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The Age of Aquarius

The 60s just like the 20s brought back the young androgynous figure. It was a decade of great contrasts. Young women dressed differently from their mothers for the first time, and established their own style for clothing and accessories. To be youthful was a major trend and woe betide those who were too old or too prudish to abandon the trappings of 50s - the structured bra, girdle, stockings, and suspenders were gone.

Fashion boutiques sprang up catering mainly for the young. Much of the predominant style was set in London, where Mary Quant designed colourful, playful clothes including the miniskirt, which became a fashion feature of the decade.

In 1963, the contraceptive pill was launched, and almost in chorus, fashion focused on the bottom as an erogenous zone. Shapes in lingerie changed radically. The growing choices in man-made fibres revolutionised underwear and the emergence Lycra products popularised the bodystocking and brightly coloured sets of underwear.

As feminists set fire to their bras, the fashion for going braless would result in many lingerie manufacturers going bust. However, the pendulum would soon swing back, helped in large, by those women whose breasts were simply too big to be comfortable without a bra.

Bare legs and bare chests denoted one of the biggest changes in lingerie history and by the end of the 1960s; jeans were the uniform of the young, worn over skimpy briefs and with little else underneath.

Pre Twentieth Century

The 1900's

A New Era and a New Look

The Roaring Twenties

The Depression & Hollywood Glamour

The Age of Austerity

Rock and Roll

The Age of Aquarius

Disco Fever

Power Dressing & Designer Labels

"Hello Boys"

A New Century