1960's(British)Design/pop art

Known as the swinging sixties and associated with the birth of british pop and fashion.

• First man in space
• first human to walk on the moon
• england won the world cup
• coco pops
• fridges and cookers
• corrie
• spacewar video game
• The beatles 1963 hit with "please,please me" through the "flower power" generation
• Doc Martens
• the Twiggy look
• wigs
• love beads
• body art
• mini skirts

POP ART





London Fashion (V&A)
Youthful clothes in the 1950s were non existent.."it was all old lady stuff" Said by Venessa Denza,Buyer.
Shaped by traditional tailoring,a very English sense of decorum.
The epitome of elegance was represented by the twelve most prominent Mayfair couturiers who belonged to the Incorporated Society of London Fashion Designers
1950s - .Sir Hardy Amies 1959

John Cavenagh,1961Horrockses Fashion 1955

By the early 1960s this Mayfair generation was fading in significance, its sophisticated and elitist approach. But the Society still provided a useful precedent for younger pioneers, in its attention to cut, its inventive use of fabric and its clever approach to marketing.

'Snobbery has gone out of fashion, and in our shops you will find duchesses jostling with typists to buy the same dresses.' Mary Quant
Set up in 1955,Mary Quant's Boutique showed this new philosophy,around this time young artists,film directors and socialites grew around Kings road,known by the media as the "chelsea set".Chelsea synonymous was a brand new way of living and dressing.


It was known for its surreal window displays,mix of electic clothes,accessories and costume jewellery.
The clothes were decidedly modern. 'I want relaxed clothes,' said Quant, 'suited to the actions of normal life'.

With Quant's husband Alexander Plunkett Greene and friend Archie McNair providing the business backup, the venture was profitable, though it appeared chaotic. Some of the goods were sourced from art students, or made up overnight, and the mini shift dress soon became Quant's trademark.


'A whole new world of retail sprang up.' Felicity Green..

21 Shop sold clothes that were 'simple, zany, not for squares'. The buyer, 22-year-old Vanessa Denza, sought out new talent in the Royal College of Art and worked closely with young designers. Brilliant at turnover, she could get an order of 1000 dresses delivered within a week and sold a week later.

'Like a dam bursting' (to use Denza's phrase) other retailers soon followed her lead, with Young Jaeger, Harrods' Way In and Miss Selfridge establishing themselves as household names.

John Bates,1967



Gerald McCann 1965


Jeff Banks,1968


Carnaby Street 1964-1972



'Working class design, British fashion, Rock and Roll, The Beatles, Carnaby Street... You had all these rebels without causes, and all of a sudden everything came together. The gods smiled.' Robert Orbach, retailer.

In the early days, the clientele was linked to showbusiness. Then, from the mid 1960s, working-class Mods came flocking into the brash outlets of John Stephen (the 'King of Carnaby Street') in search of sharp Italian-style suits. By 1968 shoppers could also find mini-dresses, kaftans, shirts and accessories provocatively emblazoned with patriotic symbols and counter-cultural slogans.

Carnaby Street has often been dismissed as a garish tourist trap. But in its hey-day the clothes and attitude sold there revealed the key Sixties characteristics of innovation, iconoclasm and fun. Above all, they echoed the prevailing spirit of sexual and political revolution.

London's bohemia 1967–1973

Annacat 1968

Foale&tuffin 1968

Countdown 1970