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YOUTH-CENTERED FASHION

Consumerism at an Early Age

With the prosperity of the 1950s in full swing, American clothing manufacturers discovered—or perhaps created—new markets eager to buy their goods: children and teenagers. Television and printed advertisements instilled in 1950s kids at an early age a rampant consumerism that their parents had never had. The oldsters, after all, had grown up during the Depresssion, when thriftiness was next to godliness.

Born to Spend

But children and teens of the 1950s identified with a fifteen-year-old Los Angeles girl quoted in a 1957 Newsweek article: "We just find it neat to spend money." In 1957 teens' disposable income was estimated at $9 billion. Intensive research into this "hitherto untapped teen market" began after World War II, and by the mid 1950s fashion manufacturers were masters at manipulating teens' tastes.

Not like Their Parents

On the other hand, young people in the 1950s did their own manipulating by deciding to reject their parents' styles and make their own mark. Vogue commented on the trend in November 1952, when it described a "blueprint teenager" complete with bobby socks, ponytail, and the boyfriend's sweater. Young fashions became a regular feature in that magazine in 1953. Harpers Bazaar started a regular section called "The Young Outlook" in 1958. England's Mary Quant began making youth-centered fashions in 1955 and had a successful trip to America in 1959. Announcing that "snobbery has gone out of fashion," Quant offered kicky outfits specifically for women under twenty-five, rather than popular fashions that had been designed for film stars and wealthy princesses. For young people, suddenly, dictates from Paris were irrelevant.

The "Preppy" Look

Quant's more radical designs became widely popular in America in the 1960s. But in the mid to late 1950s both boys and girls had their own versions of the "preppy" look. Preppy boys wore baggy pants, V-necked sweaters, and Top Siders or dirty white bucks. They sported crew cuts or else, in Horn's words, "the long-but-not-too-long carefully combed and parted, wholesome-looking rocker hairstyles favored by such teen trendsetters as Ricky Nelson of 'Ozzie and Harriet' fame." For dressy occasions they donned a sports jacket and slacks, with loafers or white bucks.

Preppy on the Dance Floor

Preppy girls wore sweaters, poodle skirts, bobby socks, and saddle shoes. The dirndl dress (sleeveless, or with puffed sleeves, and plenty of petticoats underneath) became the first popular fashion designed strictly for youth. Billowing circle skirts and cinch belts were perfect for rock 'n' roll dancing or the Bunny Hop. Baggy pants were also favored by girls, as were long, pleated, plaid skirts. At night teens glittered with paste-on rhinestones. Hair was cut into short, curly "poodle" cuts or shaggy Italian styles, or it was swept back into a ponytail or teased and sprayed into an elaborate bouffant.

The "Greaser" Look

"Greasers," by contrast, were the all-American rebels. Inspired in part by movie star Marlon Brando in "The Wild One," the idea, Horn says, "was to look poor, tough, and hard—cold as ice, angry as hell, macho, arrogant, and dressed to kill." Tight black jeans, black boots, shiny shirts, black leather jackets, and T-shirts with rolled-up cuffs (for storing cigarettes) constituted the greaser look, as portrayed years later by Fonzie in television's "Happy Days." Boys' hair was worn long and greased with Vaseline, molded into a duck tail (or "D.A." for "duck's ass") like Elvis Presley's. (A Massachusetts school banned the D.A. in 1957, fearful that it was fostering rebellious attitudes.)

Tough Girls

Their girlfriends were a tough group, too, wearing heavy makeup, tight sweaters, short skirts, and stockings. Some girls wore their hair greased into duck tails, and some smoked cigarettes, too. The dress of both male and female greasers screamed rebellion, and society heartily disapproved.

Accessorizing

Couples, of both styles, also made fashion statements. Preppies exchanged class rings, which girls wore on necklaces, and had matching ID tags. When in college, this group's fraternities sponsored elaborate pinning ceremonies. Greasers, by contrast, rarely bothered with class rings; they sported tattoos and heavy ID bracelets, instead, and girls wore their boyfriends' leather jackets. But whether you were a preppy or a greaser, by mid decade the youth culture and its fashions reigned supreme.