Clothes in the 50s and 60s

[Alarmset]

On TV and in films, even "poor" people wear beautifully cut clothes. People like midwives, secretaries, struggling musicians.

Was that how it was, "cheap" clothes didn't exist or is that just for TV?

I love vintage clothes, but they are rarely 'relaxing' to wear,
Yeah, I love my vintage 50s/60s pieces, I admire the craft and the quality, and mourn the clothing industry that made them, but I would not want to go back to that way of dressing. It was physically very restrictive, especially for women and girls - far less freedom to run and move than we have now. Underwear was uncomfortable. Dress codes were also prescriptive - women routinely banned from.wearing trousers. And I remember my mum doing the washing in the early 60s - it took most of the day and then several more days to dry everything.

My mum was taught by her grandmother to make her own clothes from an early age. She is little and short waisted so struggled to buy ready made stuff that fitted properly. For her 18th birthday an aunt got her the vogue book of sewing and it is AMAZING. She still has it almost 60 years later.

We went to the Dior exhibition in the V&A a couple of years ago and the also had a Mary Quant exhibit at the same time. My mum spent ages in there telling me how she would go 'into town - ie central
London as she was brought up in the suburbs. Her and her mates would go round Bus Stop and Biba etc then come home via a fabric shop and spend the next week making copies. She made her own wedding dress and going away outfit (blue velvet mini dress and matching hooded cloak trimmed with white fake fur. She bought the white knee high boots....).

She ended up sat on the bench in the middle if the exhibition with about 4 other ladies of the same age for half an hour swapping notes and stories. It was lovely.

It was more common to see people wearing worn out and old clothes. People owned less clothes and less shoes. There were no cheap shops and almost everything was made in Britain, our manufacturing industry has moved to China and other countries where labour is much cheaper and workers have less rights. I remember a sitcom from the early 70’s where the plot focused on the main character (who was not poor) losing his best shoes and his other pair was wet,
If you remember Imelda Marcos, the wife of a dictator, made the news, not because it was the fall of a despicable regime, but when her palace was taken over they found that she had 3000 pairs of shoes. It was headline news as it was so outside anyone’s experience.
Clothes may not be better made these days, but the affordability means it is very easy to replace them. I think people look so much better dressed now than they did when I was a child in the 60’s. I don’t think most TV costume departments dress their actors in shabby clothes, which is how most people were. You only have to look at how much storage there is in old houses and how big the wardrobes are to see that t her didn’t have many possessions or clothes.

Oh yes, I remember the Imelda Marcos shoes. I'll have a look now to see how old I was at the time.

I'm striving for fewer and better quality clothes. I remember a few of my mother's dresses and shoes: a white full skirted dress with some purple dots, a nylon psychedelic shirt dress, some orange loafers with cute tassels. She's very modest and not at all show offy, but those were the fashions I guess. I wonder if my DC will remember any of my clothes? (That's rather morbid thought.)

My mother had most of her clothes made for her by her dressmaker. She was the same weight and measurements for all of her adult life and could still get into her 1950's dresses in her 60s. I have a few of her dresses stowed away. The quality of the fabric is amazing, even on her old seaside holiday pictures fro Skegness she looked like a model walking along the promenade. We are total slobs these days by comparison.

My mum made all her own clothes and 95% of ours so everything was always a perfect fit. I can remember a green linen trouser suit she made me with a nehru style jacket with ornamental Sgt Pepper style frogging. It looked amazing but it was so bloody itchy.

DS and I would go to bed about 7 in the evening and wake up the next morning and she would have made us new dresses overnight We'd each have the same style but the fabric would each be a different colour or colour way of the same print. Generally something that was in the remnants box at the local haberdashers. We always wanted waisted dresses with big skirts but shift dresses were in vogue by then and used a lot less fabric so that's what we got.

Mum died recently and I cleared hundreds of yards of hoarded fabrics from her house. Also hundreds of used zips and buttons. As a war baby she never threw anything away if there was the slightest chance it might come in handy one day.

She knitted for us too. Our school jumpers were red and when we outgrew them she would unravel the old ones and knit us a bigger one reusing the crinkled old wool and adding a bit more when needed. I hated that because we would end up with a bobbly two tone cardie.

I was very envious of a slightly younger cousin who had 'proper' clothes from M&S. luckily she was a lot bigger built than me and DSis so we'd get the occasional bag of shop handmedowns. Those were great days!

@GettingStuffed

Slightly off topic but pyjama parties were around in the 1930s and there were lounging pyjamas which were usually very beautifully cut and in wonderful silks and satins, a far cry from today's loungewear.

Although I was around in the 60s I don't remember actual clothes but I remember crimpelene and bri-nylon.

Bri-nylon! We had second hand nylon pyjamas and bri-nylon sheets. I'm surprised we didn't combust.

In the 50s women had far fewer clothes. I have photos of my mum in the 50s and she had lovely suits and fitted dresses but maybe only one or two. I have photos of her at home in trousers and blouses and tops.

I was a teenager in the 60s. I had clothes of course, but nowhere near as many as people do today.

The quality of the fabric is amazing, even on her old seaside holiday pictures fro Skegness she looked like a model walking along the promenade. We are total slobs these days by comparison.

