Hi there and welcome back to my blog! This week we are going to be researching into the 1960s.
This decade is my absolute favourite decade to cover because the hair and makeup is so bold, more than it ever has been! I also really enjoy the music of the decade; northern soul and rock feature in many of my personal music playlists. This decade was not all peace and love though; the American Civil Rights Movement was happening at this time. African-Americans used sit-ins and protest marches to fight segregation.
The civil rights movement inspired other groups
to push for equal rights; feminists fought for equal job and education opportunities and to end sexual discrimination. The LGBTQ+ community fought to end discrimination on sexual orientation (Mintz and McNeil, 2018).
Many black women had been straightening their hair since the 40s as this was considered the acceptable way to wear their hair. However, in the late 50s early 60s, the American Civil Rights Movement influenced students, activists and jazz musicians to leave their hair natural as a symbol of racial pride and identity (H&MUA Team, 2021). Nina Simone (Figure 2) is an example of a jazz artist who kept her luscious locks au natural! Here, Nina can be seen sporting the Egyptian look (a heavy black liner and strong brow) which became popular in 1962 (Delamar, 2003).
The decade was called the 'Swinging Sixties' because there was a youth-driven cultural revolution in the UK. The younger generation switched to completely different appearances and fashions, meaning art, music and fashion advanced over the decade.
Hairstyles in the 60s were influenced by many things: working classes, music, and social movements. The new decade welcomed the voluminous beehive, which is an absolute classic when it comes to the 1960s. The cone-shaped, back-combed hair style would last women many days with some tweaking and more hairspray. A beehive could be worn as an up-do or as a half up half down style, as worn by Brigitte Bardot (Figure 3), who is said to have been the ultimate 60s siren. The flick up bob was also a very popular easy to wear hairstyle that many women wore. Later in the decade, political activism, flower power and psychedelic rock led people (men and women) to growing their hair longer and leaving it natural keeping with the hippie subculture (H&MUA Team, 2021).
Figure 4 (left) shows an action shot of a scene from the musical 'Hairspray'. This shows industry standard 60s hairstyles as Penny is sporting the beehive with ponytails and Tracy is wearing the classic bob with the flicked up ends. Both hairstyles are very smooth and look very professional. Whilst 'Hairspray' is set in the 60s, it is very over exaggerated and this would not be how typical women wore their hair day to day.
Figure 5 (right), however, is a more accurate depiction of how women would wear their hair. This is another industry example of a 1960s hairstyle, taken from the film 'An Education'. As you can see, the lady is still sporting a beehive, it is just a little more put together with not as much height.
Figures 6 and 7 (above) show the heated roller set completed for the 1960s hairstyle. Heated rollers were used rather than wet setting the hair because a curl was not necessarily needed, it was more for the volume. Heated rollers give a much softer effect on the hair than normal rollers do, therefore this setting method was chosen. The set is directional and on base. At the back of the head the rollers are turning inwards as vertical roll is going to be styled here, so having the hair already set in that direction will help when it comes to styling.
Figures 8, 9, 10, & 11: 1960s Style Images (O'Connor, 2021).
Figures 8, 9, 10 and 11 show the final hairstyle now it has been dressed out. The look completed really reflects the decade, even just by the silhouette. The vertical roll that was styled is central and very straight, the hair is tight and not loose which is perfect for this hairstyle. The beehive that has been created sits nicely and gives a little bit of height, but not too much where it is unrealistic or looks out of place. The little swirls at the top of the vertical roll blend really nicely into the rest of the hairstyle and look apart of the style. If this hairstyle was to be done again, more attention will be paid to the little details such as the flyaways. In the 60s a lot of hairspray was used, which would keep the hair in place, so there was not likely to be any flyaways since they used so much hairspray to set their hair in place (H&MUA Team, 2021).
Figure 12 (left) shows the makeup that had been done before the wig was applied. The makeup really focuses on the eyes, with a pale lip. This makeup look was introduced and popularised in the mid 60s by models Jean Shrimpton and Twiggy (Figure 13). Twiggy especially glamourised dramatically contoured eyes with pale lips and spiky eyelashes (Sobel, 2016).
The makeup applied is very clearly a 1960s makeup look, using bold colours and false eyelashes, even with lower lashes drawn on. The eye makeup is very symmetrical and the colour compliments the hair and dress very well.
The look is very theatrical, but that's how they wore it in the 60s. The eyebrows are slightly too defined for the era because in the 60s eyebrows were played down so the eyes would be the focus (Delamar, 2003).
Thank you for reading this weeks blog. Final images of the wig applied on a model can be found in the Period Hairdressing Portfolio section of the website.
Next time we will be looking at the Rococo period and creating the final assessment for the period hairdressing module!
See you then:)
Alysha
Reference List:
AllThingsHair. (2019) Brigitte Bardot’s Most Iconic Hairstyles [Online]. Available at: https://www.allthingshair.com/en-uk/hairstyles-haircuts/vintage-hairstyles/brigitte-bardot-best-looks/ (Accessed 18th January 2022).
Delamar, P. (2003) The Complete Make-up Artist, 2nd ed, Illinois, Northwestern University Press.
H&MUA Team. (2021) Women's 1960s Hairstyles: An Overview [Online]. Available from https://hair-and-makeup-artist.com/womens-1960s-hairstyles/ (Accessed 14th January 2022).
History.com (2021) Civil Rights Movement Timeline [Online]. Available at: https://www.history.com/topics/civil-rights-movement/civil-rights-movement-timeline (Accessed 18th January 2022).
JazzMusicArchives. (n.d.) NINA SIMONE [Online]. Available at: https://www.jazzmusicarchives.com/artist/nina-simone (Accessed 18th January 2022).
Lyall, S. (2009) A Bud About to Burst Into Bloom [Online]. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/04/movies/04lyal.html (Accessed 18th January 2022).
Mintz, S. and McNeil, S. (2018). Overview of the 1960s [Online]. Available at: https://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/era.cfm?eraid=17&smtid=1 (Accessed 18th January 2022).
O'Connor, A. (2021) 1960s Makeup Image [Own Image]. York College. York.
O'Connor, A. (2021) 1960s Set 1 [Own Image]. York College, York.
O'Connor, A. (2021) 1960s Set 2 [Own Image]. York College, York.
O'Connor, A. (2021) 1960s Style Images [Own Images]. York College, York.
Real, E. (2016) Ariana Grande to Play Penny Pingleton in ‘Hairspray Live!’: It’s a ‘Dream Role’ [Online]. Available at: https://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/news/ariana-grande-to-play-penny-in-hairspray-live-w212376/ (Accessed 18th January 2022).
Sobel, S. (2016) Theatrical Makeup, New York, Focal Press.
ZIETGEIST. (n.d.) Twiggy Wearing Every 60s Fashion Trend Ever [Online] Available at: https://wearzeitgeist.com/vintage-fashion/twiggy-60s-fashion-trends (Accessed 18th January 2022).
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