What a lovely subject you've chosen and congratulations on your hard work and success.
I entered my teenage years at the start of the 1950s. That decade was when small "dress shops" disappeared and "boutiques" appeared. As already mentioned before there was no such thing as a "teenager" in those days. Shops didn't cater for them which meant that unless you measured the smallest "standard" size of 34" bust, 24" waist and 36" hips you either had to wear clothes designed for children or make your own (I still have all my dressmaking patterns from that era). Fashion followed what the film stars were wearing in the latest films, then dress manufacturers would quickly copy them and have them in the shops toute suite. The same with hairstyles - my first "grown up" hair style was circa 1952 and called "the pony look". I recall Audrey Hepburn's 1950s short "urchin cut" was a big favourite. The wide shouldered tailored look of the auster 1940s vanished overnight when the camel (coloured) coats appeared. Accessories were an important part of all the looks and I remember my pal chose to wear a red hat, red handbag, red leather gloves and red shoes with hers and my accessories were green. Shoe shops sold all the leather goods and if the shop didn't have a matching shade they'd actually dye the item for you. For instance, for my first ball my mother bought me a beautiful peacock blue ballerina length dance dress which I took to the shoe shop where I chose a pair of white satin high heel dance shoes and asked them to dye the shoes to match. That was the first and last time I took my mother to help teenage me choose an outfit because I spent the entire evening at the ball being a wallflower whilst all the other teenage girls and youths were dressed as teenagers and having the time of their lives
Until Brigitte Bardot appeared in a 1955 film wearing a blue checked cotton gingham flared skirted dress with nipped in waist, this material had only ever been worn by little girls in the UK but with the addition of the net underskirts and white lace summer gloves it too became high fashion that year.
Every year had its own popular colour such as "shocking pink", salmon pink, african violets, mink, "coffee and cream" The '50s was the start of rock & roll in the UK and I joined the army of teenage girls wearing a white blouse and black taffeta full circular skirt with black flat heeled "ballet shoes", plus of coure the sugar starched net underskirts. I remember visiting my grandmother and described that I'd been "bebopping" that week. My grandmother always looked ancient to me and so I was surprised when she retorted "Don't think you're the only ones who've jived"
. As she was born in the 1880s she probably enjoyed the 1920s "black bottom"
I've got a 1956 photo of my teenage husband to be wearing a red cotton kerchief tied around his neck. We girls wore a kerchief too but they were made from very fine chiffon and I had several of them - my father scoffed that they wouldn't keep out the cold but was surprised when I laid one on his arm that it really did.
I remember hearing the name "Dior" for the first time, I probably wouldn't have bothered to make a note of the name excepting I liked his "H" line fashion and then his later "A" line.
I remember early 1960s fashion mainly for the introduction of the long fashionable umbrellas and the late 1950s tiny summer hats had dramatically changed shape having a high dome and brim. 1960s warm winter tartan patterned tights came into fashion, as did Mary Quant's mini skirts. one reason the short hemlines were worn across the ages was because clothing for adults was taxed but girls' skirts up to a certain length were tax free (can't recall how many inches now but think it was about 11"). As the decade moved on and the 1970s came into being skirt lengths got shorter and of course the proliferate small boutiques catered for the youngsters as they had the spending power, which meant middle aged and older ladies had a hard time finding something that didn't expose their ever growing derriers to the northerly winds.
