Text: Ruth Gómez and Carlos Villasana
Flared pants, high platform heels, miniskirts, large glasses, wigs and false eyelashes began to be seen in the streets of the world in the late 60s and early 70s, says the curator Tanya Meléndez Escalante.
In the mid -1960s, the young people changed their appearance and their way of thinking, while discovering their power and political presence: men found formal style alternatives and women began to enjoy the rights and freedoms that he was gainingFeminism.The world changed.
Tanya Meléndez, who made his mastery in Museology for Fashion and Textiles at the Technological Fashion Institute (MFIT) in New York, explains that at that time people expressed their struggle for freedom and equality through garments.
Unlike other times, both sexes began to have the freedom to choose their wardrobe: women could decide whether they wanted to wear pants or skirts, long or short, and men do the same with heel or platform shoes.
In the 60s the Mexican textile industry registered an important boom, since both department stores and small boutiques were successful in their sales;In the magazines the latest trends were shown and parades were organized.
Hippie fashion in the 60s.Photo: El Universal Archive.
Patricia Balderas, who lived her youth in the 70s, recounts in an interview that at that time her dad considered her somewhat "quirky" clothing and was surprised at the miniskirt;Instead, her mother was a bit more open to those new ideas.
Another situation that amazed his father was for men to wear shoes with heel or platform: “I was wondering what was that possible;But over time he stopped thinking about it.Of course, in the group of friends it was very applauded and among all we threw us porras ".
A group of young people pose smiling at the camera in Ciudad University in 1968.Carlos Villasana Collection.
The new Mexican woman
En una colaboración que realizó el Museo del Objeto del Objeto con Google Arts & Culture, titulada Un día en el 68, se explica que a partir de la década de los 60 aparecieron tendencias vanguardistas sustentadas por los avances tecnológicos y la libertad: la moda se popularizó ya que se producía en masa y con medidas “estándares".
In addition, they exhibit, fashion entered Mexico through the department stores that were gradually leaving the city center and became popular through campaigns in magazines of the time such as family, crinoline, kena, latest fashion or social.
Platforms, large sizes lenses, bracelets, belts and flared pants were the most of the products announced in magazines of the seventies.Carlos Villasana Collection.
Claudia magazine published in September 1972 an advertising campaign of a great warehouse of the time - which exists until today - titled one day in life: the new Mexican woman, where the day of a married woman and “a“ A “A“ A “A“The fashion "of the 70s: the ads described the fabrics with which the garments were made, if they had bags and the activities for which they could serve by providing comfort.
In the ads, women were observed doing family or personal activities, but always with their own style, one of them said that when I had an encounter with a friend, I could wear a silk dress combined with a mask and a hat and, for the returnhome, carry a coat when driving.
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Claudia magazine in 1972.Carlos Villasana Collection.
Tanya Meléndez, who in the last 15 years has directed projects on fashion, design and arts and has also promoted the study of Mexican fashion in New York, says that it is currently very unusual for department stores to do this type of campaignsIn traditional or digital media.
Compare the before and then sliding the central bar (click here to see larger)
In the ancient image a photograph of the campaign one day in life: the new Mexican woman. Fotos:Carlos Villasana Collection y Archivo EL UNIVERSAL.Web design: Griselda Carrera.
For her, fashion is a constant change that inevitably "is anchored in history, whether political, artistic, or the history of fashion, there is the eternal return of the past".
In Chapter 3 of the radio series of the 70s and 80s, "Women in Fashion" of the divergences of Margo Glantz, production of the National Fonoteca, made in collaboration with Outdo, it is narrated how women around the world, through the times, were empowering when they found their voice, first, in the decision -making of the home arrangement and later, expanding outside managing farms or houses and, of course, choosing the clothes that put in their own bodies.
The designer of jewelry and accessories, Tanya Moss, invited in said episode of the program, explained: “In each era of history and life, clothing has defined how women express themselves.In the 60s, when the miniskirt entered, it was a breakwater to say ‘I want to free myself, I do not deserve to be locked in this’ (...) Today is totally free, it is eclectic ".
October 10, 1970.Parade of miniskirts in the pink zone, two women fight against the MIDI and the Maxifalda.Photo: El Universal Archive.
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Glantz read that, of course, there were women who criticized the appearance of dresses that hit the body too much, for not leaving the silhouette of those who carried them.Without a doubt, "fashion is a fundamental factor in understanding the culture of each era," said the academic.
Pink Zone: The fashion magnet
In Mexico City, Zona Rosa became a cosmopolitan site where fashion had a presence in all aspects, from clothing to art or food.Design magazines of the time described it like this:
“A pink atmosphere, a mixture of sophistication and simplicity, in which they are confused and strangers, jipis and gentlemen, girls with long hair and quirky clothing, with elegant ladies covered with jewels and expensive dresses.The men of bombin or straw hat cross the street rubbing with a gray crowd.Two opposite poles are attracted to the same magnet: the pink zone."
Cortometraje “Las dos Elenas" de 1965, protagonizado por Julissa y Enrique Álvarez Félix.In the 6:30 minute show how the pink zone and the people who traveled it.
Retrato de un par de chicas al interior del Pasaje Jacarandas en los años 60, al fondo se puede observar la cortinilla del popular restaurante italiano “Alfredo".Carlos Villasana Collection.
In a report that was made on the pink zone in January 1968, not only the premises were captured but also the diversity of clothing that there were.Carlos Villasana Collection.
