What's your favorite decade for American women's fashion?

The 1970s. I'm thinking early Mary Tyler Moore.

None of the 1800's? 2010's really is a stylish decade all around. The best of the 90's distilled. 2000's got the worst of it out of our systems. That was truly a heinous decade for fashion.

Angelina Jolie in Versace, 2011

early 2000s hotness

From Marchesa Fall 2014 collection.

2010's cardigan obsession

In the 1960s my mother and her friends always looked so smart, chic and pulled together. It did not matter whether they were on the golf course, doing their grocery shopping, gathering for an afternoon luncheon followed by bridge or hosting an elegant Saturday night dinner party at home.

And their were no logos or labels showing. Yes, there were designers who were "known," but it was nothing like contemporary times when so many want to flaunt who they are wearing. My mother did not spend a fortune on her wardrobe, rather she went to fine stores looking for steals and bargains, and for her basic wardrobe re preferred classic items which would not look ridiculous if worn today. When I look back at photos I am overwhelmed at how beautiful and chic she always appeared. If I had to compare her to someone known by DLers of my era, I would say that she was an UMC Audrey Hepburn(I was so envious of her swan neck...unfortunately I inherited my father's stump) both in physicality and wardrobe.

Oh, the sixties!

The classic elegance of the Kennedy era giving way to the colorful Mods, then the extreme psychedalia of the hippies. Okay, of the sort of hippies who actually washed their clothes, not the other kind.

Early 70s. Think Faye Dunaway in The Towering Inferno.

The 70s were all about HALSTON!!!

Ugh. Anyone who didn’t vote 30s is a hideously uncouth pleb...I’ll let you off if you voted for late 40s/50s Dior New Look era

Late 60s, Fay Dunaway, The Thomas Crown Affair, van Runkle's hip, chic designs, especially that gorgeous backless chiffon cocktail dress. Sublime!

The Nineties, of course! At GAP!

[quote]The classic elegance of the Kennedy era giving way to the colorful Mods, then the extreme psychedalia of the hippies. Okay, of the sort of hippies who actually washed their clothes, not the other kind.

I'd have to go with the 60s also, though it can almost be split between the MadMen/Mod era and the Hippy era (which actually went into the 70s).

I was in school during the 70s, so I guess that was more my era. I hated polyester at the time and it was in everything at 100%. Wasn't easy to find natural fabrics.

The Prairie Look

The 60s, hands down!

You’ve monstrously traduced the 00s and 10s...personally I think the hobble skirt is criminally underrated

It's hard to categorize fashion by decade since it doesn't follow calendars neatly. Fashion at the end of the 1960s was drastically different from the end. Anyway, I love the tailored but flowing "wrap" dresses of the late 1970s-early 1980s.

More. So sophisticated and elegant.

No love for the 80s?

60s fabulosity

The 60s had a lot of variety. You had the post 50s sundresses and suits. You had A-line mod dresses and accessories. And you had the funky 60s flower child/Sonny and Cher stuff.

I like the natural look of the 1970s. It really reflected women's lib and women entering the workplace in greater numbers.

The more feminine styles of the 1980s seemed a backlash against the 1970s (this backlash was seen in politics too).

I always thought 1960s fashion was kind of ugly and weird.

Cher in the 60s

The 1960s had everything.

R23 So ugly.

Although Dior New Look is my favorite (((((Bar)))))) I have to go with the 60s which straddled classic tailored top-stitched shifts to pop/mod to hippie/boho/psychedelic.

Art Deco 30s’ platinum-haired silver-screen. sirens in streamlined sleek satin gowns with slits

The one with harvest gold, avocado green, brown and orange

I think the way the 1930s influenced the 1980s showed off how bad 1930s fashions were for women over 95 pounds, over 5'2" and without a flat ass or tiny breasts.

Of course, if you were tiny, the 1930s stuff were gorge.

Every day 1930s fashion was pretty awful.

