The Beatles

English musical group. They reached the top of the charts not only because of their music but also because of their image, a source of inspiration and a reflection, at different times and in different ways, of the youth culture of the 1960s and 1970s. Originally from Liverpool, John Lennon (1940-1980), Ringo Starr (1940), Paul McCartney (1942) and George Harrison (1943-2001) dressed like kids from the outskirts of town in the 1950s: leather jackets and black T-“shirts in the style of Gene Vincent. It was the photographer Astrid Kircherr, German girlfriend of Stuart Sutcliffe (a musician who was briefly associated with the group), who recognized the necessity of a more coordinated image for the band. In Hamburg, during a tour in 1960, she cut all the band members’ hair, creating the famous moptop, a sort of helmet of hair with thick bangs, which made them istantly recognizable. A few years later — the Beatles were by now well advanced along the road to fame — their manager Brian Epstein decided to coordinate that image further. He called Dougie Millings, a show biz tailor, and asked him to create for them a modern but not excessively non-conformist look. In 1963 the Beatles began wearing what would become their uniform: Pierre Cardin-style jackets, with a tailored cut, but without collars, cigarette pants, narrow Edwardian style ties, and ankle boots with Cuban heels. Thus adorned, in 1964 they went on tour in the United States and their look had an immediate impact on fashion (as did that of their girlfriends, who wore Mary Quant miniskirts). In the second half of the 1960s, the image of the Beatles changed, keeping pace with the major changes in the youth culture of the times, especially marked by the antiwar political struggle and the terrible advent of drugs. Some of the songs that emerged were Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds (L.S.D.) and All You Need Is Love (Peace, not war in Vietnam) both from 1967. And so we see their new wardrobe: a hippy psychedelic style, bell bottom jeans, kaftans, embroideries and beads, long and unkempt hair. The image, however, was always well coordinated: the band always got its clothes from popular tailors and designers, such as Tommy Nutter or The Fool, and from the most exclusive boutiques.