Youthquake

Youthquake was a 1960s cultural movement. The term was coined by Vogue magazine's editor-in-chief Diana Vreeland in 1965. Youthquake involved music and pop culture, and it changed the landscape of the fashion industry. The movement is characterized by looking to youth culture for a source of inspiration, taking dominance away from the English and Parisian couture houses. Emergence With the massive market of "baby boomers" coming into young adulthood, this generation challenged the norms of the past and were successful due to their large population. Women's economic, sexual, and social independence is seen as a catalyst that caused the many to reject the idealized femininity of the 1950s. In England, the emerging generation was bored of the couture houses' conservative designs and instead looked to boutiques to reinvent their style. This was a time in society when teenagers were able to explore their own identities and had the freedom to push boundaries due to post-World War II conditions. The boutique saw the start of the London ready-to-wear industry as people flocked for mass-produced clothing at a lower price point than its predecessors. Mary Quant, often credited for inventing the mini-skirt, was a leader in the boutique movement and attributed her primary source of inspiration to the street style of the youth. Boutiques Biba, Bazaar and Paraphernalia housed talent like Betsey Johnson and Emmanuelle Khanh and utilized mass-production to fill their shops with the latest trends. These boutiques were key players in London and the US as they were the first to cater specifically to the youth market with a modern approach: "clothes displayed like art in a gallery, cooler-than-thou young salesgirls, and rock and roll blaring from the speakers—shops that marketed clothes as part of a whole, deliriously amusing lifestyle". The Scott Paper Company took advantage of mass-production and created disposable chemise dresses out of their patented Dura-Weave paper. Mass-production gave Scott the ability to print a diverse assortment of eye-catching patterns and Pop Art inspired motifs that appealed to the youth consumer.