'67 Garden 

23 May 2021 

This week we see a mash-up of a 60’s/70’s look. I just felt all flowery and feminine the other day. That’s quite a good starting point for a look based in these centuries. Well, the flowery part might suit 69’ better, but who am I to tell you this – I think we all connect flower power to 1969 and Woodstock. Thinking about it, Gen Y and Z might connect flower power more to Coachella these days, but let's be real, I’m an old soul. An old soul who’s trying to get into the TikTok/Reel-Game. I’ve got to correct me – I’m a WEIRD soul.

Back to the post -  If you’re taking a closer at the pictures you’ll see it’s not all the way 70’s. We have a lot of 60’s fashion elements in here as well. Let us take a quick little look into fashion history. (Yay! Exciting!)

And we’re starting in the 1960s. The sixties were probably one of the most interesting times for fashion, as the fashion and style of the younger generation broke with a lot of traditions of the past. Why so? You might ask yourself, and as usual, the answer lies in the connection of society to history. The ’60s are also perceived as the century of “counterculture”, because, especially in America, it was influenced by diverse social movements. A lot of these movements resulted from post-world-war-II influences. For once, there was a baby-boom – leads to (within a short period of waiting about 20 years, 1940 + 20 = 1960s) a large number of a “fresh youth” as I might call it. What I mean is a new, young generation with different influences, tendencies, morals, than the one of their parents had.

Also, regarding that after war America had an increased wealth, more people entered the middle class which led to better education, which led to more people in colleges, which led to more educated young people with the drive for peace and bespoken sense of ethics, which adds up to a big number of college movements.

At this point I also want to add that women finally had the ability to enter economic structures, regarding that they finally could set their foot into jobs and therefore into economic autonomy, not being totally dependent on their husbands anymore. Now I, unfortunately, can’t talk about all of the history of the ’60s, though I’d love to because all the fluent connections in the background are hella interesting to me, but I don’t want to bore you. And also I’d never consider myself well educated enough to teach you this. But the reason why I’m writing this down is – we’ve got a new generation. A fresh generation. A strong, rebellious generation. And with all these fluent influences that happened in politics, economics, society, for sure fashion was a part that was mirrored by that, too.  

Now I talked about the young and fresh generation, that had better education, but what they also had was more time to develop their ideas and identity. The reason behind this is the break in social structures – it wasn’t only the man who brought the money in anymore, but also the woman. Also, a woman wasn’t forced to raise a family right after ending school anymore. PLUS we have the rise of the Anti-Baby-Pill, which contributed to that. – You see, it’s a dizzillion factors that all influenced each other and led to the 60’s society that we know from tells and tales today. Big love to the feminism that has its roots back then, and still isn’t fought out today.

We’re still missing out on the ’70s and with them having their roots in the ’60s, I’m not going all the way into historic detail here, too. What is to say is that the ’70s became even more intense through the manifestation of the '60s built-up social movements, that were supported by the still ongoing drive for peace, love, and nature. Naturally, the '70s evolved even more around individuality. Now the fashion I’m aiming for with this weeks look is the mid '60s to early ’70s. The early '70s evolving around the hippie era.

Needlessly to say is that there was much more fashion in the 70s. Dingdong, it’s Disco ringing on your doorbell and you’re invited to DANCE is all that I’m saying. Despite the Hippie-Look of the early ’70s and the Discolook of the late ’70s, clothing generally became less “ruled” and yeah, as I already said, individual. The reason behind this are new ways of mass-production – hello Polyester, there you are again. Brr.

So - still being driven by individuality and no need for work or uniforms the way to go was… Activewear! Yes, that sounds weird at first glance, but a lot of activewear had its roots back in the ’70s. Tracksuits and sweaters, especially. But to be honest, our lovely ladies back then also wanted to pave their just acquired career paths, and as much as we love chill looks, we love ourselves a bit of glam and chic either - so we for sure also had some nice formal wear, including tailored blazers, pencil skirts, palazzo pants (Big yay from me, you’re going to see those here one day, I promise!), pantsuits, and so on, too.

Now, that’s all I want to say to the 70’s – except for the Hippie Look that I didn’t really talked you through yet, but I want to keep it as short as possible – influenced by nature there are a lot of earthy colours and materials. Everything is very flowy and wide (tunics, wide blouses, ponchos, capes), a lot of knit, maxi dresses, and so on. Especially notable in my opinion are the accessories because they embody such a pretty playfulness. Chokers, feathers, beads, leather, headbands, floppy hats, scarves, and no real jewel to be seen. Just natural materials like wood, shells, stones, etc. So, you see, the ’70s were wild in fashion terms, and to nail them on point is quite impossible. But what most looks had in common was that the upper body mostly was emphasized, whereas the bottoms were large. Roughly measured.