Fashion

Fashion was a big part of Rock ‘n’ Roll in the 1950’s, ’60s, and ’70s, and there are stories galore about how fads in clothing intersected with trends in music.

First I’m going to pull from my Events page to create a Fashion chronology of fun items pertaining to fashion.

Then I will put together some ads for clothing stores where the well-dressed band or fan would go to get the newest, grooviest looks.

FASHION EVENTS

ROCK ‘N’ ROLL SHIRT

In early 1956, a Dayton’s ad started, “Here’s the style, Crocodile! Snappy Rock ‘n’ Roll sport shirt. You’ll be in fashion’s swing (or any other tempo!) with a new Rock ‘n’ Roll shirt… Striped denim hats with wire brims that twist into any shape… Ivy League chino pants with the new trim look, strap in back [back buckle].”

HAIRCUTS

I can’t make out the date, but you can be sure it’s from the Fifties.

OSCAR SOCKS

The new St. Louis Park Senior High School opened in the fall of 1956. Things got off to a rough start, as the Minneapolis Star reported:

It all started…when an early-morning disk jockey [WDGY’s Herb Oscar Anderson] plugging “Oscar Socks” urged students to don knee-highs of one design left leg, contrasting design right leg. Girls responded in droves…But Principal Edward Foltmer…suppressed the fad promptly. “We’d be opposed to any distracting influence at school,” he explained with a cautious smile. “We can’t allow bizarre clothing.” A bag lunch protest last Friday, with many girls wearing black and spurning the school’s hot lunch, followed. Boys at St. Louis Park High came to the girls’ rescue. “The boys wore their shirt tails out in protest after we weren’t allowed to wear Oscar Socks,” student Elaine Smedberg said. “But the administration made ‘em pull the shirt tails in. So the boys hiked up their pants, wore them around their ribs. Then a week ago, about 15 boys peroxided their hair.” Next morning, “the kids hissed the principal and started singing ‘Chain Gang’ in school,” other girls reported.

The School’s student council came to the rescue and calmed the situation down. The PTA put a teenage dress code on its next agenda. Oh, and it wasn’t Sam Cooke’s “Chain Gang;” in 1956 there was another song with that name, with two versions on the charts by Bobby Scott and Len Dresslar. Oddly (or not so oddly), the Park High Echo did not report on the incident.

THE SACK DRESS

In 1958 an unfortunate fashion fad was the “sack dress,” also known as the chemise. Apparently a ’20s look was the intention, as it was accompanied by a flapper headband and (ugh!) tights. Gerry Granahan wrote a song about it called “No Chemise, Please!” that reached #23 on the charts. On March 5, 1958, Bob Possehl, reporter for the St. Louis Park Echo, had this to say:

Males Veto Modern Modes

Nowadays the only way you can tell which direction a girl is walking is by looking at the point on her ducktail and assuming that she is moving the opposite way.

She does try to overcome the handicap of “sack” dresses, lovingly called chemises, by using her new pointed shoes to “lead the way home.”

How can she possibly adore something that disguises her womanly attributes as a paper sack would an hour glass? Is this feminine logic?

She even covers her legs with such shocking stockings that it’s hard to look at them without sunglasses.

Most of the boys are in favor of returning to the “good ol’ days” when sheaths and curly locks distinguished members of the fairer sex.

A couple of weeks later, Sue Berstein retaliated with an article entitled “Females Frigid to Fanciful Fashions,” decrying the boys’ fads of loud plaid vests and pants with the buckle in the back.

The ad below is unfortunately undated but may be a spoof of the fad.

TWIGGY

GRANNY GOWNS

A December 1965 issue of the Westwinds newspaper of Westwood Jr. High reports that Granny dresses, though not exactly functional, are one of the fashion statement one sees lately.

PAPER DRESSES

An April 1966 issue of the Westwinds newspaper from Westwood Jr. High in St. Louis Park announced that paper dresses were in this spring. Not available in stores yet, these wild colored dresses could be had through the mail.