So, I got myself into a bit of a deep dive with 1968 clothing styles recently. It wasn’t like I woke up one day and decided, “Yep, 1968, that’s my new thing.” Nah, it happened kinda by accident, like these things often do.
How It All Kicked Off
I was clearing out some old boxes from my Nan’s attic, you know, the kind of stuff that hasn’t seen daylight in decades. And in one dusty old suitcase, I found a stash of old photos and even a couple of her old dresses. The photos, some of them had dates scribbled on the back – ’68, ’69. And the clothes, well, they just felt… different. Not in a fancy costume way, but just everyday different. It got me curious. What was really going on with fashion back then, specifically in ’68?
Trying to Figure It Out
First thing I did was, naturally, I looked at the clothes I found. One was this simple shift dress, but the fabric was surprisingly sturdy. Another was a blouse with a really bold, almost psychedelic pattern, but the cut was still pretty modest. It was a bit of a mixed bag, honestly. Not at all what I pictured from those slick retro magazines.
So, I started digging around a bit more. I even managed to get my Aunt Carol talking – she was a teenager back in ’68. And boy, did she have some stories. She said it wasn’t all mini-skirts and flower power from day one of that year. She remembered a lot of her older relatives still dressing quite conservatively, while the younger crowd was really pushing boundaries. It was like fashion was having a bit of an argument with itself.
I tried to find some patterns, some common threads. And here’s what I kinda pieced together from my rummaging and chatting:
- Shift dresses and A-lines were still big. Super simple, easy to wear. My Nan had a couple.
- Pants for women were becoming more of a thing. Not just casual jeans, but actual pantsuits. Aunt Carol said she begged her mum for one.
- Colors were definitely getting wilder. Oranges, bright blues, yellows – a move away from the more muted early 60s stuff.
- But then you also had this whole “Mod” thing kind of morphing into something else, more floaty, more “hippie,” but it wasn’t fully there yet for everyone. It felt like a transition.
The thing is, trying to pin down one look for 1968? It’s a nightmare. It was all over the place. You had the tail end of one vibe crashing into the start of another. Some folks were looking sharp and futuristic, others were going for that more ethnic, handmade feel. It was less a unified “style” and more like a bunch of ideas bubbling up at once.
I even thought about trying to recreate an “authentic” 1968 outfit, just to see. But finding the right fabrics? The right cut without it looking like a cheap costume? Forget about it. Modern clothes just aren’t made the same way, and the stuff you find online that claims to be ’68 inspired often misses the mark, focusing on the most extreme examples.
So, What’s the Deal with 1968 Fashion Then?
My big takeaway from all this poking around? 1968 fashion was messy. Seriously, it was a hodgepodge. And that’s what made it interesting, I guess. It wasn’t one clean, defined look. It was the year things were really starting to change, to break apart from the old rules, but hadn’t quite settled into the iconic looks of the early 70s yet.
It’s easy to look back with rose-tinted glasses and think of an era as having this one perfect aesthetic. But when you actually try to get into the nitty-gritty, like I did with those old photos and clothes, you realize it was way more complex. People were just people, trying on new ideas, some working, some not. And 1968, yeah, it was definitely one of those years where everything was up in the air. And honestly, that’s probably more real than any polished fashion plate. That’s my two cents on it, anyway, from what I saw.
