Swinging London
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Swinging London is a catchall term applied to a variety of dynamic cultural trends in the United Kingdom (centred in London, as the dominant city) in the 1960s.
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[edit] Origin of the term
"Swinging London" was defined by Time magazine in its issue of 15 April 1966, though the term "swinging" (in the sense of "hip" or fashionable) had been used since the early 1960s, including by Norman Vaughan in his "swinging/dodgy" patter as compère of Sunday Night at the London Palladium. In 1965 Diana Vreeland, editor of American Vogue, declared that "London is the most swinging city in the world at the moment" [1] and, later that year, the American singer Roger Miller had a hit record with England Swings, which presented a rather twee picture ("Bobbies on bicycles, two by two") of how maybe some of his compatriots viewed their transatlantic cousins. By 1966 the term was everywhere: in an episode of BBC TV's Adam Adamant Lives!, Adamant (Gerald Harper) was told firmly, "This is London, nineteen sixty-six - the swinging city" [2].
[edit] Features of Swinging London
Much of the phenomenon was youth-oriented and emphasized the new and modern, and amounted to a cultural revolution in the United Kingdom. It was a period of optimism as well as hedonism, as was the sixties in much of the Western world. One of the catalysts was the recovery of the British economy and consumerism from the post World War II period of austerity and rationing which lasted through much of the 1950s. Journalist Christopher Booker, one of the founders of the satirical magazine, Private Eye, that helped to define the early to mid 60s in Britain, recalled (though not fondly) the "bewitching" character of the "Swinging Sixties": "there seemed to be no one standing outside the bubble, and observing just how odd and shallow and egocentric and even rather horrible it was"[3].
[edit] Cultural icons
The period of "Swinging London" notably includes the famous popular music of the period, when the United Kingdom dominated the international industry, but also fashion, photography, film, and the arts (pop art, etc.). Its most prominent symbols were perhaps The Beatles, the literary character James Bond created by novelist Ian Fleming, the Mini-Cooper car (launched in 1959), and Mod fashions, such as the miniskirt, which stimulated the rise of fashionable shopping areas such as Carnaby Street and the King's Road, Chelsea. The British flag, the Union Jack, became a potent symbol, assisted by events such as England's home victory in the football World Cup of 1966.
Along with this, there was one model who created a whole new aspect of fashion in the world: Twiggy, The world's first supermodel, whose look and style became the face of the year of '66 by the UK Press. She greaced the cover of every fashion magazine, and created a new style: 60's Mod, with her stick figure and big eyes. She is called "the Queen of mod" and it is an icon in the "Swinging London" culture.
[edit] Summer of Love
There was no clearly defined "end-point" as the concept of "Swinging London" became generally merged with perceptions of the mid to late sixties. However, in the sense that it is mostly understood, it probably lasted until about the "Summer of Love" of 1967, when musical trends and more Bohemian, "hippie" styles of fashion came to be more closley associated with the American West Coast city of San Francisco, the home of "flower power", than with London. In the UK the Beatles' album Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) was a sign of "moving on".
[edit] Film and TV
The 1966 film Blowup, by Michelangelo Antonioni, both celebrates and mocks the period. Other films of "Swinging London" (which the film historian Leslie Halliwell described as a "myth" [4]), included Alfie (1966), Georgy Girl (1966) and Up the Junction (1967). The period has since been lovingly parodied in the nostalgic/anachronistic Austin Powers films starring Canadian comedian and TV personality Mike Myers. It had, in fact already been the subject of parodies at the time, most notably in the 1967 films Casino Royale and Smashing Time.
Television series that reflected the spirit of "Swinging London" included The Avengers, Adam Adamant Lives! and, in 1969, Take Three Girls (the latter best remembered for Liza Goddard's first starring role and an evocative folk-rock theme song, Light Flight, by Pentangle).
[edit] Notes
- ^ Quoted by John Crosby, Weekend Telegraph, 16 April 1965
- ^ Episode, Beauty is an Ugly Word (1966)
- ^ Christopher Booker (1980) The Seventies
- ^ Halliwell, Filmgoer's Companion (8th edition, 1984)
