1960s Costumes

Posted on March 9, 2012 by admin

Today, we are going to base our fancy dress theme on the 1960s,although, we are celebrating Barbie’s birthday today (in 1959), her popularity really soared in the 60s…

Here are some of Props & Frocks 1960s Costume Ideas…

1960s Ladies Costumes

Although we all tend to think of the 60s as the decade of the mini, the short style dress was not nationwide until 1967. Until then the 50s influenced many styles.

Mary Quant was very influential, her dresses were often designed to be 6 – 7 inches above the knee. Her use of PVC and other adventurous fabrics became very popular. Mary Quant also influenced the chic bob, although a flick up look was also very fashionable. We stock a great range of1960s ladies costumes to suit all budgets and sizes. We also stock a wide range of 60s accessories including wigs, jewellery, boots and glasses.

Mini dresses made tights popular. It was hard to wear such a short dress and feel comfortable whilst wearing stockings. These tights were also seamless. No lady would wear a short dress with bare legs showing. Fishnet tights were popular for a short time
Flat boots became the norm to wear with the mini dress.
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The popular hairstyle was a beehive, where they tease the hair and pile it high on the head. Another look during this time was the beatnik. The beatnik look included black berets, black slacks (tight for women) and dark glasses

Clothes were quite narrow at the shoulder, many had armholes cut away so that the shoulder and the entire arm were visible.

Baby Doll dress were popular in 1966 and were made in many floaty fabric such as chiffon.

Trousers were worn, when a mini dress was not appropriate. These were hipster style and flares begun to appear towards the end of the decade.

Fashion was also influenced by ‘flower power’ and flowers and fringe were everywhere, along with long flowing locks. The women wore long floor length dresses and skirts called maxies. At Props n Frocks we stock a large range of ladies hippy costumes and accessories to help you to complete your outfit.

The list of 60s fancy dress costume ideas gives a wide range of character ideas if you didn’t want to stick to the standard 60′s outfit.

1960s fancy dress suggestions:
Mary Quant
Hippy Lady
Mini Dresses
Elizabeth Taylor (Cleopatra 1962)
Cher
Twiggy
Julie Andrews (Sound Of Music 1965)
Mary Poppins (1966)
Jeannie (from ‘I Dream of Genie’
Star Trek
Lady Penelope
Catwoman
Bunny Girl
Cruella de Vil (1962)
Eliza Dolittle (1964 My Fair Lady)

1960s Mens Costumes

Mens fashion was influenced by the pop stars of the day. The Beatles wore smart suits with a small collar. The suit had a single breasted collarless jacket and slim pants. At Props n Frocks, we stock the plain grey suit favoured by The Beatles, but also the Sargent Pepper style costume as well.

Men wore Paisley shirts, velvet trousers and high collared Regency jackets. Men also began to wear their hair long

The beatnik look was popular with men as with women. Black berets, black slacks and dark glasses wore worn. Men wore sandals.

The ‘hippy’ look begun to develop towards the end of the decade. Mens hair got longer moustaches and sideburns were popular. We stock a large range of mens hippy costumes and accessories to help you to complete your outfit.

1960s fancy dress suggestions:

Beatles
Elvis
Hippy
Jimi Hendrix
Sonny
Booby Vee
The Krays
Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid (1969)
Peter O’Toole (Lawrence of Arabia 1962)
Dick Van Dyck (Mary Poppins 1962)
Austin Powers
Teddy Boy
Thunderbirds
Star Trek
England Footballer
Batman & Robin
James Bond
Lawrence of Arabia
Pink Panther
Austin Powers

After International Woman’s Day yesterday, apparently, as previously mentioned, it’s Barbie’s birthday today. Modelled on a adult-looking German doll her creator had brought back from Europe, this major toy personality made her debut at the American International Toy Fair in New York on this date in 1959, so today is her official birthday. Of course for some time there was transatlantic rivalry with her British counterpart Sindy, but Barbie had the better publicity machine (and lawyer) and remains a major celeb in the toy market. Although the arrival of ‘new kids on the block’, the Bratz threatened to undermine her position, her appearances (along with sometime boyfriend Ken) in the Toy Story movies has done much to win her a new generation of fans. She wears her age well and, as we know, she has always been one to embrace the dress-up box when required.

60′s Costume Ideas

Posted on August 15, 2011 by admin

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Today, we look at 1960s fancy dress and give you some ideas to help you to complete your costumes.

The Sixties is still a very popular costume theme and is great from a costuming point of view. Why don’t you take a look at our range of 60s fancy dress outfits?

