Portraits of Priscilla Presley With Her Very Big Hair From the 1960s

High, black and tumbling down – Priscilla Presley rocked one of the biggest bouffants we’ve seen.

Hailed as the Queen of Rock and Roll — Elvis was her husband, after all! — the beautiful and enigmatic Priscilla Presley left her indelible mark on the American cultural landscape throughout the 1960s and ’70s.

With her signature babydoll eyeliner, massive bouffant ‘do and ultra-glamorous take on Mod fashion, Priscilla’s signature look is at once completely singular, yet emblematic of the era’s decadent rock-and-roll-meets-Hollywood lifestyle. In fact, Priscilla’s instantly-recognizable 1960s look is so iconic that it continues to show its influence on today’s pop culture, think Lana Del Rey’s LA-glam look — flicked eyeliner and perennially “done” hair — and myriad lyrical references to the King of Rock and Roll, himself.

Beyond Priscilla’s role as rock-star-wife, she’s also gone on to pursue a string of business ventures — including launching her own fashion line — and a career in acting, that saw her signature 1960s look transform with the times.

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Photos of Ladies Wearing Cat-Eye Glasses in the 1950s and ’60s

First created in the 1930s, cat-eye glasses are one style that has stood the test of time. Nearly a century old, the cat-eye has managed to create its own distinct look each decade.

The frame later became a huge trend for sunglasses in the 1960s when Audrey Hepburn famously wore them in the film Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Since then, we’ve seen the cat-eye on everyone from Barbie, to Marilyn Monroe, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and today’s top fashion influencers.

Cat eye glasses were mainly popular in the 1950s and 1960s among women and are often associated with the Beehive hairstyle and other looks of the period.

A set of vintage photos that shows ladies wearing cat-eye glasses in the 1950s and 1960s.

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35 Cool Photos Show the 1960s Women’s Hairstyles

The 1960s saw the onset of a counterculture revolution, with accepted social norms in every realm from music to film to fashion being challenged and re-written. And Hair in the 1960s saw a lot of diversity. Styles were influenced by the working classes, music, independent cinema, and social movements.

Without a hat to call attention to a woman’s head, 1960s hairstyles became a new focus for women in the Space Age. The bouffant look teased hair to new heights — literally. The flip, popular with teens, added the youthful girly look to the salon offerings. Short ’20s inspired bobs with guiche curls kissed her cheeks for another doll-like look.

Hair length rose from shoulder to chin to cropped above the ears as the decade progressed, only to come crashing down again in the ’70s. In all, 1960s hairstyles took a wild ride ending with the natural look to kick of the 1970s.

Here below is a set of cool vintage photos that shows what hairstyles of women looked like in the 1960s.

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Beautiful Girls in New York City, 1944

In 1944, Alfred Eisenstaedt photographed a group of fashionable ladies in front of Rockefeller Center. The series photo called “Beautiful Girls in New York City.”

World War II had a big impact on the lives of ordinary citizens. There was a shortage of fabrics and the economy was shrinking, which caused a lot of people to end up in poverty. Since fabrics were scarce, clothing of the 1940s women style was simple, but still costly.

Most of the women’s fashions during the 1940s were designed with small waist, and skirt above the knee. Do-it-yourself home fashions were encouraged, and women were educated on how to conserve material or update older dresses to the latest fashions. Again, these fashions reflected the style of the utility clothes.

20 Rarely Seen Photos of a Very Young Audrey Hepburn in the 1940s

Audrey Hepburn (May 4, 1929 – January 20, 1993) has become one of the most enduring screen icons of the 20th century. She had magical screen presence, was a shrine to good taste and in her later years became a crusader for children’s rights.

In 1935, when Audrey was only six years old, her parents were divorced, an event that had a profound effect on her. In her early school years she lived in England with her mother. After the outbreak of World War II, in 1939, her mother decided to move back to her native country, the Netherlands because it was neutral. She assumed the Netherlands would remain neutral as it had been during the First World War.

Unfortunately, the following year, on May 10, 1940, the Netherlands was invaded by the Nazi Germans and the family consisting of Audrey, her mother, and her two half-brothers from a previous marriage were forced to endure the hardships of the five-year Nazi occupation of the country. During the German occupation Hepburn suffered from malnutrition, which would permanently affect her weight. During the last year of the war the family was caught in the cross fire of the battle of Arnhem, and along with the rest of the population, caught in the middle of a ferocious battle, was fortunate to escape with their lives.

