When costume designer Marion Boyce spotted the elegant citrine-coloured hat by renowned French milliner Jean Patou, she knew she had to have it.
Weekends spent trawling for treasures often meant Marion would walk away with armfuls of ribbons, buckles and clothes from a bygone era.
It’s resulted in an impressive collection of vintage clothing and accessories — one so large it needs its own storage space.
But it was decades before the Patou hat finally had its on-screen moment, when Marion received a call from the team behind ABC TV’s new series Ladies in Black.
Vintage treasures brought to life
Set six months on from Bruce Beresford’s film of the same name, Ladies in Black is a time capsule of classic early 1960s fashion.Â
Set in the ladieswear department of Goodes Department Store in 1961, the Patou hat can be seen on Angela, one of the women selling hats, gloves and dresses to the wealthy women of Sydney.
“I’ve lugged it around my whole life! It was thrilling to be able to use it,” Marion says.
Marion’s keen eye for fashion detail had previously been put to use in TV series Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries and Jocelyn Moorehouse’s film The Dressmaker.
Ladies in Black gave her the opportunity to once again dig into her extensive vintage collection.
“As a costume designer, it was a delicious period because you have the best of the early ’60s, which was really elegant fashion, but then you have the excitement of the youth movement.”
Kitten heels, trousers, pillbox hats and A-line dresses appear throughout the series, and in a testament to their classic appeal, some still appear on runways today.
Dior’s A-line dress
If you’re a woman, chances are you probably own a dress or skirt modelled on the A-line cut.
Narrow and fitted at the top and widening out from the bust or waist in the shape of the letter ‘A’, the style was introduced in 1955 by Christian Dior with the launch of his “A line” collection.
“The [A] shape-shifted from the traditional hourglass silhouette and paved the way for the ‘trapeze’ and ‘chemise’ styles of Balenciaga and Yves Saint Laurent,” says fashion historian Lydia Edwards.
“The easy-wearing nature of this style fit perfectly with the simple mini dress and growing defying of gender convention during the ’60s.”
Rise of androgynous silhouettes
Popularised at a time when women rarely wore pants, Audrey Hepburn ushered in the age of the capri pant while filming the movie Sabrina in 1954.
The style would hang around until the early ’60s and, propelled by women’s desire for mobility, would eventually usher in the more androgynous-shaped pants younger women were beginning to favour.
“Women wanted to move around the world, through space,” says Emily Brayshaw from the University of Technology’s School of Design.
“They wanted to move through their cities, they wanted to dance, and they wanted to have fun.”
For Marion, the ’60s signified brilliant suiting.
“Just think of Jackie Kennedy during that time – matching colours, the perfect hat and the perfect-coloured handbag,” she says.
The cropped jacked, in particular, was a mainstay.
According to Lydia, there is speculation that the cropped, particularly bolero-style, jacket may have come from the French military jacket, the Zouave.
Named after French military units from then-French-colonised North Africa, its cut and fit closely resemble the style of the cropped jacket.
History costume and textile specialist Nicole Jenkins agrees that there is a military link but suggests the jacket was more likely a natural progression of the “ensemble” — a dress with a matching jacket of the same fabric.
“[The ensemble] was invented in the 1930s, perhaps by Norman Hartnell for the queen mother,” says Nicole.
“The dress and jacket were always the same length until the ’50s when they started being more tailored and hourglass … and similar to a suit jacket.
“Into the 1960s, the focus on the cinched waistline shifted to a more androgynous silhouette – the jacket became shorter and boxier, floating above the waistline.”
Pillbox hats and turban chic
The pillbox hat became especially popular in the early 1960s, made famous by American first lady Jackie Kennedy who wore one, by American fashion designer Halston, to her husband’s inauguration.
Emily calls the pillbox hat a “beautiful innovation”.
“It’s eye-catching and the reason it popped is she had this outfit made to wear in Washington in 1961, but apparently eight inches of snow fell and it was freezing cold so the wealthy women wore their big mink fur hats and she stepped out in this small pillbox hat.”
Unsurprisingly, the pillbox hat also has links to military uniforms.
“Its origins are mixed but most often put down to military design over many centuries,” Lydia says.
Hats, like Marion’s yellow hat by Jean Patou, appear throughout Ladies in Black, alongside the turban.
The glamorous wrap, which more recently has appeared on Rhianna, Lady Gaga, Kate Moss and Kylie Minogue, has been appropriated by fashion for decades.
“Turbans were first made widely popular in the 18th century as a part of fashionable Turquerie clothing” Lydia says.
“In the 1910s, [French couturier] Paul Poiret renewed their importance and they became a practical choice during the ’40s.
“This carried on into the ’60s but was glamorised [and] formalised, partly in order to move away from the wartime association.”
Kitten heels and ballet slippers
“Kittens” were worn by teenage girls in training for grown-up stilettos.
“Previously, a girl would have made a very swift transition from flat shoes to adult-heeled shoes, but this marked that intermediary period,” Lydia says.
By the early ’60s, the kitten heel became fashionable for older teenagers, and eventually women of all ages.
“It was a move away from the stiletto of the ’50s — again it’s coming from wanting that ease of movement,” Emily says.
Eventually, the beatnik world would come to view the kitten heel as hurting their freedom of movement and freedom of expression.
And proving fashion is constantly evolving, it would eventually usher in the age of the ballet slipper, allowing women to take even bigger strides.
Stream Ladies in Black anytime on ABC iview or watch on ABC TV, Sundays at 8:30pm.