‘Was it all Swinging? – Revisiting the 60s’

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17TH TIME: 10:30 – 16:30 followed by complementary drinks Prompted by a growing popular interest in the history of fashion, The Costume Society was founded in 1965 at a time of excitement and revolution. After 50 years of debate, discussion and discovery, The Costume Society is celebrating its Golden Anniversary through a number of events. This study day will take the opportunity to revisit the decade in which the society was born. We’ll take you back to an era which saw London taking centre stage in innovation with designers such as John Bates, John Stephen, Mary Quant, Tuffin and Foale, Mr Fish, Ossie Clark and Celia Birtwell, and Barbara Hulanicki (Biba) creating some of the most iconic fashions of the decade. It was a time to be daring, experiment with fabric and pattern, revolutionise the making and selling of clothes and a time when the relationship between art, photography and fashion flourished. But it was also a time in which not everyone was part of the swinging scene and they negotiated their dressed appearances and relationships with clothes and fashions in other and different ways. The sixties has returned in terms of dress and style on a regular basis over the last fifty years demonstrating the lasting appeal of sixties style.