The American Way: Forever Young

From the turn of the last century, youthful fashion came to the fore. Trends included:

• Flaming youth! The Twenties flapper: shingled hair, short skirts, flapping galoshes and cloche hats, à la actress Clara Bow.

This story first appeared in the September 6, 2012 issue of WWD. Subscribe Today.

• Bobby-soxers and Frank Sinatra; music’s screaming legions of young girls are born in 1946.

• Saddle shoes bring their two-tone panache to the student uniform.

• It’s a Mod, Mod, Mod world, as English-inspired styles sweep young Sixties fashion.

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• Hippie looks of the late Sixties — long skirts, elephant bell-bottoms, no bras, long hair, bare feet, bells as jewelry.

• Calvin Klein makes his name with clean-cut sportswear for women, his jeans and his sexy
underwear for men, shown in startling ads.

• Michael Jackson, a one-man hit factory in the Eighties; his dances and costumes are big influences.

• Madonna: The protean singer has been a fashion influence since her early Eighties Boy Toy
days.

• Tattoos go mainstream in the Nineties and Aughts, giving members of every generation plenty to regret.

• Long skirts for day sweep in, just like in 1912.