SPACE AGE ERA OF 1960's
INTRODUCTION:
Space Age. It sounds so cool and fascinting when one first hears this term. You think of Star Wars, or sci-fi inspired fashion. Imagination is limitless for this style. True to its name, Space Agewas heavily influenced heavily by the Space Race of the Cold War, in addition to popular science fiction paperbacks, films and television series such as Star Trek, Dan Dare, or Lost In Space.
People had become fascinated with outer space and sci-fi in the 1950’s so during the 60’s a really fun trend had progressed. It revolved around the idea of exploration — of pushing boundaries further than ever before, whether that meant with materials or silhouettes. It truly felt new and exciting because the “future” everyone imagined of flying cars and men on the moon was still far off.
ELEMENTS OF THE SPACE AGE LOOK:
Makeup:
Eyes were the main features high-lighted. Heavily done mascara-ed eyes, bold liner, adorned with bold, shiny and metallic eyeshadow. Fancy decoration inspired by clothes or accessories, was done around the eyes, like little sequences or discs were stuck which enhanced the make up. Lips were done in pastel and pink shades. The colour was sometimes subdued due to extravant eye make up.
Accessories:
Space Age’ white-and-silver colour scheme, were worn with astronaut-style accessories like flat boots called ‘go-go’ boots goggles and helmets, shiny gloves.
Shoes:
The French designer André Courrèges introduced the “space look” in the spring of 1964 included go-go boots. Go-go boots eventually became a staple of go-go girl fashion in the sixties. The boots were defined by their fluorescent colors, shiny material, and sequins. The go-go boots were one of the items that presented in the collection, and became one of the must-have item for go-go girls during the sixties.
INFLUENCIAL DESIGNERS:
a. ANDRE COURREGES:
In 1964 Andre Courreges launched the ‘space-age’ look. Chin-strap space bonnets, flat ankle boots, and sleek, plastic-like tech fabrics typified the space-age look as women readied themselves for a new sartorial stratosphere. His dresses, suits, and trouser suits might be fitted, semi-fitted, or tubular, but they presented a bold, graphic and geometric silhouette. His fabrics were flat, tailored wools, more unimaginable than what ready-to-wear was adopting. He preferred a restricted palette of monochromes and pastels, and was partial to aggressive checks and stripes. Courrèges used white a great deal.
Among his fans were celebrities such as Brigitte Bardot and Catherine Deneuve, and he created the iconic look worn by Audrey Hepburn in How to Steal a Million.
b.) PACO RABANNE:
Another big name in the space age, Paco Rabanne pushed space age fashion toward wearable art. For him the new and ultimate frontier of fashion had become “the finding of new materials.” His investigation of plastics and other hardware proclaimed a new epoch of clothes so intricately constructed that they could stand on their own.
Paco Rabanne created his signature metallic chain-metal dresses, which gained a lot of fame and popularity. This extreme look caught on commercially in the form of chain link belts, heavy metal necklaces and disk like earrings. His metallic dress were eye-catching but impractical. It was made of discs or metal which were joined together with metal hoops. They looked great but apparently the discs could easily nip your nipples, or cut you with their sharp edges, or just be unpleasantly cold.
Celebrities he designed for were Rabanne also designed the costumes for Barbarella, a sci-fi film starring Jane Fonda. The outfits and signature hairdo continue to inspire designers till todays age. Other celebrities were Francois Hardy, Donyyale Luna.
c.) PIERRE CARDIN:
He designed streetwear collections with a combination of an avant-garde approach. His famous space age looks are the helmet, short tunics, and goggles. His shapes might resemble floral abstractions that devoured conventional clothing dimensions. His enormous collars and frequent use of vinyl evoked outer-space gear.
Pierre Cardin were already fashioning dresses from white leather and plastic disks . His 1966 “Cosmos” collection, included wool-shift mini-dresses with huge cutouts. The short knitted dresses worn with warm tights were easy to move around in, even though the helmets that went with them might have hindered freedom of movement a bit.
MEDIA AND COVERAGES:
The Space Age look was used and promoted in many advertisements, hoardings, newspaper clippings, books, etc. in the 1960. A few of those ads are listed below:
