50s:
With the billowing, voluminous and ultra feminine full skirt being my piece of choice when thinking of 50s fashion, I dare anyone to claim they do not receive a mental image of Olivia Newton-John in Grease when picturing this era. The aim of 50s dressing for women was to fit the girl next door turns housewife demographic that exploded after the end of World War II; nothing could outline that better than the demure beauty of Sandy being complemented by a respectable full length skirt, that is then contrasted with a super cinched in waist to accentuate femininity. Really the full skirts, which were often worn over nylon petticoats to give volume to the attire, sent out echoes from the 19th century. They mimicked the style of petite, corseted waists followed by metal hoop supported skirts that were modeled by Victorian women a century before them.
60s:
In my opinon, 60s fashion varied outrageously from that of the 50s. Unsurprisingly, the first thought when hearing "60s" is always always of the spectacular mini dresses. The vibrancy of the patterns and the daring length (or lack of) completely transformed the way women were supposed to be seen. Gone was the firm visual of the angelic housewife or high-school sweetheart, to be replaced with thoughts of alluring vixens in flirty dresses. Two women who were to be particularly applauded for their hand in this transformation were the sensational Brigitte Bardot and Twiggy. Twiggy used the mini dress to her advantage in a more subtle way than Bardot, teaming it with her cropped haircut and tiny build to intrigue admirers with this fascinating, pixie-esque appearance. Bardot on the other hand (whom the Bardot top is also credited to, as she advocated the appeal of exposing the shoulders) used the power of the mini dress, teamed with her striking beauty, to completely stun admirers out of equilibrium. Two contrasting approaches to the mini dress, Pixie Vs. Pin up if you like, but both equally effective.
70s:
I like to think of 70s fashion as the lazy days, when everything was just that touch sleepy, a tad bizarre and a lot carefree, which is why my piece of choice for the 70s is the jumpsuit. The jumpsuit shouldn't have been something which made it to the trends, what with first being modeled by those in prison, but spectacularly they were adored and are still appreciated now. A jumpsuit is just that notch more formal than a top and trousers, whilst still giving women the ease to walk, sway and somersault as they please without the restrictions of a tight dress. It pushed the boundaries in a lazy way and it perfectly fits the relaxed nature of 70s culture.
80s:
What a feeling! Let's muse no further than the Flashdance look of the 80s. Leg warmers define this era obviously, but let us not forget the tutus and aerobic crop tops that were most definitely teamed with this fad. I'm going to reveal now that, joint with the 60s, the 80s were my favourite period for fashion (also one of my favourite periods for music) because, well, it looked like such fun! I mean, they got to wear tutus, come on. Again, Olivia Newton-John helped define an era as she got Physical in leg warmers for her 80s music video.
90s:
Finally, we've reached the 90s! I know I've already vocalized my favouritism of 60s and 80s, but 90's fashion does lie extremely close to my heart too, albeit completely at odds with the flirtatious femininity of the 60s. The 90s were all about the grunge, maybe even slightly the grime. The look was always a little unwashed and there was a harder edge, an edge that women had not fully explored or embraced previously, but we can all agree it was very very cool (for lack of a better word.) The leading ladies of the tomboy trend were undoubtedly Kate Moss and Winona Ryder, with Moss' 'wafish' image introducing a phenomenon in the modeling world and thus building the foundations for what was to be known as Heroine chic. Then for Ryder, she influenced my item of choice from the 90s, as I cannot picture 90s fashion without seeing shot after shot of her captured in her wonderfully worn in leather jacket. A leather jacket has the power to toughen up even the unfairly pretty face of Winona, so any woman in a leather jacket should look and feel powerful enough to take on anything.
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