Audrey’s birth name was Audrey Kathleen Hepburn-Rushton. Her mother changed her name to Edda during the war because she felt the name Audrey, being English, could prove to be a problem with the occupiers during the war. After the war Audrey again assumed her birth name, and later she adopted the now famous stage and screen name of Audrey Hepburn for the rest of her life.

After the war, in 1945, when Audrey was 15 years old, the family moved to London, England, where Audrey began to study dance on a ballet scholarship. She was graceful, slender and long-legged and soon began winning modeling assignment from fashion photographers. These are 20 vintage photographs of a very young Audrey Hepburn during the 1940s:

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Fascinating Women’s Fashion Styles From 1971 France

While seventies fashions already were pushing the envelope – the French added their own brand of flair, and the results were off-the-charts dynamite.

Take a look through a handful of gorgeous fashion pages taken from 1971 French fashion magazines that demonstrate the high-water-mark in groovy garments:

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Elvis Presley Haircut Fever Among Young Ladies of Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1957

In 1957 the top-selling single in America was Elvis Presley’s “All Shook Up,” and the top hairstyle in Grand Rapids, Michigan was a tribute to the man who sang it. America was so wild for Elvis at this time that when the singer made his debut on the Ed Sullivan Show, 82.6 percent of America’s televisions were tuned in. Glenwood Dodgson, who operated a chain of beauty salons in Grand Rapids, read the market and began offering women an Elvis hairdo. He knew what he was doing.

In six weeks more than 1,000 women came to Dodgson’s shops and had themselves made over in the image of Elvis. The makeover cost the not-outrageous price of $1.50 (which would be about $14 today).

The group photograph here shows that there was some variety in the hairdo approach. While every woman was given Elvis’ sideburns, each took a different tack to the forehead locks, and some went all the way and dyed their hair black.

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Vintage Photos of Glenn Close in the ‘80s

Glenn Close is an American actress and producer. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including three Primetime Emmy Awards, three Tony Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards. She has also been nominated eight times for an Academy Award, holding the record for the most acting nominations without a win (tied with Peter O'Toole).

Close began her professional career on stage in 1974 with Love for Love and was mostly a New York stage actress until the early 1980s. Her work included Broadway productions of Barnum in 1980 and The Real Thing in 1983, for which she won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. Her film debut came in The World According to Garp (1982), which was followed by supporting roles in the films The Big Chill (1983) and The Natural (1984); all three earned her nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Close went on to establish herself as a Hollywood leading lady with roles in Fatal Attraction (1987) and Dangerous Liaisons (1988), both of which earned her nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

Take a look at the actress in the ‘80s through 28 stunning vintage portraits:

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Stunning Fashion Photography by Richard Rutledge in the 1950s

In the years following World War II, Condé Nast had a grand photography studio in the Graybar Building in midtown Manhattan. It was stocked with the latest equipment, and a stable of photographers and assistants cranking out fashion spreads, portraits, and product still lifes. One of those studio photographers, Richard Rutledge, is relatively unknown to us today, but for a 15-year period following the war he was one of the most frequently published photographers in Vogue, Glamour, and House & Garden.

Fashion photography by Richard Rutledge in the 1950s

Rutledge, who died in Paris one week prior to his 62nd birthday, in the autumn of 1985, might have been called a ‘utility player’ had he been a baseball player instead of a photographer. He was comfortable shooting in black and white or color; in the studio or outdoors; with SLR or 8×10 plate; fashion, portraits, travel, still life—it was all the same to him. In his own words, he found darkroom work ‘a chore’, what he liked best were the results.

While Rutledge’s black-and-white work is accomplished, his color work stands above. The color films used during Rutledge’s day have an incredible depth that, when combined with his skillful compositions, produce shockingly modern results. He preferred animated and natural expressions on models, and often used playful banter to coax the person from behind the model’s façade. He also seems to have had a fondness for red; the color is incorporated into nearly every shot.

These stunning color photos are part of his work that Richard Rutledge took portraits of classic beauties in the 1950s.

Dovima wearing a brown flannel suit with a red velvet collar, matching felt hat with grosgrain band of red and blue silk twill scarf, 1951

Model wearing a brown and white window pane plaid flannel shirt and a brown wool twill skirt, 1951

Evelyn Tripp wearing a necklace of reversed seed-cowl pearls, 1952

Model is wearing a sheer pink shirtwaist blouse and a bell-shaped skirt by Nelly de Grab, 1952

Model is wearing a slim tweed coat, a matching skirt with a single walking pleat, and wool jersey blouse with neckline tie, matching gloves and raspberry cloche hat, 1952

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