In the 1950s, as Elvis Presley and James Dean defined American cool with leather jackets and straight-legged jeans, couture designers newly freed of World War II fabric rations sent hourglass silhouettes and swirling, calf-length skirts down the catwalk.
The newfound energy of rock-and-roll set against a backdrop of conservative politics and traditional sexual mores exposed a widening generation gap that was nowhere more evident than in the decade’s evolving fashion trends.
As teenaged girls sock-hopped in poodle skirts, beaded sweater sets and scarf-tied ponytails, their mothers accentuated their own curves with wide shoulders, full skirts, cinched waists and structured undergarments. But 1950s youths were also showing a rebellious side as they turned up in rolled-cuff jeans, skin-tight T-shirts and greasy ducktails.

In 1952 Bonnie Cashin and Philip Sills created a line of  ready-to-wear featuring the use of leather and suede inspired by the traditional attire of the far east.  She created the sensible notion of a layered outfit so the modern traveler of the time would always be prepared regardless of the climate she found herself in.

  Women of the 1950s also favored fitted shorts, boxy jackets and blouses paired with pencil skirts. Curve-hugging styles were sometimes offset by tent-like coats that fit at the shoulders and flared over the waist and hips.
Eveningwear often featured strapless, heart-shaped bodices with full skirts made of pastel tulle and trimmed with ruffles and bows.

The 1960s, that turbulent era in which the Baby Boomers came of age and found a collective voice, influenced some of the most iconic and enduring looks in fashion history.

In the early 1960s, French designer Oleg Cassini created a wardrobe for Jacqueline Kennedy that lent a twist to classic Chanel suiting and popularized pillbox hats, luxurious fabrics and streamlined silhouettes. Meanwhile, Audrey Hepburn donned a Hubert de Givenchy creation in the movie "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and made the little black dress an instant wardrobe staple.

As hemlines rose above the tops of traditional stockings, opaque tights became the norm. Dramatic eye makeup and hair bobs completed the modern look.

The 1960s also blurred the line between art and fashion design, yielding what in many cases looked less like clothing than wearable art. Pacco Rabanne, costume designer for the 1960s classic "Barbarella," brought his jewelry designer's eye to the creation of avant garde garments embellished with geometric shapes of plastic and metal. Pierre Cardin, American designer Rudi Gernreich and Yves Saint Laurent, who became head designer at Christian Dior after Dior's untimely death, are among those who heavily influenced 1960s fashion with androgynous shapes and futuristic details. Pucci contributed pantsuits and headscarves in his trademark psychedelic prints.

Menswear, meanwhile, shifted toward lightweight fabrics and lines cut more closely to the body, while both men and women embraced the emergence of blue jeans and paired them with colorful printed shirts.

The Nehru jacket, a hip-length, unisex coat with a stand-up collar, enjoyed brief popularity as a testament to minimalism and growing awareness of eastern culture. The jacket was modeled on a garment worn by India's prime minister from the mid-1940s through 1964, although the western was shorter and more closely resembled a traditional suit jacket. The look was widely copied after turning up in the wardrobes of musicians including the Monkees and the Beatles.

John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever

Music was a major force in shaping seventies style, from the dreamy sensibility of the singer-songwriter era to the androgynous glam of pop to the fetishism of punk.
Few images are more closely associated with the 1970s than that of John Travolta posed in “Saturday Night Fever,” one hand on a white polyester hip and the other pointing skyward. The 1977 movie ushered in the disco craze along with one of history’s most radical, albeit short-lived, transformations in menswear. Men’s fashion choices broadened from boxy, boring neutrals to colorful leisure suits with broad lapels, flared trousers and white stitching. Women gravitated toward wrap dresses and twirling chiffon skirts tailor-made for the dance floor. Other trends included platform shoes and zippered jumpsuits.
No designer is more closely linked to the decadence of the disco era than Roy Halston Frowick, an American designer known simply as Halston. Halston’s fluid, shoulder-baring designs became synonymous with the international jet set and Studio 54 excess.
Elio Fiorucci, an Italian designer who in the late 1960s had exposed Italian teenagers to American T-shirts and jeans, now brought international trends like Brazilian thongs and Afghan coats to the states. The label was later credited with creating stretch jeans and opening the door for the designer-jean market.
The advent of British punk placed London designer Vivienne Westwood and her partner, Malcolm McLaren, among the most influential fashion designers of the day. The pair’s London boutique, SEX, initially sold rubber and leather fetish wear and later expanded to include ripped jeans, torn leather jackets, spiked-collar jewelry and T-shirts featuring images of serial killers. The designs rose to prominence thanks in part to the Sex Pistols, who McLaren managed and who wore the clothes at gigs.