I have loved 1960s fashion since I was child, when I found a copy of Joel Lobenthal’s book Radical Rags: Fashions of the Sixties at my local library. More than a decade later, I wrote my master’s thesis on the French yé-yé singers and style icons, Françoise Hardy and Sylvie Vartan. I was also working as an intern at The Museum at FIT during that time, and just beginning to explore the museum’s vast collections of clothing and accessories. I was excited to discover that these included excellent examples of work by designers associated with the yé-yé movement, such as André Courrèges, Emmanuelle Khanh, Sonia Rykiel, and Yves Saint Laurent.

Paris Refashioned, 1957-1968, on view at The Museum at FIT through April 15, 2017, features work from these designers and many more. Although my past research on the fashions of the yé-yé girls was important to this project, the exhibition takes a larger perspective, emphasizing the shift within the 1960s fashion industry from the unassailable dominance of the haute couture to the newfound influence of ready-to-wear.

This blog runs concurrently with the exhibition, and will provide information on specific objects, press, and other exhibition-related media that will familiarize you with this especially dynamic, eleven-year period in French fashion.

–Colleen Hill, curator of costume and accessories at The Museum at FIT

Balenciaga and Givenchy
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Cardin Evening Gown, circa 1957
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