Bohemian style of '50s recalled

Dr Jane Malthus was just a child in the 1950s, but grew up to study the decade's fashion and give...
Dr Jane Malthus was just a child in the 1950s, but grew up to study the decade's fashion and give a talk about it at the Toitu Otago Settlers' Museum in Dunedin. Photos supplied.
Cecilie Geary, author and former fashion writer, was a young woman in the 1950s.
Cecilie Geary, author and former fashion writer, was a young woman in the 1950s.

The ''euphoria'' of a 1950s post-war fashion revolution was recalled amid hoots of laughter at the Toitu Otago Settlers' Museum yesterday.

The recollections came as two Dunedin women - former fashion writer Cecilie Geary and Otago Polytechnic design school senior lecturer Dr Jane Malthus - co-presented on the topic.

The two women were speaking to an audience of about 50 people, mainly women who were fashion-conscious in the '50s.

Their talks interwove fashion trends with contemporaneous politics, cultural norms and personal anecdotes.

All over the world, Dr Malthus said, the 1950s were ''the start of a lot of societal changes'', and that showed up in the fashion of the time.

''There was euphoria about the end of the war, and a real breakdown of etiquette.''

However, in New Zealand, practical considerations still had a big impact on what people wore.

''As wartime restrictions eased up, more fabrics could be imported,'' Dr Malthus said.

''But there was still the reality of [New Zealand's physical] distance, and the reality of import restrictions.''

There was a lag between what people saw in the press and in magazines and what they could purchase.

''That probably still happens,'' she added.

Ms Geary recalled wearing a black turtleneck, black pants, and black ballet flats in the fifties in the ''bohemian intellectual'' style popular at the time.

''I also wore spectacles, but with non prescription lenses, because I didn't need them,'' she said, with a small smile.

''I thought I looked more intellectual!''Dr Malthus also conceded that what Kiwi women wore on the streets did not always reflect what was printed in magazines - and not just because of the import restrictions of the time.

''[Tall poppy syndrome] probably did have an impact,'' she said.

''Maybe that idea of not wanting to be conspicuous is ingrained.''

That had probably not changed much over the past half-century, which was something Dr Malthus said she could relate to.

She has a sleeveless coat, made by one of her students, that is ''outrageous'' and while she loves it, she does not wear it often.

''You have to be brave to wear outrageous things,'' she said.

-carla.green@odt.co.nz

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