Does society influence fashion or is it the other way around? Hi, it’s Lina and this is my 3rd blog post on this subject. To find the answer to my question I am researching different time periods and their fashion and for this round I am researching the 1960’s-1980’s.
More specifically I am researching the women’s rights movement in this period and the role fashion played in it. The specific events I will be researching this round is how women used fashion to protest, break into the work shpere, and how modern fashion is impacted by these events.
Fashion as a tool for protest:
In the start of the women’s fight for equality, they didn’t have much to express themselves. Fashion was one of the only tools they had to accomplish their goals (3). A main protest that used fashion as a way of expression was the women’s strike for equality in 1970 (2).
This protest for equal rights was held on the 50th anniversary of women’s right to vote (1). The women demanded equal pay, and the same societal treatment as men (2). While they were loud in demanding what they deserved, something spoke louder than their words. The women walking down the streets were wearing pants, miniskirts and work uniforms to symbolize equality (4).
Women who didn’t participate in the march in New York City protested in their own homes. Women wore miniskirts in their towns and refused to cook and clean for their husbands for the day (1). The changing fashion gave these women the confidence to stand up for themselves and fight back against oppression. (3). Another main protest was the Miss America protest in 1968. This protest was focused on liberating women from restrictive fashion and the women participating burned stereotypically feminine items in a trash can (8). While none of these items were actually burned (9) the “bra burning women” left an imprint on women’s fashion and society today. (8)
Fashion during daily life:
Women’s fight for equality didn’t only happen on the streets. Women were starting to popularize more freeing fashions in their day to day lives (3). The mini skirt attributed to Mary Quant started gaining popularity around the world (11). But this change in skirt length was not created by one woman. Teenage girls around the country were hemming their skirts to “not look like their mothers” (11) The gaining popularity of the mini skirt gave young girls not only freedom of movement but also of expression (3)
A change in the workplace fashion occurred at the same time. As women began to break into the work sphere, they began to reject traditional feminine fashion (3). Parting from the standard of heels and floor length dresses women began to wear pantsuits and sneakers to work (6). These fashions were previously restricted to women working in gardens (6). This gave women the confidence to perform better at their jobs and to feel better doing it (5).
Impact on current women’s fashion:
Women in the 1960’s-1980’s used fashion to fight for the freedom of women’s fashion today. Girls all around the world can freely wear miniskirts and pants (12). Thanks to designers and women’s rights activists that are somewhat forgotten in our time, women have the freedom to wear and do what they want (12). These events didn’t only impact freedom of fashion, but fashion was used to influence some of these events (3).
In conclusion, through fashion worn at protests or in daily life as a form of protest the clothes women wore in the 1960’s-80’s greatly impacted society and these changes remain relevant today. To answer my inquiry question for this decade, I think fashion impacted society, but it is all perspective. Would these changes have been made if it weren’t for the people who influenced them?
I hope to continue my search for the true answer for my question in the next blog post. My next post will be featuring fashion from the 1990’s-2010’s. In researching body standards in this time period I hope to find out if fashion contributed to the issue or was merely affected by the change.
This will help me understand if fashion impacts or is impacted by society.
Sources:
Thank you for reading my 3rd blog post and I hope to see you again for the next one!
