Styling Yourself for RFK in EKY
// The 2004 Performance
Performance Broadsheet · Performance Schedule · Styling for RFK in EKY · Transcripts & Pictures
To reproduce the crowd energy and look for the project, sixties styling was offered at Campton, Whitesburg (during the pancake breakfasts), and Prestonsburg (starting around 3:45 at the Courthouse).
It might also be fun and wise - a devilishly rare combination - to style yourself and your friends and family before you arrive.
Some styling tips by Brooke Stanton:
Although RFK's presidential tour took place in 1968, only people in their 20's or younger would be trendy, the rest of the crowd would look more like early 'sixties.
For the men, pants were flat front (not pleated) and had a slim cut leg (not baggy). Suit jackets had a skinny lapel and ties were also very slim. Cardigan sweaters and straw fedora hats were popular. Men's dress shoes have not changed: lace-ups, wing-tips, or penny loafers. Sneakers (tennis shoes) would only be canvas ones, like Converse classic hi-tops. Farm & hard labor working clothes have not changed all that much (plaid cotton shirts, dungaree overalls, work boots and a plain cap, for example). Young men wore their hair parted far over to one side, like the latest musical fab group, the Beatles. The 'fifties crew cut (flat top) haircut was also still popular (and a must with all military personnel).
For ladies, pants were still not totally acceptable in public. Dresses were generally A-line cut with a knee length hemline. Everyday shoes were flats or pumps with a low heel. Small handbags (preferrably coordinated with your shoes or jacket) were a must. Jackie Kennedy made the Dior suit jacket with a matching skirt fashionable (lovely worn with a pillbox hat and pearls). Cardigan top sets were popular, worn with skirts, bobby socks, and penny loafers or chunky low-heeled Mary-Janes. Hair was either the popular bouffant or a flip (think Condi Rice).
Both sexes wore heavy rimmed glasses (the attractive cat-eye for ladies).
Old yearbooks (either online or dug out of the attic) are a great resource for photos to see how real people dressed.
Look at the pictures from 1968 on this site.
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