Clothing in Culture & Context

Contempary and Historical fashion and textile developments, with reference to to social, political and art historical context - relating to Business & Marketing and Creative Media. 

Exoticism and Nostalgia
London’s Bohemia 1967–1973

'Second hand furniture, old houses, old clothes… Oh God, those vast, whitewashed rooms with bare floorboards and a mattress in the corner with an Indian coverlet on it…. The pure asceticism of the late sixties.' Angela Carter, novelist

In the late 1960s futuristic themes gave way to exoticism, romanticism and nostalgia. Drugs, the counter-culture and the hippy trail to India suggested an alternative to the commercial fashion scene. Rediscovery of Victorian artists such as Aubrey Beardsley and William Morris stimulated a revival of historic and rural styles. The result was an eclectic combination of the ethnic, the antique and the psychedelic.

Many of the clothing trends of the early 1970s originated in the decadent milieu of London's bohemian quarters: Chelsea, Notting Hill and Kensington. These districts offered a faded grandeur that appealed to those with limited budgets and boundless imaginations. Large derelict flats and empty retail spaces offered an ideal environment for pop stars, artists and entrepreneurs to develop alternative approaches to life, business and fashion.

EXOTICISM AND NOSTALGIA LONDON’S BOHEMIA 1967–1973

Sweater, Bus Stop, 1968. Museum no. T.151-2000

Sweater
Bus Stop
1968
Knitted wool
Museum no. T.151-2000
Given by Sue Binns


Lee Bender opened a Bus Stop on Kensington Church Street in 1968, next door to Biba, and went on to develop a successful chain of twelve boutiques nationwide. Her earlier designs looked back to the 1940's with accentuated shoulders and waists. This jumper, designed with a traditional Fair Isle pattern, brings a wartime look up to date.

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In the mid-fifties Audrey Hepburn, who originally came from Holland, and the French star Leslie Caron popularised a Left Bank gamine look as reinterpreted by Hollywood. Hepburn's huge 'doe eyes' became a new fashion in cosmetics; both she and Caron wore their hair cropped short, yet softly curling in a 'chrysanthemum' cut. Because they were Continental stars, they disrupted class-bound British stereotypes of beauty, as did Brigitte Bardot. When Bardot married Sasha Distel, her gingham and broderie-anglaise dress was copied everywhere. In 1950, Jean Seberg, who had appeared with cropped hair in Otto Preminger's film anout Joan of Arc, starred in the first French 'New Wave' film Breathless; her short hair became part of the new youthful sophistication.