*Everyday

R31 As was the case virtually everywhere and all eras until the relatively recent consumer boom in the 50s USA/60s London. Fashion was a luxury and most young people dressed like their parents. Aspiration still mattered tho...and nothing beat the screen godesses of the 30s

Miss/Mrs Pleb 1960+ was not dressing like Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis.. short skirt or not

[quote]Fashion was a luxury and most young people dressed like their parents.

Fashion existed at the mass market. People followed trends. Even during the depression.

Everyday fashion 1930s ...the dresses , the shoes, hair...generally pretty ugly.

r26 I think in some sense the ugliness was the point. Women, theoretically, were no longer judged only by their appearance.

November 1994!

1990s. 1990s Afghanistan, that is.

The Forties, structured suits, spangled evening gowns, wavy pageboy hairdos with flowers in them, or hair in a snood. Platform shoes and Victory Rolls. Rita Hayworth in Gilda. Sorry no link.

1960s The Mondrian Collection by Yves St Laurent is my favorite.

I love the elegance of the 1950's and 1960's.

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I'm partial to the Edwardian fashions (1901-1914). It was the last era when women wore corsets and were covered up and hemlines reached the floor. Grace Kelly once stated "Emancipation of women has made them lose their mystery." She should've added "and beauty."

My favorite films as as a kid were MARY POPPINS and MY FAIR LADY because of the fashions.

1960's

Fashion really "BLOSSOMED" for young women in the early 1990s!

I mean, what red-blooded American male could resist some of that?

The Blossom character was a staunch feminist and quite preachy on her sitcom. I don't think that fashion was worn or prized by most women.

HEATHERS (1988) had all of America's teens dressing like upholstered wing chairs! Or stewardesses for the Third Reich.

Okay, not really, but the fashions are really extreme and absurd and thus capture the Reagan-ite spirit of the era, if not the letter....

Most past fashion trends suck.

50’s and early 60’s.

I liked the '80s fashions, the shoulder pads and mini skirts. I also liked early Madonna and Go-Gos style. I liked the Boy George look, but that was harder to pull off, for some reason. I think '80s hair can make a comeback, at least the volume aspect of it.

Based on Downton Abbey, I would say that the 1920s were a bad time for hair and fashion.

Overall, I'd say you're right, R51. But Michelle Dockery as Lady Mary rocked some looks inspired by vintage Chanel looks that were timelessly chic.

Fashion in the 1930's was both practical and stylish.

The 1910's had the romance of a bygone era.

The 1940's: Dior's "New Look".

The fabrics and the jewels of the 1920s were by far the best but I don't care for the bobbed hair nor the straight, curve-less cuts for dresses.

Personally I like the Regency era fashions of the Jane Austen movies. I'd be very happy to spend my days in fancy nightgown-style dresses.

1950s haute couture. Love the silhouettes.

R56 how did they go from those comfortable-looking dresses to the cumbersome petticoats and bustles of the mid and late 1800s?

The romantic looks of the 1900's

Good question R58, with probably a very interesting answer.

My LEAST VERY LEAST liked hairstyle was that of the Civil War era...The part down the middle and combed very tight against the head, with the braided loops that went around the ears. So unflattering.

I love that R59. *sigh

R59 do you think any of those people are still alive?

Not really a fan of the Gibson Girl hair though... I would have looked ridiculous with it.

1940's

I like the 00's, I think they were very cute and funky as something that Barbie could use. What is the current style ? I feel like they are just wearing 90's clothes with some hooker boots and a lot of make up.

I don't even know what they style is now, other than black lycra pants and black puffy coats.

Late 1920s, early 1930s.

I like how the hair in R16 is straight, but still full and healthy looking.

R66 Comfortable clothes and fitted lycra pants

I've noticed when I've been to my niece's school (she's a senior) that the girls look like they rolled out of bed. Sweats, no makeup, and a messy bun. When I was a teen in the '90s, they still took great pride in their appearance.

Christian Dior's iconic New Look collection in 1947.

It really paved the way for the romantic silhouette of the 50s. My god--look at her waist.

More Dior. He was inspired by Belle Epoque looks and "wanted women to look like exquisite flowers."

Chanel loathed him, loathed his designs, and thought he was a design reactionary.

