Not-so-swinging ‘60s: how the miniskirt destroyed Australian manufacturing

The miniskirt is a mandatory part of any “those were the days” 1960s montage. Somewhere between footage of The Beatles disembarking at JFK Airport and splayed tendrils of white and orange curling through Palm Trees you’ll get a shot of a pixie-cut model with a hemline way above her knees. The miniskirt has become a symbol of the “youthquake” — greater permissiveness in the public square, the liberation of the female body from enforced modesty and passivity, and an explosion of youth-driven counterculture that would define the coming decades.

On a cultural level, of course, much of this is nonsense. As historian Pauline Hastings points out in her talk “The Miniskirt and the Unravelling Rag Trade” — held as part of Melbourne Fashion Week and drawing on research for her PhD — the vast majority of kids in the 1960s, particularly in Australia, didn’t form part of any counterculture movement. They had work in the morning.

As Hastings sketches, what was aimed at young women in the early 1960s was largely “what your mum wears, but smaller”. Gradually, the youthquake found its way to Australian shores, firstly via The Beatles’ visit in 1964 and — more momentously for the purposes of fashion — British model Jean Shrimpton’s then scandalous appearance at Derby day in 1965 wearing a skirt above the knee and no hat. Within days copies of Shrimpton’s dress were appearing in Australian department stores.

Read more about the significance of the miniskirt in Australia’s past.

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