During the highlight of the Pop Art movement in the 1960's disposable clothing became quite the rage. Paper dresses were sold commercially (Kimberly Clark used this as a marketing campaign and even sold 50,000 disposable dresses for id="blog_post".25 each) - and some originals can still be found today, although most are now art objects and not worn.
Creating clothing from alternative material has always fascinated me. I don't dabble in sewing many garments in things other than some sort of cloth, but I've been tempted to create something similar to the 1960's fad. There are lots of exhibits available for inspiration such as Annette Meyer's historical reproductions and Jennifer Coullier's paper clothing and accessories. But, your imagination doesn't have to end with paper - there are lots of other materials to work with! Take this gorgeous ballgown made of plastic, costumes made from balloons, and evening wear made from discarded dryer sheets (even Project Runway had an episode devoted to using recycled materials into clothing).

  

Crazy, Man: 1960s Pop and the Paper Dress

By Rebecca Kasemeyer, Former Curator

The paper dress craze began in March 1966 with a coupon printed on packages of Scott paper towels, toilet paper, and napkins. Customers who mailed in a dollar received a "Paper Caper" sleeveless shift in red paisley or a black and white Op Art design. Within six months Scott Paper Co. had sold over 500,000 dresses, causing a sensation in the press. Other manufacturers scrambled to produce their own disposable dresses, hats,bikinis, and playsuits, most of which sold for a few dollars in department and drug stores. Designers offered boutique versions for substantially more.

Disposable clothes were a perfect match for the deadpan, absurdist humor of the Pop Art movement. Painter James Rosenquist wore a brown paper suit as a droll critique of throw-away culture. Such critiques, however, had little impact on the cheerful outrageousness of disposable clothing. Andy Warhol promoted Mars Manufacturing Co.'s paint-your-own dress, complete with paint kit, and the Beatles wore paper suits for a 1966 appearance in Los Angeles. Advertisers fromTime Magazine to Campbell's Soup were quick to print their logos on paper dresses.

Throw-away clothing evoked a futuristic world of automated convenience, with fashions that changed at the speed of light. It also underscored the light-hearted sex appeal of 1960s fashion. Paper dresses could easily be cut as short as one dared, and their flimsy appearance lent immense erotic cachet. Although they were treated for fire- and water-resistance and surprisingly sturdy, paper dresses required wearers to be constantly on guard against lit cigarettes, spilled cocktails, sudden showers and other hazards. Easy-care didn't necessarily mean easy-going.

EXHIBITION GALLERY

The Death of the Disposable Dress

Styles changed with breathtaking speed in the 1960s, but the demise of the disposable dress wasn't simply due to fashion. After all, paper and nonwovens can be made into almost any style. In a sense, the mid-'60s disposable mini-dress was too successful. When fashion decreed that the mini was out, the novelty of disposable fabrics was 'out' by association.

It didn't help that the next big thing was the antithesis of synthetic wastebasket dresses. The flowing, romantic clothes of the late '60s and early '70s were inspired by the hippies' passion for vintage and traditional ethnic garments--and their preference for natural fibers.

The real death knell for disposable clothing, however, was the environmental crisis. Concern about pollution and waste reached a new high in 1969, fueled by searing images of a massive oil spill off Santa Barbara and chemical slicks burning on Ohio's Cuyahoga River. Disposable dresses suddenly seemed downright irresponsible. By 1970 they had virtually disappeared from the market.

Today disposable garments have reverted to their original role as protective work garments. Ironically, over the past decade artists and sixties-enthusiasts have revived the do-it-yourself paper garment, and custom-made paper wedding dresses are being offered as environmentally friendly alternatives for unsentimental brides. Biodegradable paper yarns and upholstery fabrics are
currently available as well, often made with recycled content and 'green' production methods.

Space-Age Fabrics for the Swinging Sixties

A brief, intense fad for paper dresses swept through American fashion from 1966 to '69. Mod, daring, and fun, disposable clothes captured the anything-goes spirit of 1960s youth culture. The ultimate in easy care, they also represented freedom from household drudgery. "It's right for our age," designer Jacques Tomlin pronounced in 1966. "After all, who'll do laundry in outer space?"

Disposable 'fabric' was a logical step for the paper industry. Throw-away crepe paper costumes had been popular since the 1890s, and by WWI crepe paper hospital garments were in limited use. By the 1920s, paper towels and tissues had begun replacing cloth towels and handkerchiefs as well.

The real breakthrough in durability came in 1942, when American Cyanamid Co. developed "wet-strength" maps for the military by impregnating paper with melamine. In the early '50s, researchers at the Institute for Paper Chemistry in Appleton, Wisconsin, were working on a similar product for Kimberly-Clark Co. This four-ply paper, strengthened with plastic and reinforced with nylon thread, was intended for protective garments used in hospitals, labs, and factories. Dubbed "Kaycel," it became the most widely used paper for disposable clothing.

When the unexpected demand for paper dresses ex-ceeded supply in 1967, nonwoven fabrics swiftly entered the disposable fashion market. These new fabrics, created by fusing synthetic fibers with heat, pressure, and/or binders like rubber, thermoplastics, and resins, had been in development since the 1930s. Today synthetic non-wovens dominate the market for protective garments. But in their salad days, they shared the stage with paper as throw-away party dresses.a hunt