How the Fashions of the 1960s Reflected Social Change

In the 1960s, the fashion world turned "topsy-turvy," as TIME noted in 1967. Nearly every aspect of that revolutionary decade, from the civil-rights movement to the space race, was somehow reflected in the clothing worn by American women.

The book Mod New York: Fashion Takes a Trip, which is being released in coordination with a show of the same name at the Museum of the City of New York (opening Wednesday), takes a look at the influences behind and lasting influence of American fashion in the years between 1960 and 1973. As this sampling of photos shows, fashion's reach was broad, stretching all the way to the White House.

As the book notes, for a long time before this period, American fashion hadn't actually been all that American. High fashion, after all, was synonymous with France. But during World War II, when trade and communication with Paris grew more difficult, French designers' counterparts in New York City stepped up. By 1960, as John and Jacqueline Kennedy — whose personal style was often drawn from French influences — floated into the White House with an aura of American youth, the idea of truly American fashion was not so far-fetched.