20th Century Fashion

Before the First World War fashion did not change very quickly. Men wore dark suits. They had short hair and moustaches were popular. Women wore long dresses with a very narrow waist. They had long hair. In the Roaring Twenties dresses and hair became much shorter. People saw women’s knees for the first time ! A straight figure with no waist or bust was fashionable. Men wore trousers with very wide legs called Oxford Bags. In the 1930s and 40s hair, dresses, and cats became longer again. Men’s fashion didn’t change very much. Men wore a suit, a tie, and usually a hat, too. Moustaches went out of fashion.

In the 1950s people were richer and teenager spent a lot of money on clothes. Men wore long jackets in very bright colours- pink, orange, or yellow- and very tight trousers. For women jumpers and blouses with wide skirts and short socks were the fashion. Both men and women wore shoes with long pointed toes. The women’s shoes had high stiletto heels. The 1960s were the time of the mine-skirt and long booth. For the first time in the twentieth century men had long hair- the famous Beatles haircut.

In the late 1960s and the early 70s the colourful hippy style was in. Women wore loose maxi- skirts or maxi- dresses. Men wore jeans and brightly coloured shirt or T-shirts. Very long hair was fashionable for men and women, and beards became more common (but only for men).

The late 70s brought teenagers with punk hairstyles in red, blue, purple, and green, and brightly coloured makeup.

In the late 1980s and early 90s loose, casual clothes were in fashion- baggy trousers, a loose sweatshirt, and baseball cap (usually back to front). Sports clothes like tracksuits and trainers were very fashionable too. .