I keep waiting for the swing back to looking more stylish. Comfy clothes are great but dull mostly. If not back to the 50s then a bit of retro 80s would be good.

I was a child in the 50s and remember that my mother had very few clothes in her wardrobe compared with me but all good quality fabrics and beautifully made. I remember her buying a Donegal tweed coat, in Magees Donegal, when I was about six or seven, she bought a second one in 1960s. When she died I inherited that fist coat and wore it dog walking until I got too fat for it. I still have some of her clothes one of my daughters wears a hand knitted top which belonged to her. She had Dak skirts, a Jeager suit, Londonpride wool blouses and Jacqumar scarves. I sometimes search for the blouses on ebay and have bought a couple. Even children's clothes were better quality then. My grammar school uniform gym slip, blazer and coat were all made from wool so only got spot cleaned. Bought far too big in first year so lasted for ages. In 1966 I started nursing and our uniforms were 100% cotton dresses, aprons etc. By the time I retired I was in polyester trousers and tops- sticky and prickly. At least Covid means they can all wear scrubs now.

There weren't many readymade children's clothes, my mum had to make them all for us.

When people talk about '50s housewives' on here i often think we don't know we're born. It was a hard slog. She barely sat down.

Very true.

I know I have never seen a time when women were as sloppy as they are now . I thought leggings were bad but this wearing of baggy sweat bottoms , sweat tops and hair either in a bun or with extensions , eyebrows and giraffe eyelashes has to be the worst .

My Mum made our dresses and knitted everything . Of course women weren't dressed to the nines when cleaning their house but when out they were smart . I always recall my Mum telling me when she started work in the early 1950s she had one blouse for work which she would wash and hang up to dry for the next day .

We had clothes for best and clothes for everyday. Best was for Sunday and visiting. School was uniform and we changed out of it when we got home. Everyday clothes were cheapish and it wasn't a great deal if they got dirty or damaged (big difference from best).

I think 50s/60s fashion was as varied as now, mods/rockers/mini/maxi/hippy etc. Jeans were work clothes. Lots of man made fibres (nylon nighties).

They used tailors to adjust the fitting.

This is true. Even my school uniform wasn’t off the shelf. It was tailored to fit.

My mother made a lot of our clothes too.

Agree that cameras weren’t a novelty in my youth and outside of a formal family photo sessions, nobody dressed up specially for them.

This is a pic showing women demanding better housing in Birmingham 1966.

Like @BigFatLiar we had clothes for best and clothes for everyday. Best was for Sunday and visiting. School was uniform and we changed out of it when we got home. Everyday clothes were old sunday best or hand-me-downs and it wasn't a great deal if they got dirty or damaged (big difference from best).

Cameras were no longer a novelty but the concept of dressing up for a more formal public consumption was still there.
My mum and dad got dressed up to go out to town shopping. We dressed smartly if travelling for leisure not to work that kind of thing.
Taking a photo of you in the back kitchen doing chores or nipping to the shop with a scarf on your head and your old coat on? No, why would you normally. Film and it's processing cost a bit so was used sparingly in our circles.
So photos are selective of clothing ime.

Different economic circumstances will give different selection of photos.

My favourite pictures of my grannies are the ones where we had travelled to see them on spec during the week. There is tiny me all dressed up and they are in their overalls and tatty gear. No doubt pointing out that they weren't right for for a photo!

People took more care of their clothes. I remember my summer dresses and school shirts were so starched they practically stood up on their own.

@ExConstance

My mother had most of her clothes made for her by her dressmaker. She was the same weight and measurements for all of her adult life and could still get into her 1950's dresses in her 60s. I have a few of her dresses stowed away. The quality of the fabric is amazing, even on her old seaside holiday pictures fro Skegness she looked like a model walking along the promenade. We are total slobs these days by comparison.

Yes definitely a few of those Prom pictures of both sets of dgps dressed up, Skegness features in some or Llandudno

As for cameras, I suspect it depends where you were. You were posh in our area if your family had a car or phone. Cameras were for special occasions like holidays, christenings etc. Dad had a suit and a good shirt, other than that he had work clothes. Mum had a couple of nice dresses other than that she had her everyday wear. I think we kids had more than them.

Can I slightly hijack this thread and ask where to buy clothes like this now? I’m not talking about costume-type OTT clothes but well made clothes in nice shapes with good fabric? Ideally in fifties/sixties shapes, ie not shapeless.

There aren’t any, everything’s made to conceal now not flatter or accentuate curves.

I can’t find any decent clothes. I bought a Reiss top in a ponte fabric, Utter rubbish quality.

If you have a lot of cash Vivienne Westwood suiting stuff always looks well made to me.
I used to just go and ogle in the shops.

Cameras weren't really a novelty in the 60s but film was expensive and then the faff & cost of having to take the film to the chemist for processing did mean that photos were a bit more "Special' than they are now.

The photos we do have show my relatives in many of the same clothes over many years - beautifully cut. Unfortunately, my mother was very into dress making so we were in hand made clothes most of our childhoods. Only my school uniform was bought from a shop (once a year - too big in August- way too small by June!) And being the eldest girl, I was lucky enough not to wear the hand me downs. (whereas my own DC's clothes were done after a few months and in no state to be handed on)