Who (& wtf) are the 60s Dolly Girls
60s Dolly Girls was a fashion trend when girls would dress up in childrens-style clothing. Discover the trend and find out how to pull it off in the 2020s.
Any fashionable adult woman I know would rather wear a bra made out of wet sponges than be seen shopping for themselves in the children’s section of a clothes store. Yet, in the ’60s, wearing a dress designed for a 6-year-old would be considered trés chic.
Cute, girly dresses, pastels and frills were on-trend. Dolly Girls were claiming back their feminity and getting in touch with their “cute” side.
Who Are The 60s Dolly Girls?
There were many well-known Dollys in the 60s who helped popularise this style like Pattie Boyd. Discover Pattie’s Dolly Girl Style by clicking here.
There was also Britt Ekland, Twiggy and Jean Shrimpton. They all fluttered their black batwing lashes from underneath their beauty queen hairdos.
Even though you could spot a Dolly on the street in the swinging sixties, you couldn’t tell where they were going or who they were listening to. The dolly girl look was a fashion trend, favoured by mod girls and Carnaby Street shoppers.
What did they look like?
Mods began wearing heavy Bambi-eye make up with more than one strip of fake eyelashes.
They had matte pale lips, a light dusting of raspberry blusher and a sprinkle of freckles. Their hair would be teased and placed in bunches or framed with a bow.
Soon they didn’t resemble mods anymore but their own look -adult children. And it looked super cute.
They paired their daring mini skirts with coloured tights and peter pan collars. Gingham, crochet and A-Line shapes were all part of creating that dolly look.
If you wanna learn more about the Dolly Girls & sixties fashion, check out my book How To Dress Like It’s The Sixties!
4 Comments
Great article, I love and wear 60s fashion but I wanted to add that the Japanese lolita fashion you mentioned was actually started in the same vein as dolly style. Women were sick of the male gaze and they wanted to dress for themselves and embrace femininity without being viewed in a sexual way. Most people who wear lolita fashion can say that it is feminist af!
Great article, but I wanted to add that the Japanese lolita fashion you mentioned was actually started in the same vein as dolly style. Women were sick of the male gaze and they wanted to dress for themselves and embrace femininity without being viewed in a sexual way. People who wear it can agree it’s feminist af!
Hi, this is exactly the style advice I’ve been looking for! thanks so much for writting these! but what do you mean “dodgy reasons lolita style caught on in japan”? because everything I’ve researched says it has similar origins to this dolly style. I’m just curious about where you learned that.
Hiya! Thanks for pointing this out. When I was researching this post I read that Lolita fashion was based on trying to look like a child and that’s why it was named after the book. But thinking about it now, I’m sure there’s a million different reasons for someone wearing the style other than what I read. Who am I to say? I don’t think I personally know enough about Lolita style to make a statement like that so I’ve removed it! xx