Sixties fashion - Inspired by The Trial of Christine Keeler

[Uhohmummy]

I’m loving the current BBC drama on the Profumo affair. I also love the costumes! Christine’s coats and dresses are beautiful. Any idea where I can find bracelet sleeve cocoon coats and elbow length shift dresses?

[BloomedAgain]

No idea but I love the dresses. I am regrowing my hair after illness but it's still in need of volume. I'd love to know how they styled her hair!

[queenofarles]

Your best bet is probably looking for vintage 60s clothes on Etsy , eBay or vintage shops. read that Mad Men < another great 60s fashion drama> used lots of vintage coats and scarves for Bettys clothes, much easier than making/finding I think.

[Floisme]

Yes you can still get vintage 60s clothes, especially the coats, jackets and evening wear. Day dresses might be harder to find as people had fewer clothes so they got worn out. If you want to be really, truly authentic then look for 50s stuff too as that's what most people were still wearing in 1963. (It would be another 2 years before Jean Shrimpton wore a dress exposing her kneecaps.) I would start with real vintage shops if you can, rather than go straight to Etsy etc as the sizing was very different then, especially anything with a waist.

[PhoneLock]

If you want to be really, truly authentic then look for 50s stuff too as that's what most people were still wearing in 1963. (It would be another 2 years before wore a dress exposing her kneecaps.)

Mini skirts were around years before Jean Shrimpton exposed her kneecaps.

The newspaper article is from 1962.

[Floisme]

Maybe in London and the circles Christine Keeler was moving in but it didn't catch on were we were until much later. In fact in much of Britain I would argue the 60s didn't really start until the 70s.

I can remember Jean Shrimpton wearing a mini dress in 1965 - it made front page news and my aunties were scandalised.

[queenofarles]

Floisome is right , I’ve been to Givenchy, Cristobal Balenciaga retrospectives.
The late 50s clothes Looked very 60s , you couldn’t possibly distinguish the two eras. Those types of Car coats, A line swing coats , they probably were worn from mid 50s to mid 60s.

There a lots of books , programs that showed how affordable fashion worked in that time. designers would sell certain pattern to Department stores and they would add few changes to accommodate the taste of their buyers. So fashion really moved in a much slower pace.

[queenofarles]

These are popular 60s styles, but they are actually from the 50s

[Uhohmummy]

Yes those are exactly the sort of styles I mean, queen. I just wonder if anyone is doing something similar now as I would think maybe the ones in charity shops/eBay now may be quite cheap fabrics and anything better made I probably can’t afford!
I am slim but curvy so the mini skirt/shift dress look isn’t something for me anyway. Maybe the look I’m after is more late 1950s/early 60s.

[Floisme]

They're usually much better made than anything on the high street now. You might find the fabrics a bit stiff and scratchy as no Lycra back then. Prices have gone up but still pretty reasonable. I've bought a couple of swing coats with bracelet length sleeves in the last few years - one was £40 and the other was under £20 in a weigh n' pay sale. You need to factor in cleaning.

[Uhohmummy]

Wow you’ve inspired me! Any tips on where to look? I’m in London.

[BoreOfWhabylon]

I'd love to know how they styled her hair!

Hair would be set on big rollers with lots of setting lotion (Amami), then dried using hooded drier.

Once dry, brushed out, backcombed all over and then smoothed. Finish with lots of hairspray.

[VulcanRay]

I've got a couple of vintage 60s pieces from Blue 17 in North London

[queenofarles]

Don’t be so specific in your search, these styles were big again in the 80s and early 90s. So you really don’t need to search for stuff just made in that era.
If you will search online first, type 'vintage Cardin, Saint Laurent coat' or any 60s designer you liked, they did so many wonderful 60s style coats during the 80-90s all silk lined and made of wool/cashmere.

[queenofarles]

I find Etsy so much better for vintage clothes. So probably try there first.

[BloomedAgain]

Thanks @BoreOfWhabylon I have been given a hooded dryer as I have joint problems so I might be able to give myself a 'wet set'. I wonder if I should use a more modern alternative to setting lotion though.

[BoreOfWhabylon]

Heated rollers with dry hair also used to work, Bloomed.

The main thing is the backcombing all over and smoothing

[BloomedAgain]

Thanks! I'll have to practice. This must be an improvement on my attempts at blowdrying.

[Floisme]

My mum and my sister used to put rollers in their hair every night Bloomed and sleep in them. Not sponge rollers either - they were hard and prickly.

[MoltonSilver]

I was thinking how nice the bracelet
and elbow lenght sleeves are but I'm not sure useful they would be now apart from in better weather. They used to wear gloves a lot more back then. If you did the gloves with it now it would look too much like a costume.

[Floisme]

I draw the line at a frame handbag and a hat like a swimming cap but I do like the long gloves - they add a bit of drama but, more importantly, they're practical too. M&S did some lovely leather ones last winter, elbow length. Don't know if they repeated them this year. I keep everything else modern to avoid looking too fancy dress.

[BloomedAgain]

That's a commitment flo. I need my beauty sleep too much. I would love to start wearing long white gloves!

[Itsashame]

Another one here who loves longer length leather gloves with shorter sleeves. I’ve got a black pair and a grey pair

[TheSummoningDark]

There are hair volumising inserts (Bump Its or similar?) which are meant to be an easy way to a 60s bouffant style.

I don't know how well they stay in.

[BloomedAgain]

Ah yes I think I've seen those advertised. I can imagine them flying off my head on a particularly bumpy bus journey.

[Itsashame]

I had the bump it’s. They work ok with a ponytail as you can cover the bump it and it stays in place. Didn’t work at all for hair down though, the wind would blow and it would be exposed, or it would fall out!