Life in the Fifties

1950-60 Hairstyles
Popular hairstyles in the 1950s and 60s were the poodle cut and the French pleat and later the 60's beehive.

Dusty Springfield's beehive and eye make up was copied throughout Britain. Lavish back combing was hair sprayed and teased into a high mound. After Dusty Springfield's beehive came the Beatle cut and Vidal Sassoon's five point cut bobbed style. Mary Quant sported a Sassoon haircut A softer fringed haircut followed the Beatles rise to fame and a cover album where all four Beatles wore black polo neck sweaters.

Dusty Springfield and her beehive hairstyle.

Teenage Fashion Idols
American influence on European teenagers was huge. Rock and Roll idols including Elvis Presley, Bill Hayley, Jerry Lee Lewis and film stars James Dean and Marlon Brando set fashions almost unwittingly. The main looks for teenagers were greasers and preppies.

Greasers followed the standard black leather and denim jeans look set by Marlon Brando in the Wild One and later emulated in the 1970's film of the fifties era called Grease. They raced about town on motorbikes and were consider outrageous.

Preppie qualities were neatness, tidiness and grooming. Girls wore full dirndl or circular skirts with large appliqués. The skirts were supported by bouffant paper nylon or net petticoats. On top they wore scoop neck blouses, back to front cardigans, tight polo necks or three quarter sleeve white fitting shirts often with a scarf knotted cowboy fashion at the side neck. These fashions that originated in America filtered to Britain in watered down fashion.

James Dean was a huge Idol	Marilyn Monroe is still a legend
Ricky Nelson was a teenage idol	Elvis Still lives on

Accessories of the 1950s

The pointed pre formed conically stitched bra was actually a fashion accessory as without one the sweater girl look was certainly not right. Fashionable accessories included popper beads and spectacles with enormous wings that arched in twirls upward that could be studded with rhinestones. Fashionable hairstyles began with simple ponytails and ended the decade with complex beehive arrangements.

Bucket bags and raffia bags were useful accessories as winkle picker stiletto shoes were not so comfortable. Often a pair of flat shoes lurked in the bags out of necessity just in case entrance was forbidden. Carpet was not universally used then in buildings and many floors of the period were linoleum or wood tiled and the stilettos indented the tiles easily. The main problem was caused by the stilettos being metal tipped as still somewhat economy conscious after the war British wearers preferred the longer life of steel than rubber tips. Perfumes and make up by Avon became popular and affordable.

The Day The Music Died
On a winter's night, a plane from Clear lake, Iowa had a destination of Fargo, North Dakota. They did not accomplish their goal. When the plane crashed it took with it the lives of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, J.P. "Big Bopper" Richardson and the pilot, Roger Peterson. Three rock and roll stars had died a tragedy.
The Big Bopper known to by fans, was a Texas D.J. He found his fame in 1958 with a famous song. Known to kids as cool or groovy , the song Chantilly Lace. He was known to his friends as Jape. He was killed in the crash.
Ritchie Valenenzula was discovered by Bob Keane in Pacomi, California when he was only sixteen. Keane changed Richie's last name to Valens. In 1958 they recorded the song, Come on Let's Go. Some of his more successful songs were Donna and La Bamba. He was very popular he was even on American Bandstand. He was also killed in the crash.
Charles Hardin "Buddy" Holley and his band The Crickets were popular in the fifties. His last name was changed in spelling to Holly, because of a misspelling on a contract. They had a number one hit in 1957, "That'll Be The Day". This song was followed by "Peggy Sue" and a grand performance on the Ed Sulivan Show. He and his band quit . He moved to New York and got married. I wonder how his wife felt when he was killed.
The tour bus they were all on broke down so they got a four passenger charter flight. The worst decision in their lives. Reportedly, singer Waylon Jennings gave up his seat to "Big Bopper", because he didn't want to spend $35, some say.

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