Ladies 1960′s Costume Ideas
Although we all tend to think of the 60s as the decade of the mini, the short style dress was not nationwide until 1967. Until then the 50s influenced many styles. This does give you the option of wearing a Rock n Roll style costume as well if you prefer this style.

Mary Quant was very influential, her dresses were often designed to be 6 – 7 inches above the knee. Her use of PVC and other adventurous fabrics became very popular. Mary Quant also influenced the chic bob, although a flick up look was also very fashionable. We stock a great range of 1960s ladies costumes to suit all budgets and sizes. We also stock a wide range of 60s accessories including wigs, jewellery, boots and glasses.

Mini dresses made tights popular. It was hard to wear such a short dress and feel comfortable whilst wearing stockings. These tights were also seamless. No lady would wear a short dress with bare legs showing. Fishnet tights were popular for a short time
Flat boots became the norm to wear with the mini dress.
.
The popular hairstyle was a beehive, where the hair is teased and piled high up on the head. Another look during this time was the beatnik. The beatnik look included black berets, black slacks (tight for women) and dark glasses

Clothes were quite narrow at the shoulder, many had armholes cut away so that the shoulder and the entire arm were visible.

Baby Doll dress were popular in 1966 and were made in many floaty fabric such as chiffon.

Trousers were worn, when a mini dress was not appropriate. These were hipster style and flares begun to appear towards the end of the decade.

The list of 60s fancy dress costume ideas gives a wide range of character ideas if you didn’t want to stick to the standard 60′s outfit.

1960s fancy dress suggestions:
Mary Quant
Hippy Lady
Mini Dresses
Elizabeth Taylor (Cleopatra 1962)
Cher
Twiggy
Julie Andrews (Sound Of Music 1965)
Mary Poppins (1966)
Jeannie (from ‘I Dream of Genie’
Star Trek
Lady Penelope
Catwoman
Bunny Girl
Cruella de Vil (1962)
Eliza Dolittle (1964 My Fair Lady)

Male 60s Costume Ideas
Men’s fashion was influenced by the pop stars of the day. The Beatles wore smart suits with a small collar. The suit had a single breasted collarless jacket and slim pants. At Props n Frocks, we stock the plain grey suit favoured by The Beatles, but also the Sargent Pepper style costume as well.

Men wore Paisley shirts, velvet trousers and high collared Regency jackets. Men also began to wear their hair long

The beatnik look was popular with men as with women. Black berets, black slacks and dark glasses wore worn. Men wore sandals.

1960s fancy dress suggestions:

1960s or Pirates Fancy Dress Theme

Posted on March 28, 2011 by admin

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We offer you a choice of 2 fancy dress themes today, Pirates or the 1960s. Take a look at these 60s blogs that will give you loads of 60s costume ideas

For those of you who enjoyed the film ‘The Boat that Rocked’ or remember the days of pirate radio, it was on this day in 1964 that the pirate station Radio Caroline first began broadcasting at midday. Also on the 28th March (but this time in 1910) the first successful seaplane took off from Martinique in France. So today you could head back to the sixties and check out our funky mini-dresses or hippy fancy dress outfits and accessories. Alternatively you might choose to have a pirate party or just a celebration of ‘life on the ocean wave’. Pirates is a popular theme all year round and we have plenty of pirate accessories & costumes for you to choose from. In fact, we have all sorts of costumes and accessories to help with any type of event.

1960s Fancy Dress Costumes

Posted on September 16, 2010 by admin

We really do not need any excuse to have a 160s fancy dress party, the music is great and the fashions even better but the September 18th 2010 marks the fortieth anniversary of the death of legendary left-hand guitarist Jimi Hendrix. Aged just 27, he died of a drug overdose, but his music lives on – he was one of the first to experiment with stereo phasing and he incorporated guitar amp feedback howl (which most try to avoid) as an extra musical effect. He was also noted for his unique sense of fashion and his pioneering ‘militaristic’ look became a trademark. Here, at Props n Frocks we love any event that takes us back to the psychedelic sixties, where peace, love, harmony and funky fashion was all the rage. We have a huge range of 60s costumes, from hippy costumes for both men and women to trendy mod costumes.

