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Category Archives: 1960s
Imaginary Sewing
As a historian, I relish finding secret messages from the past—sketches in book margins, shopping lists and the like—that no one but the writer was meant to see. I discovered several such notes in an old issue of Vogue Pattern … Continue reading
Mrs. Exeter’s Fall Wardrobe, 1962
Do you remember Mrs. Exeter, Vogue’s older woman of fashion? I recently came across her again in a Vogue Pattern Book from 1962. By that time, she had all but disappeared from the fashion magazine. Apparently editors believed she was … Continue reading
Ohio Blue–What Older Women Wore in 1968
One fascinating source of information on older women’s dress are dissertations written by students in Home Economics programs. One 1968 thesis by Alicia Pieper for Kent State University seems custom made for this blog. Her focus was on older women … Continue reading
A Studio Portrait, 1962
This portrait looks quite old fashioned, but it was made in the early 1960s by the Ninomayo Photography Studio in Los Angeles. Located in Los Angeles’s Japan Town, this Japanese American business began in the 1920s and shut down during … Continue reading
At the Beach, 1960s
Are they off on a brief vacation, or is this their retirement home? Somehow I’m guessing the latter. I don’t think they could have achieved their well-tanned look in the course of a few days. This is some people’s idea … Continue reading
The Birmingham Project of Dawoud Bey
The Whitney Museum in New York City is currently showing the work of Dawoud Bey, an African American photographer with an inclusive eye. One of his most inventive works is the Birmingham Project of 2012, commemorating 50 years since the … Continue reading
An “Oriental Celebration,” 1960
Where do you stand of the issue of cultural appropriation? You might remember the recent story of a white high school girl who was shamed for wearing a Chinese style quipao dress to her prom. Some Asian Americans complained that … Continue reading
Mini Skirts and the Older Woman
The British designer Mary Quant is often given credit for inventing the mini skirt, that iconic clothing item of the 1960s. Where did her ideas come from? In her interesting book on women designers, Women of Fashion, historian Valerie Steele … Continue reading
Learning from the Facebook Group “Mid Century in Color”
Sometimes I wonder just who Facebook thinks I am, sending me links to sites about farms and baby animals. But recently the mysterious algorithm provided something I treasure—a link to the wonderful resource Mid Century in Color: Amateur Photographic Slides … Continue reading
Maree’s Fashion Cycle
Many sociologists who study fashion try to determine when and for what reason people buy clothes. For a long time, the assumption was that older people tended to slow down consumption as they aged. Why? Often they have a smaller … Continue reading