Historical & social context
The 1960s heralded the golden age of print in fashion. Images borrowed from Op Art and Pop Art, and the psychedelic swirls of iconic fashion house Pucci, were only the beginning. They were followed by an Art Nouveau revival and subsequent preoccupation with Art Deco, the latter inspired by Bernard Neville, then professor of textiles at the Royal College of Art and head of print at the influential London store Liberty. The hippie culture, with its plethora of peacock feathers and paisleys, was followed in quick succession through the 1960s and early 1970s by the innovative prints of Zandra Rhodes, and Bill Gibb. The high point of the era was the collaboration between Celia Birtwell and Ossie Clark, who together provided the perfect synthesis between print and fashion [1].
The opening quote exemplifies the ways in which technology enabled the recreation of the past in unprecedented ways during the 1960s. Although the era is most usually associated with a quest for newness, be it in terms of forms, materials or pattern, the 1960s was also very much a period which looked as frequently backward as it did forward. In relation to fashion, this retrogression is described as ‘retro-chic’[2] and refers to the ways in which a new youth culture and consumers in general not only re-appropriated the goods of the past (a term now described as ‘vintage’ shopping), but ‘revived’ the styles of the past in new ways to reflect the current mood of the times.
Technology, informed design in unprecedented ways, and with a new economic confidence, a more liberal attitude to consumerism was adopted, including easier access to credit with the introduction of the Barclaycard in 1966. Prime Minister, Harold Wilson described the British nation in 1966, as driven by ‘the white heat of technological revolution’ [3] which incorporated new materials and methods of construction, as well as print techniques (silk-screen and litho printing) which made the circulation and the reproduction of images more easily available[4]. The development of new consumer goods had a technological impetus, with the development of the first word-processor (1964), colour television (1967) and the quartz watch (1967). New appliances were also readily available, releasing the enslaved housewife from the drudgery of daily chores. Although technology was abound, and there was a momentum for newness, the past seemed to be an omnipresent sub-text.
The past manifested itself through a thrift shop mentality, much as it has today, with garments from the past re-appropriated and mixed and matched with new things to create a sense of temporal fusion. Similarly, motifs and styles of the past were revived and applied as detail or pattern onto new mass manufactured goods. The past, it seemed was very much alive.
The past though was not really used as an indicator of nostalgia; here the fusion of the past with the present appeared more to be a reflection of the speed at which the times were moving. The M1 was opened in 1951, and the Jaguar E-Type (1961) reached an unprecedented road speed of 70mph in 1964[5]. Speed was of the essence and the desire to use rather than reflect on the past perhaps was a gauge of a lack of ‘new’ ideas.
[1] M Fogg, Print in Fashion, London: Mitchell Bealey, 2006, pp. 9-10
[2] R Samuel, Theatres of Memory, London: Verso, 1994, p.83
[3] Harold Wilson, quoted in J Boxshall, Every Home Should Have One, London: Ebury Press, 1997, p.82
[4] R Samuel, Theatres of Memory, ibid.
[5] J Gardiner, from the Bomb to the Beatles, London: Collins & Brown, 1999, p. 111
