The swinging decade gets its due this summer at the History Museum of Mobile, where a new exhibit traces how 1960s fashion mirrored one of America’s most turbulent eras.
“Sensational Sixties: Fashions from a Defining Decade” opened May 31, 2019, and runs through Aug. 18, showcasing everything from haute couture to hippie styles from the museum’s collection and beyond.
Curators use clothing as an entry point into the politics and culture of the decade: bikinis named for an atomic testing site, trousers tied to the rise of feminism, and mod materials inspired by the space race all make appearances, showing how style absorbed the social revolutions happening around it.
Museum director Meg Fowler joined Stephanie Evans in previewing the exhibit, which gives visitors a chance to see how hemlines and fabrics recorded history as vividly as headlines did.
The exhibit remains open daily through Aug. 18 at the museum in downtown Mobile’s Southern Market/Old City Hall complex.