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De acuerdo con el crítico de cine Jorge Ayala Blanco, a principios de los 60 la Zona Rosa “era como el descubrimiento de un lugar donde los jóvenes de la época podían expresarse…en esa zona bonita encuentran la posibilidad de hacer un arte más cerca de ellos, sin ataduras nacionales, un sueño que sólo dura unos cuántos años porque la guillotina cae en el Movimiento del 68".
Quienes se adentraban en sus calles eran testigos de cómo convivían la forma de vestir “tradicional" de mujeres y hombres y la de las nuevas generaciones: los hombres empezaban a usar joyería, zapatos con plataforma o tacón; las mujeres diversificaron su armario con vestidos, minifaldas o pantalones.The long hair ceased to be conditioned to sex: some men looked long and some short women.
Also read: They rebelled against long hair
Among the styles that predominated at the time were prints with Hindu, hippies or space era, denim garments or polyester garments.
The pink zone in 1970.Photo: El Universal Archive.
Surgieron marcas como “Pixie" que hacía desde ropa hasta pestañas postizas; pero, según la curadora, en películas de la época “se ejemplificaba lo prolífica que era la moda mexicana.Due to financial stability people could invest in fashion. Lamentablemente, las crisis económicas de los años setenta y las décadas posteriores acabaron con muchas iniciativas y marcas".
“In the beginning, the Pixie brand specialized in producing makeup, false eyelashes and wigs. Para los años setenta abarcaría la producción de ropa y accesorios".Text and Image Credit: Museum of the object object (mode).
The fashion of the disc
Without heels, Sandra Gaytán measured a meter 60, but at that time he learned to use needle heels, which helped him to look higher.It was the rise of disco music and discos.They were the late 70s.
En ese entonces tenía entre 16 y 17 años y nos comenta que los tacones, y muchos de los zapatos que utilizaban sus amigos, los compraban en el “Taconazo Popis" o en “Canadá", las zapaterías de moda, con modelos y precios accesibles.
“Para ir a la disco, los muchachos llevaban botines perfectamente lustrados, mientras que las mujeres utilizábamos tacones bajos de ante y piel con aguja de metal", dice Sandra.
Al vestirse los jóvenes llevaban en la mente las modas impuestas por las películas clásicas de aquellos días: “Fiebre de sábado por la noche" y “Gracias a Dios es viernes".
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Models in 1970.Photo: El Universal Archive.
“And the same thing happened, with the difference that many of the garments were of an elegant designer or store, the things we put on them we made.The flared pants, for example, made them with regular pants and cut them a bottom to divide them into two and then fixed them. Sabíamos que no podías entrar a una disco portando mezclilla, por lo que estaban descartados".
The women knew how to dress for the occasion: “The makeup was loaded, strong, with many glitters, but the place you were going to go and if you wanted to look older.In the eyelids we sometimes put on a kind of sequins, which came from China, and that were sold in some bottles like injections, and that we stuck even with saliva.They were in many ways, moons, stars.Lográbamos una apariencia más exótica".
As for the hair, “you could carry it spongy, so we went to the spray with colored diamond;I did one crepe. Eran extremos, o lo llevábamos exagerado o muy natural, digamos al estilo Cher, lacio y muy peinadito".
In the sixties and seventies, men and women expressed their identity through clothing, hairstyles and accessories.Carlos Villasana Collection.
The pants and skirts were also very helpful, but the denim did not work to enter a fashion disco.“The pants were tight, but not at the waist, rather to the hip.They were righteous from above and camping from the knee down. De este modo el pantalón te apretaba un poco y te hacia lucir una figura más esbelta".
As for the blouses and shirts, Sandra tells us the following: “Men dressed in the purest travolta style, a bright silk -like shirt, with several buttons, without baking to wear the chains. Las mujeres solíamos llevar 'Tops'o blusas muy estilizadas, recuerdo en especial las llamadas 'halter metálico'".
A fashion parade in 1971.Photo: El Universal Archive.
He says that men did not wear sweater or jacket and that women used. “También las mujeres llevábamos bolsos pequeños muy baratos que nosotras mismas bordábamos con lentejuelas, tipo oro y plata, que brillaban mucho y parecían ser muy costosos, pero no lo eran".
60s.The latest fashion of the campanado pants for men and for women.It cost 119 pesos.Photo: El Universal Archive.
A Patricia Balderas la entusiasma el regreso de la ropa “vintage" porque ve ropa muy linda; sin embargo, piensa que es un tipo de prendas a las que sólo tienen acceso ciertos miembros de la sociedad.Personally, what he liked most was the diversity of accessories, palazzo, flared pants and neck scarves.
A forma de despedida, Tanya Meléndez explicó que la moda está ligada íntimamente al cambio, tanto de una persona como de la sociedad o el lugar donde se vive: “la moda no se limita sólo a la ropa, sino a los usos o costumbres que tiene una nación, por ejemplo: el uso de alguna palabra, los nombres que reciben los bebés en ciertas épocas o cómo se decoran los hogares".
The main photography shows the era of hippies in Mexico.Photo of El Universal.
Fuentes: Tanya Meléndez Escalante is a senior curator of education and public programs at the Museum of the Fashion Technology Institute (MFIT) in New York, the only museum in that city dedicated exclusively to fashion.Mrs. Patricia Balderas and Mrs. Sandra Gaytán.“Un día en el 68, parte 2" del Museo del Objeto del Objeto y Google Arts & Culture.Chapter 3. Mujeres en la moda de “Las Divergencias de Margo Glantz", producción de la Fonoteca Nacional en colaboración con Aire Libre FM, Radio UNAM y Programa Ibermemoria Sonora y Audiovisual.Series made in the 70s and 80s.