"Clothes by a man who doesn't know women, never had one, and dreams of being one."

good related thread...

"Buy less, choose well." —Vivienne Westwood

R66.

The 1950s, hands down. I think the favored length (tea length) was the most flattering for most women. Nice fabrics, a lot of silk.

A lot of good designers out there. On the other hand, teen wear in the 50s was a little scary. Cardigans, rolled up jeans, saddle shoes.....

... and poodle skirts!

R66 Comfort and simplicity

1940s. The New Look and the earlier, more masculine 40s look were very different from each other, but I like both.

I can't think of a single current fashion icon. Actresses don't seem to be stylish or immaculately groomed anymore. They all wear leggings, hoodies, no makeup and wet hair.

R80 Meghan Markle

R66.

1960s: Ladybug and Villager

1960's

I love fashions from every era. I really enjoy wandering around museums featuring fashion exhibits. Ordinary people often look dumpy no matter what styles are in, but it's wonderful to see the best designs from the most creative designers in magazines, movies, exhibits, and in fashionable cities.

I like the youthful spirit of the 60s and the elegance of any era.

1910's

When she was naked in the Garden.

R66 Style today is antithetical. Looking like a slob in chucks and a hoodie or leggings with everything. Practically no structure and menswear pants have become INSANELY skinny. Have a nephew around 15 and his pants had zippers at the ankles so the foot can be removed, much like late 80s women's jeans only with no affordance for the ass. Its strange how young women are getting less fitted while men are going in the opposite direction.

1940s - making do with tightly rationed textiles, entering and leaving the workforce...

We see an educated consumer determining what worked.

[quote]menswear pants have become INSANELY skinny.

They almost look like leggings. In ten years' time, people will look back and mock how feminine the boys/men looked.

1960's

1960's

R43, I agree that Edwardian fashion is very attractive and I really like costume dramas set in that era. I quite like the later 1910s when clothes were less restrictive but retained form and shape (unlike the 1920s).

1930s glamour fashions

1950's

1960's

1950's glamour

1950's fashion in the film, "High Society"

1960's

1960's - here's a clearer picture of R91

1900's

1950's

🔮 🤖 🚀

I hate the New Look. Those full midi skirts are hideous on women who are not models.

I like the emo/goth look of the 2000's.

The 1970's is the last decade to idealize women with slender and feminine bodies. Women with more robust or athletic body types became the norm starting in the 1980's due to the influence of aerobics and other work-out exercises.

I like the romantic Laura Ashley look on the more robust or athletic women of the 1980's.

The 1990's is about making the sporty women of that decade look more graceful.

R7 fantasy. 😂 switch out luncheon for lunchonette and we're closer to reality. Love these queens. Don't ever stop. Don't you.

The 1350s

R108 why do you think R7 is making it up? That's petty.

Halston looked great on slender women from the 1970's.

The British aristocrats knew how to look fashionable in the 1920's.

1920's British fashion

Oh, God, the Anglophile was infested this thread, too!

1920's fashion could look quite romantic.

I hate when women raised their skirts and discarded the corset and bobbed their hair. That was the beginning of the end of femininity.

I like the 830s.

1600 BC

oops 1600 BC

The 1990's

R120 is that Carolyn Bessette Kennedy?

R121 Yes

The Sloane Ranger look in the 1980's

The 1950's

The 1920's

A modern woman models 1950's looks.

r112, who are the people in that pic with Babe Ruth?

R120 Oh my, that hideous frau on the left made me want to bleach my eyes out. Those hideous jeans with that very noticeable camel toe. Yikes.

R127 Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (the uncle of Prince Philip) and his wife, a Cynthia Annette Ashley

R127 how did you know that was Babe Ruth?

I know more about baseball than I do about English aristocrats

1930's glamour

That young lady in R126 looked amazing ! A rather plain young woman transformed into a glamazon ! I get that women feel like this is all too much to do,but were I a woman id sure as shit take the time. In this day of fat bitches in yoga pants and t shirts,youd stand out and get ALL the male attention.