The Swinging Never Stops
Name one 20th century fashion trend that Gen-Z hasn’t brought back yet. While the answer may possibly be out there, it’s difficult to find. This nostalgic cohort of society has revisited countless fashions from the 90s, 80s, and beyond. They are even nostalgic for eras that might even predate their parents.
It seems with every runway show, every latest collection, we’re all eager to declare the next decade that shall return. For years, it hasn’t just been the 80s and 90s, but also the 1960s.
No decade has had such a herculean impact on the world politically, artistically, socially—any way you can imagine—than the 60s. Our fascination with it is endless. The aftermath of decisions, movements, and people from that decade is still strongly felt today globally. We can’t help but fall in love with the Swinging Sixties as they’re—affectionately? infamously?—known as. In typical Gen-Z fashion, we have become enchanted with its fashions.
Plus, given our eternal obsession with the 1990s, it’s no surprise that the 1960s also making a comeback: Thirty years ago, the first 60s revival took place in the form of mod dresses, go-go boots, mini skirts, bright colors, and turtlenecks. Fashion is constantly repeating itself, and in the 2020s, we’re completely for it.
For the past couple of years, trend forecasters have predicted a 60s revival, and it is finally here. Recent collections prove this, most notably ones by Versace and Celine.
For Spring/Summer 2024, Donatella Versace paid homage to her late brother Gianni’s Fall 1995 collection. Both shows featured the shapeless silhouettes, colorful checkerboard prints, mini dresses, and matching sets that defined the 60s. In the latest Versace collection, Donatella uses pastels and light neutral tones to create silky mod dresses that barely reach the knee, as well as printed button-up jackets and mini skirt combinations reminiscent of Jackie Kennedy.
While Versace’s collection was based on the 60s revival in the 90s, Celine’s Autumn/Winter 2024 show went directly to the 1960s for its inspiration. Safe to say, both Versace and Celine married trends from now and then, remodeling the 1960s for a newer and younger palette and market. Everyone wants to be a mod now.
In this collection, Celine championed minimalism and neutrals. From head to toe, the references to 1960s fashion were never ending within the Celine collection. The hats were a reminder to John Lennon’s mariner’s cap that he sported in the mid-60s. Turtlenecks, shapeless mini dresses, and mini skirts with matching jackets graced the models’ bodies. Completing the outfits were fur coats, Mary Janes, and knee-high boots.
Despite the similar silhouettes and inspirations, the differences—such as in color palette, decision to use prints or not—and the styling of these collections supply a reason why we love the 60s so much, and why they keep returning to vogue. In terms of fashion, the 1960s can’t be put into one category. The fashion was so diverse; all sorts of styles were welcome. There was everything from modest suits, daring minis for mods, the normalization of women wearing pants and jeans, androgyny and classic femininity, hippies in tye dye and fringe, to preppy styles.
There’s something for everyone and anyone, which, at the risk of sounding terribly cliché, is what fashion should be all about.
