1960s themed fancy dress; any ideas?

Options
fuzzieme
fuzzieme Posts: 454 Member
in Chit-Chat
Suitable for a woman, me. I'm fairly short so most men ideas, like hulk, are unattainable :( Waaaaa.

Gonna try and find a smart black knee length dress and make my hair as neatly massive as possible, unless I can think of something better. Refuse to buy a costume on the grounds that they always loo tacky and cheap looking without actually being cheap. Nothing slutty. Also, it's this Saturday :D

Replies

  • DrBentonQuest
    DrBentonQuest Posts: 151
    Options
    What era of the 1960s? Everyone's first thought is counter-culture--hippies and mods. But for the first several years of the sixties, clothing didn't look much different than the 50s.

    I'd go with a black dress, pearls, and weighty curls at the end of your hair. If you don't have curls large enough, try a soda [or beer?] can.

    Look to the right places for inspiration. Jane Birkin, Jane Fonda, Pattie Boyd, Jean Shrimpton, Audrey Hepburn, Edie Sedgwick, Brigette Bardot, and of course, Elizabeth Taylor were all synonymous with 60s style for women.
  • fuzzieme
    fuzzieme Posts: 454 Member
    Options
    The birthday girl was born in 1963, but the entire decade is acceptable, but I prefer the look of the early 60s to the hippy look of the late, love both but early 60s is lovely. I'm a uk size 12 though and those ladies are tiny with waists at least 7 inches smaller than mine, heh heh, hopefully I can make it work. A big curl would be easy for me though, yay! ;) I'll go look at photos of a couple of those ladies I don't know of; thanks very much, I was worried a black dress would just be lazy but you've reinforced the idea
  • mollylookalike
    mollylookalike Posts: 60 Member
    Options
    watch the third or fourth season of Mad Men. :)

    solid sheath dress with fishnets, and chunky jewelry. think Twiggy makeup - big eyes, matte lips.
  • inkmonster
    inkmonster Posts: 36
    Options
    try modcloth.com they have a lot of old style looking dresses and clothes :)
  • fuzzieme
    fuzzieme Posts: 454 Member
    Options
    My oh my, women looked absolutely incredible in the '60s, if I can look half decent I may adopt the style :wink:
  • DrBentonQuest
    DrBentonQuest Posts: 151
    Options
    It goes without saying, by the way that I am not a woman. But I've neglected to mention one of the other most fashionable women of the 1960s--Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy Onassis.

    Others to consider are Francoise Hardy, Anita Pallenberg, Mia Farrow, Julie Christie, any Bond Girl, Diana Ross, Nancy Sinatra, and the ill-fated Sharon Tate.
  • Rosytakesoff
    Rosytakesoff Posts: 321
    Options
    You are going for a certain feel, so an exact reproduction is not necessary. The accessories can make the look. Think kitten heels, pearls (as the previous poster mentioned), a pale pink manicure, maybe a fur wrap or shrug (fake is fine and the thrift store is a great place to look), a sleek, small bag, black cat-eye eyeliner, and perhaps a pill box hat.
  • SlickFootAnna
    SlickFootAnna Posts: 611 Member
    Options
    I have this dress.

    You are welcome.

    13WSPR_WH472_BLK.jpg

    http://www.bodenusa.com/en-US/Womens-Dresses/Knee-Length-Dresses/WH472/Womens-Wardour-Dress.html?NavGroupID=4
  • fuzzieme
    fuzzieme Posts: 454 Member
    Options
    I have this dress.

    You are welcome.

    13WSPR_WH472_BLK.jpg

    http://www.bodenusa.com/en-US/Womens-Dresses/Knee-Length-Dresses/WH472/Womens-Wardour-Dress.html?NavGroupID=4

    can I have it ;) I haven't spent that much on clothes in the past year :( There is a vintage shop here that I'm going to visit tomorrow, if there is a dress half that beautiful I'll be over the moon
  • Bucky83
    Bucky83 Posts: 1,194 Member
    Options
    Have you thought about 60's disco? There are some awesome dress styles for a UK size 12 shape.
  • fuzzieme
    fuzzieme Posts: 454 Member
    Options
    okay folks, it's today.... the vintage shop was closed on Thursday and I was baking 120 cupcakes for tonight yesterday and only had time to go to one shop, I tried on the perfect dress, knee length high neck black short sleeved, but unfortunately it didn't look perfect on :explode: The problem being it had a white belt sewn in around the waist - I'm 5 foot 5 and although I have a defined enough waist my torso isn't long enough to suit belts, heh.

    I tried on five more and got a black one with a white collar, long semi transparent black sleeved with white cuffs, flattering to the figure, little shorter, maybe four inches above the knee. But is looks very 60s, not as elegant as I'd like but what the hell. Couldn't get the perfect shoes so I'm wearing navy heels, someone described them as betty boo shoes (?)

    Beehiving the hair, black eyes and pale lips and pearl stud earrings. I bought a long pearl chain too but I'll see how that looks later.

    It;s a good thing I got the long sleeves in the end cause I have a blister on my arm from the cupcakes, clumsy girl.

    Thanks so much for all your help, thanks Bucky for the advise too, 60s disco would have been fun too, for some reason I want to feel elegant, I'm always so scruffy :laugh: Wish me luck!
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,248 Member
    Options
    My cousin had a 60s themed party for her 60th birthday a couple years ago, and my husband and I dressed as the Avengers (Emma Peel and John Steed Avengers, not superhero Avengers). I wore pleather leggings with a black turtleneck and my hair flipped at the shoulders. He worse a thrift shop 60s style suit and bowtie and fedora, because we couldn't find a bowler, and carried an umbrella.
  • DrBentonQuest
    DrBentonQuest Posts: 151
    Options
    Mind if I ask how it went?
  • fuzzieme
    fuzzieme Posts: 454 Member
    Options
    Mind if I ask how it went?

    Hey again! It went REALLY well, that beehive hair is not easy but I got there in the end, it looked the part and I got large sunglasses at the last minute too. Someone called me Audrey, dream come true ;) Most of the party went for a hippie look but I was really happy with it and I'll definitely wear the dress a lot, I'm gonna get some nice flat pumps though.

    The cupcakes I made went down well too, made 40 of them into a vase of roses; people might have been nice to me because I fed them cake though :laugh:

    Also, men separated to give me space at the bar, I didn't know that happened. There's definitely something to this early 60s look :blushing:

Categories