Ever since WWII ended in the 1940′s, Hawaiian print shirts, sarong dresses, and tropical flowers have been popular fashion wear. Men and Women of the late 1950′s and early 1960′s hosted pool side “Tiki” parties complete with tropical drinks with little pink umbrella’s. Restaurants and dance halls picked up on the fad and held tropical themed dances with lounge style musicians.
The hit AMC series Mad Men, set in the early 1960′s, didn’t feature Hawaiian clothing in the series but the show did start a major revival of vintage 1950′s and early 1960′s clothing. From sexy pencil dresses and circle skirts for the ladies to slim cut suits for the men there were plenty of great clothes to wear.
Women’s 1950′s-1960′s Clothing
Women’s dresses had two main shapes. Full circle skirts- ie 50′s house dresses and the very narrow pencil shape dresses associated with the “Cocktail,” “Bombshell” or “Pin up” girl that is VERY popular today. The only difference between 50′s clothes and Hawaiian tiki style is the material and colors. Tropical print fabrics were used to make full circle and pencil shape dresses. The sarong style dress is one style that was made almost exclusively with tropical print fabrics. Colors were bright pinks, greens, and blues all fit for a summer poolside party.
With the popularity of the 50′s fashion revival there any many vintage or vintage reproduction clothing choices online. For vintage items I recommend looking through ebay.com, etsy.com or rubylane.com. For vintage reproduction clothes be sure to check out my 1950′s and 1960′s/mad men clothing pages as well as all of these great sites:
The 1950′s Hawaiian Sarong
www.whirlingturban.com
www.whirlingturban.com Great collection of reproduction 1950′s Sarong style Tiki dresses.
www.thehanashirtco.com - Vintage dresses and Hawaiian shirts from the 40s-80′s.
Full Circle 1950′s Hawaiian Dresses
www.bluevelvetvintage.com
www.bluevelvetvintage.com Many reproduction Hawaiian 50′s dress
www.tias.com Vintage 50′s and 60′s dresses, pant suits and play suits
Cocktail/Pencil dresses- Mad Men Dresses
www.pinupgirlclothing.com
www.queenofheartz.com- mix of 50′s inspired cocktail dresses.
www.stopstaringclothing.com Both pencil and full circle styles. I first learned of Stop Starring Clothing on the Queen Mary during the 2008 vintage dance week. They are very high quality and come in plus sizes too.
www.pinupgirlclothing.com- Many varieties of reproduction 50′s dresses as well as Joanie’s dress from Mad Men.
www.chicstar.com - Affordable 1950′s inspired cocktail dresses.
Make Your Own Dress:
www.barkclothhawaii.com Carries Hawaiian Bark cloth, cotton and rayon print fabrics.
www.sovintagepatterns.com Pattern for a 1950′s sarong style dress
McCalls Retro patterns include a few circle dresses. Vintage Vogue carries some high end options. New Look caries easy to make vintage styles.
Have a Dress Made for you
1954 Hawaiian Sarong dress Custom made by violavintage (Etsy)
Accessories
www.hairflowers.net - Has charming orchid flowers clips for your hair.
Mens 1950′s and 1960′s Clothing
A Hawaiian shirt and pair of khaki pants are all that’s need for a 1950′s lounge look. For the 1960′s mad men look all you need is a sharp narrow fitted suit with narrow lapels, skinny tie, and a fedora hat. Make sure you wear a white french cuff shirt with your suit and add a pair of snazzy cuff links.
Check out How to Dress Like Mad Men Don Draper, and then shop at the 1950′s Mens and 1960′s Mad Men shopping pages to get started.
Hawaiian Shirts
www.vintage-aloha-shirt.com Love this site. Carries real vintage Hawaiian shirts.
www.thehanashirtco.com Many vintage Hawaiian shirts. Very $$$
Mad Men Suits
Ties – Skinny ties abound at ties.com and beautiesltd. Or find a fun Hawaiian striped bow tie or Tiki tie.
Fedora Hat- You can’t be a mad men without a nice Fedora hat. Villagehatshop has dozens to choose from.
More…..
Here are some Mad Men Dresses and Clothing I’ve found online:
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