We also have the chance to celebrate two other timeless trendsetters of the 60s, as two icons of the catwalk were born on this date. Zandra Rhodes was born in 1940 and Lesley Hornby (aka Twiggy) was born 1949. Zandra is highly regarded as helping start the whole punk revolution, so why not look at our range of punk costumes and accessories? Zandra continues to create and show innovative designs on the catwalk at the various Fashion Weeks around the world and Twiggy, although moving on from modelling dolly-bird styles in the 60s to helping M&S shift its various seasonal ranges, has retained her position as a respected commentator at the heart of the fashion scene. Our theme for today is Fantasy or Freaky Fashion where you can create your own style of costume hair and make-up and cause a sensation. On the other hand Lady Gaga is setting the bar pretty high in this field, so we’ll be fascinated to see what you come up with.

1960s Hippy Costumes

Posted on August 4, 2010 by admin

Let us take you back to the summer of love…
August 15th to the 18th sees the 41st anniversary of the famous original Woodstock festival, held in 1969 on a farm in the hamlet of White Lake (some 43 miles from Woodstock itself). You could of course be celebrating this event by heading to a festival, such as the Vintage at Goodwood Festival or the British Body Painting festival in Mersham, Kent. Alternatively, if you are celebrating closer to home, then a 1960s fancy dress party is the next best thing.

At Props n Frocks we have a fantastic range of Sixties outfits to help get you in the mood. From the early Teddy Boys which dominated the scene at the end of the 50s to the early 60s, the Austin Powers ‘Groovy Baby’ costumes and the Mary Quant style mini-dresses or Mod outfits, through to the psychedelic and floral creations of the hippy generation (take a look at our hippy costumes - they make a great couples fancy dress option). Naturally, we also have a wide range of additional accessories, such as peace medallions, hippy kits, wigs, glasses, even wacky weed and giant spliffs.

The 1960s is a great theme for all ages and budgets. There is such a range of possible 60s costumes to choose from, your only problem will be deciding on which costumes to wear.

Goodwood Costumes

Posted on July 22, 2010 by admin

We mentioned Goodwood in connection with our 1940s blog. New this year is the Vintage at Goodwood festival, which is happening from August 13th-15th. Aside from being a music event featuring ‘vintage’ artists such as Sandie Shaw, Earth Wind & Fire and Kid Creole & The Coconuts (plus quite a few more modern performers), it promises to offer a complete ‘retro experience’: Not only will it take in the culture of the 1940s, but it will also be exploring the 1950s, 60s, 70s, 80s, up to the present day, with a ‘High Street’ of retro and vintage clothing and accessory outlets. So, if you want to be part of that event, we will be pleased to help kit you out in a fancy dress costume of the era of your choice. Props n Frocks stocks a huge range of 1950s costumes, 1960s & 70′s costumes, and of course, we stock 1980s costumes as well.

Also ‘Of the 40s’ is the Twinwood Festival, held over the late August Bank Holiday (August 28th-30th), which dedicates itself to jazz, swing and Big Band music, and also incorporates a Glenn Miller celebrational event. The festival is held at the Twinwood airfield, Bedfordshire. Festival goers are encouraged to get into the spirit by dressing up in 1940s costume.

I actually attended The Goodwood Revival a couple of years ago. My group of friends all dressed up in 1950s costumes and 1940s uniforms. The weather was terrible, which did ruin the weekend a bit, to be honest, but, we thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience and dressing up in costume made the entire weekend so much fun. All the people who had dressed up seemed to get more out of this terrific event, which looks like will be even better this year with the addition of ‘vintage’. Please let us know how you enjoy the weekend if you go this year.

6th July 2010

Posted on June 25, 2010 by admin

July 6th
Rock and Roll is the order of the day today, as we celebrate the 85th anniversary of the birth of legendary performer Bill Haley, who was born this day in 1925. (He died February 9th, 1981. He was most famous during the mid fifties and early sixties, when he and the Comets produced classic hits such as ‘Rock around the Clock’, ‘Shake, Rattle and Roll’ and ‘See You Later Alligator’. Our Teddy Boy costumes are on special offer at the moment and we have a large selection of ladies 1950s costumes to suit all sizes and budgets.

If the Rock and Roll era does not rock your boat and you prefer something a bit more ‘mod-ern’ this was also the day that in 1962, Pop Art came of age, when Andy Warhol’s Campbell Soup tin exhibition opened in Los Angeles. If that’s not enough of a reason, on July 7th in 1940, legendary Beatles drummer Ringo Starr (Richard Starkey) was born. So what better excuse than to celebrate the Sixties, with all its fashion and foibles?
Of course, Props n Frocks has a large range of 60 costumes for men and women, the music is great, and we all know the words, so what’s stopping you?