they weren’t tapered, then you had to
taper them yourself with a fold and a couple
flips.
Boys and girls both wore baseball caps in many
different ways. Mullets were stylish for a couple
years and every sweater had a turtleneck under
it.
But then grunge happened. Suddenly every thrift
store in town couldn’t keep a flannel shirt in
stock to save their backs. Teens were digging
through dad’s box of old clothes to get their
hands on some authentic hole-ridden jeans to
wear over top of their long john stockings.
Barbers nearly went out of business because no
one under 17 got their hair cut any more (OK, we
may be exaggerating just a little.)
44. Also in the early nineties fashionsworn by hop
hop artists were becoming increasingly
mainstream. And because of the growing
popularity of hip hop music among the suburban
community, urban styles were seen everywhere,
not just in the big city. By the late 1990s hip hop
style was arguably the most popular among
young people.
Starting in the mid-90s, industrial and military
styles crept into mainstream fashion. People
were finding any way to make a fashion
accessory out of a piece of machinery.
Camouflage pants were ironically worn by anti-
war protesters.
By the late 90s, rave culture swept through and
people were looking for clothes that were more
glamorousagain. The grungy styles of the early
nineties were old hat. Looking rich was cool
again. Name brand designers were back in a big
way.
Interestingly enough, late 90s clothing styles are
not too drastically different than they are today.
In the 1990s, musicians had a much greater
influence on what young people wore than
designers. All a kid in Kansas had to do was turn
45. on MTV for the latest east and west coast styles
of the moment.
For significantly more detail about a certain year
in 1990s fashion, click on the plus sign next to
the year below. 1980s Fashion for Women &
Girls
Fashion for women evolved quite dramatically
during the 1980s. From dresses to fabrics to
hairstyles, virtually nothing went unchanged. But
it wasn’t that way immediately.
Catalogs from 1980 don’t differ a whole lot from
1983, but once you hit 1985, watch out. You can
almost smell the hairspray from the pictures
alone.
46. In the early 1980s, women preferred soft fabrics
and neutral colors. It was almost as if color was
the enemy and beige was the only option. Don’t
get us wrong; brown, tan and pale orange were
in style as well. The neon that made 1980s
fashion so famous had yet to becomethe norm.
Around that timemost every woman owned a
turtleneck or six, and scarves made a huge
comeback in the early 80s. Silk blouses were all
the rage throughoutthe entire decade.
Pants were a very popular option for all women,
and many styles were sold. Denim jeans were
hot, arriving in styles with wild bleaching, dyeing
and even some really expensivedesigner jeans
came with pre-made holes in them. This very fact
made youth fashion the butt of many jokes with
the older set. Most dress pants were high-
waisted, pleated and snug fitting.
Throughout the decade, elaborate licensed
prints featuring cartoon and movie characters
were much more popular than in decades before.
Garfield, Warner Brothers and even E.T. enjoyed
staggering profits due to inexpensiveproduction
combined with surging demand.
47. The mid- to late-eighties were a period of
experimentation. From fabrics that changed
color to clothes meant to be worn backwards,
nothing was off limits. Bright neon colors were
very popular and rocking brand names was more
important than ever. Belts and bracelets were the
most vital accessories in the wardrobe.
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Fashion in 1990
In 1990, recession-wearyshoppers chose to
spend money on clothes that would stay in style
as long as possible. That meant that the wild
shapes and colors of recent years needed to be
toned down.
The jacket remained the key to daytime dress. A
trend setter in the jacket trend was Chanel, who
introduced loose versions of the famous Chanel
jacket slit vertically at the hem. Some were bright
colors like hot pink, tangerine and white. Other
leaders were Giorgio Armani, and Calvin Klein.
48. 1990 Fashion: Vogue Magazine Cover
The biggest difference in 1990 fashion was an
explosion of color, with alarming arrays of bright
yellow, orange, red, purple and green. Neon
bright colors could be obvious as the primary
color of a pair of pants — or they could be subtle
as the color of a pair of shoestrings.
Brocade, embroidered satins and laces were
important, but the most popular style of
eveningwear was the slender black dress, worn
quite short with black stockings and high-heeled
shoes.
In the winter of 1990 the short, swingy coat was
worn in full force. Women loved how racy the
coat looked over short skirts. Casual styles,
49. such as anoraks and parkas were prominently
seen in cold-weather climates.
A revival of the interest in made-to-order
clothing occurred in 1990 when women realized
that it wasn’t more expensive than ready-to-wear
clothing. Thissurprised many fashion analysts
and drew other designers to New York City,
following the success of Arnold Scaasi.
1990s Fashion for Women & Girls
Women and girls fashion in the 1990s is very
distinct. While not quite as loud as the eighties,
the nineties took that attitude and tried to be a
little smarter and a little classier. Sometimes
designers succeeded, sometimes they didn’t.
50. Some common itemsof clothing from the 1990s:
black leggings with oversized sweater, low heel
shoes, flannel shirts, denim everything, t-shirts,
sweatpants, skirts, Birkenstocks, solid colors,
silk shirts, turtlenecks (under cardigans or
sweaters), plain white Keds and armysurplus
clothing to namea few.
Like most decades, fashion changed somewhat
drastically from the beginning of the nineties to
the end. The early nineties started off exactly like
1989, but by 1993, the 1991 look was “so 80s.”
Simplyput, nearly everyone had completely
revamped their style by 1994.
By the middle of the decade, many young
women were wearing the same clothes their
moms wore in high school. The seventies look
was really hot, with teens wearing tie dye shirts,
bell-bottom jeans and long, straight hair.
Homemade jewelry and, to a lesser degree, self-
designed clothing, was very popular.
By then, the eighties had become a bad thing.
Hair spray was eighties. Too much makeup was
eighties. Flashy clothing was eighties. Anything
eighties was considered a bad thing. Most
women didn’t want wild patterns and colors, they
51. wanted simple and humble. Solid colors,
preferably subdued was the way to go.
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Girls
As the decade progressed, fashion became more
similar to what you saw throughout the 2000s.
The grunge look faded away and sexy madea
comeback. Tight clothing was worn again and
glamour was ever slowly inching its way back
into the fashion world. Which was great news for
fashion designers, who had grown tired trying to
make flannel look good.
We have a bunch of pictures from a 1993 catalog
below. We will put up morein the near future so
you can get a better idea of how the decade
progressed, but hopefully you can enjoy these
for now.
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1990s Women’s Fashion Pictures
