1960s German Fashions

Mod styles, fur and practical fashion helped define 1960s German fashion. Styles often mimicked western European and American fashions, especially in West Germany and the parts of East Germany where individuals could receive the West German TV that was a breach of the Iron Curtain. Supermodels such as Colleen Corby and German model Veruschka von Lehndorff showcased the mod styles that helped shape the decade.

East German fashion magazine Praktische Mode, meaning practical fashion, showed off comfortable clothes for skiing. The look started with corduroy or velvet trousers, a long-sleeve plaid shirt with a medium-size collar and matching tall winter cap, plus a matching plaid belt with silver belt buckle. A white-wool jacket with buttons down the front and adorning the large pockets and the collar finished off the winter look.

Because Germany enjoyed an age of income growth in the 1960s, boys began favouring stylish, mod clothes such as jeans instead of traditional shorts with long stockings or trousers and suspenders. Even though German boys wanted to wear jeans like Western boys, the change developed slower in Communist Germany. The 1960s mod style made skinny jeans worn with ribbed sweaters popular.

German women wore high-style, fashionable suits in the 1960s. A popular style sported a wool suit with a short jacket with a double-button front panel. The highlight of this 1960s style was the richly appointed fur collar with matching fur hat. German women completed this couture fashion with leather gloves and a sparkling brooch adorning the fur collar.

Fashions in Germany included plain or printed dresses with hems below the knee. Many 1960s dresses sported big white collars, with some including scarfs sewn into the dress attached from the collar. Some dresses were complemented with a narrow belt at the waist comprised of the same material as the dress. These simple dresses sported 3/4 sleeves, and German women wore silk stockings with dressy 1-inch pumps with or without adornments such as buckles or bows.