Christine's 1960s Fashion Page

Go to Early 1960s

The Australian Home Journal, 1965

McCalls pattern, 1965

Simplicity patterns, 1965

"I was supposed to have some smart, race-going outfits made up from these lengths, and it was left to me to design what I wanted and arrange for them to be made. Someone told me about a dressmaker called Colin Rolfe and he did the job. That was boring enough, having to go for fittings and be pinned. Also, there was not quite sufficient fabric. Colin Rolfe was anxious about this, but I said cheerfully: 'Oh, it doesn't matter. Make them a bit shorter - no one's going to notice.'

So he did. And that was how the mini was born.

I had settled for very simple shapes for all four outfits, and all were above the knee. I wore my clothes on the short side anyway and, in Britain, hemlines were beginning to creep up...

I was very much mistaken - and what a target for press photographers I was, trapped in this short skirt four inches above the knee. I was surrounded by cameramen, all on their knees like proposing Victorian swains, shooting upwards to make my skirt look even shorter. I had no idea this was going to happen - this was publicity that I certainly had not planned. Unfortunately it was not quite the sort of publicity that Orlon had in mind...

The end result was that all over Australia young girls started shortening their skirts. The pictures which the British newspapers used had the same results back home. Suddenly the mini, which had had a half-hearted start in Paris, became fashionable.

Mary Quant rode in on the back of it, immediately making shorter skirts. Many people gave her the credit for the new craze, but the truth was that the mini took off beccause Orlon had been stingy with their fabric.

Jean Shrimpton An Autobiography

Spiegel catalogue, 1965

*NEW* Stitchcraft, 1965

La Pastorale catalogue, Autumn-Winter 1965

*NEW* Vogue Pattern Book, 1965

Anna Bella, 1965

McCall patterns, 1966

Just after the bus passed Sydney Street we heard a man's voice say, 'Blimey! Look at that.' The people sitting on the left were all looking out the windows. The bus was stationary. We stood up to see what was happening and everyone else on our side of the bus stood up as well. 'Chroist! Can you see that, Dave?' A tall girl with long blonde hair was walking past the Gaumont cinema wearing a white shirt and a light brown skirt. The skirt was at least a foot shorter than any skirt I - or, it seemed, anyone on the top of this bus - had ever seen.
On the pavement people were standing back and staring. On the bus people who didn't know each other were sharing their opinion.
'Beautiful! Look at her thighs!'
'Should be ashamed of herself.'
'Phwor! She can come back to my place any time.'
'You should be so lucky.'
'It's disgusting.'
'Mary Quant's miniskirt. Just launched. A young woman with curly hair peered out of the window and spoke quietly to no one in particular.'
The girl went on walking. The bus moved along slowly a few feet behind her. She crossed through the traffic and walked along the other side past Chelsea pet stores. Pat and I sat down. People from the other side stood up and leaned over our heads. 'Did you see her thights? Chroist!'
'Bloody amazing.' I was seeing on the street now something I had only expected to see somewhere very private sometime in the distant future.
The woman with the curly hair turned round and put her hand beside her mouth. 'We'll all be wearing them next year.' She smiled.
'Chroist!'

David Reynold Swan River : A Family Memoir.

New Idea, 1966

*NEW* Stitchcraft, 1966

Modern Needlecraft, 1966

Simplicity pattern, 1966

Stitchcraft, 1967

Simplicity pattern, 1967

*NEW* Winns catalogue, 1967

McCall patterns, 1967

Vogue Pattern Book, 1967

*NEW* Simplicity Fashion News, 1967

New Idea, 1967

*NEW* Simplicity Pattern Book, 1967

Spiegel catalogue, Summer 1967

The mini made women feel young, and they certainly looked younger and snappier. Then along came Mary Quant, who shortened the mini even more. This abbreviated mini took off worldwide, getting shorter and shorter each season. With such tiny skirts, I introduced thigh-high boots in patent and kid leather, so soft they were held up with suspenders.
A rather amusing report from London claimed statistics showed the legs of nine out of ten girls had thickened due to the mini. The theory was that in countries with very cold climates, nature built up the fat layer of the legs in order to counter the cold. However, women will only believe what they want to. Three generations have continued wearing the mini, not worrying about any statistics.

Beril Jents Little Ol' Beryl From Bondi

Spiegel catalogue, Winter 1968

Stitchcraft, 1968

Vogue Pattern Book, 1968

"The Phillips, 1968, King's Park"
(This photograph, found in an antique shop, shows neat, casual clothes as worn by the average family in the late sixties. The ideas of the counterculture have obviously not influenced mainstream society, as the men and boys still wear their hair with short back and sides, while the mother of the family has her hair carefully styled. Looking carefully at the photograph, it is also clear that the sitters' clothes are made from synthetic materials rather than natural fibres. As for the father of this family, his white shirt and tie would have been standard office wear at any date in the previous decade.)

*NEW* Simplicity Fashion News, 1968