I would like for some of you who lived during the 1960s to give me a detailed description of what the youth culture was like in the LATE 60s. It's mostly 1968-1969 I would like to know about. Here are some specific questions I'd like the answers to: - What were general teenagers wearing? Did boys or girls ever wear shorts? Did all schools still require uniforms during this time? If not, what were teenagers allowed to wear in school? - I've heard that feminism was rising during this time, so what exactly did it focus on? Were females expected to act a certain way? Mostly I would like to know if any females were rebelling against how they were expected to act/talk/dress. I would appreciate anything else you'd like to tell me also The reason I'm asking for this is because I want to write a fictional story that takes place during this time period and it would be very helpful to me to know these things.
Check out this thread = Hippies started by Ddoright (It may not be exactly what you are after but it is quite insightful) 60's Hippie Pics - View & Add or Comment eace:
I involuntarily shudder when I see questions equating youth culture / hippies with clothing styles. That's not what it was about! However, to answer your question, in my school, jeans were prohibited. Boys wore cords or chinos and shirts with collars. Girls had to wear skirts or dresses. It was considered a major victory for common sense when they finally allowed girls to wear pants to and from school in cold winter weather. They still had to change into skirts / dresses as soon as they got to school. 1968/69 was just the very beginning of women's lib. Most of those changes happened later.
I wasn't there but I agree with your sentiments. Since it is research for a fictional story I won't shamelessly plug the "Open Letter to Young Hippies thread." Stay Brown, Rev J
I completely understand the point of view coming from those of you who are responding to this post but I think some of you might be taking it completely wrong. This is not me asking to know these things because I have a desire to live in the past or revive the style of the 1960s. I just want to know these things for the story I am writing. I realize that the clothing styles were not the most relevant part of the 60s but nonetheless I am writing a story that takes place then and I want my fictional characters to have realistic 1960s attributes. The main reason I'm writing a story that takes place during the late 1960s is because if I wrote it to take place during modern day it wouldn't make very much sense because modern teenagers live their lives totally different from how I want the characters in my story to.
things I remember Early in the 60's -the british invasion completely changed the music we listened to including the beatles inventing so many new things -the us political scene was unbelievable-JFK, Bobby, MLK assasinations -body bags/body counts were a nightly occurrence -women wanted more rights and stopped wearing bras-that worked for me -women bawled at will-that worked for me -we wore uniforms in school -a smoking section at the school was OK -human rights were fought over Later in the 60's -recreational drug use became accepted in some circles -neat cars came along-camaro-mustang-detroit ruled -the US bands started to fight back-especially the west coast -things were just more relaxed 40 plus years has passed -human rights continue to be a serious problem -bad drugs rule -different year/different war
Read a book called Hungs Dunga by Phil Polizatto. GREAT read and lots of hippie experiences. HUNGA DUNGA
Good luck, hope you don't generalize the 60th youth in your story as much as you seem to do with modern youth.
