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Are Americans Dressing Too Casually?

Are Americans Dressing Too Casually?

rt_header3Marty Moss-Coane Guests: Lisa Hayes, Jonathan Waldor, Arienne Thompson

Look around on the street and at work – t-shirts, hoodies, flip flops, sweats and jeans are everywhere.  Casual dress has become the norm.  But have we become too comfortable in our clothes?  And does it matter?  Marty talks about the trend of dressing down with LISA HAYES, Program Director of the Fashion Design Program at Drexel University, JONATHAN WALFORD, Curator of the Fashion History Museum in Cambridge, Ontario and author of Sixties Fashion, and ARIENNE THOMPSON, fashion and celebrity report for USA Today.

Guests: Lisa Hayes, Jonathan Waldor, Arienne Thompson

Look around on the street and at work – t-shirts, hoodies, flip flops, sweats and jeans are everywhere.  Casual dress has become the norm.  But have we become too comfortable in our clothes?  And does it matter?  Marty talks about the trend of dressing down with LISA HAYES, Program Director of the Fashion Design Program at Drexel University, JONATHAN WALFORD, Curator of the Fashion History Museum in Cambridge, Ontario and author of Sixties Fashion, and ARIENNE THOMPSON, fashion and celebrity report for USA Today.

17573891Sixties Fashion: From ‘Less is More’ to Youthquake by Jonathan Walford

In the 1960’s, fashion changed dramatically. At the end of the 1950’s, Yves Saint Laurent was starting to look for new ways to define the female form; by the 1970’s, styles, markets, materials, demographics, inspirations, and the very definition of fashion had been utterly transformed. Richly illustrated with contemporary imagery, including fashion shots, advertising, and magazine features, this is an essential sourcebook. The story begins with the new internationalism that changed the fashion landscape as New York, San Francisco, Florence, London, Madrid, Rome, and Hong Kong challenged the dominance of Paris haute couture.

The younger generation s demand for informal but stylish clothes led to an explosion of fast-moving, ready-to-wear styles and a new boutique culture. Diana Vreeland s coinage for this unprecedented shift in fashion was Youthquake. The concept of less is more had its ultimate expression in the miniskirt: for the first time in history the hemline traveled far above the knee. An era of self-conscious modernity was inspired by a space-age future that embraced new looks and materials, while counterculture styles Mexican sandals and sarapes, hand-crafted jewelry, Indian robes emphasized the natural over the artificial.”

http://whyy.org/cms/radiotimes/2014/04/11/are-americans-dressing-too-casually/

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