Bachelor of Design & Fashion Textile, Historical Contextual References, 1940's Fashion

1. Fashion in 1940’s
Fashion in the years following World War II is characterized by the resurgence of haute couture after
the austerity of the war years. Square shoulders and short skirts were replaced by the soft femininity of
Christian Dior's "New Look" silhouette, with its sweeping longer skirts, fitted waist, and rounded
shoulders, which in turn gave way to an unfitted, structural look in the later 1950s.
Innovations in textile technology following the war resulted in new fabrics such as spandex, volleyball
shorts and easy-care fabric finishes that fitted the suburban lifestyle of the 1950s with its emphasis on
casualsportswear for both men and women. For the first time, teenagers became a force in fashion.
The return offashion
By 1947, the Paris fashion houses had reopened, and once again Paris resumed its position as the arbiter
of high fashion. The "orderly, rhythmic evolution of fashion change"[1]
had been disrupted by the war, and
a new direction was long overdue. The padded shoulder, tubular, boxy line, and short skirt ( that had been
around since before the war and was identified with uniforms) was gone.[2]
A succession of style trends
led by Christian Dior and Cristóbal Balenciaga defined the changing silhouette of women's clothes
through the 1950s. Television joined fashion magazines and movies in disseminating clothing styles.[1][3]
The new silhouette had narrow shoulders, a cinched waist, bust emphasis, and longer skirts, often with
wider hems.[2]
Casual clothing and teenage style
One result of the Post-World War II economic expansion was a flood of synthetic fabrics and easy-care
processes. "Drip-dry" nylon, orlon and dacron, which could retain heat-set pleats after washing, became
immensely popular.[4]
Acrylic, polyester, triacetate and spandex were all introduced in the 1950s.[5]
During the 1940s nylon stockings were an incredibly popular product as they were a lightweight
alternative to silk and wool stockings. For the duration of WW2 the Du Pont company produced nylon
exclusively for the war effort. At the end of 1945 the demand for nylon stockings was so great that Nylon
riots ensued at stores selling the products. [6][7][8]
Miss America contestant Yolande Betbeze wears the co-ed's uniform of a short-sleeve sweater and pencil
skirt, with high heels, 1950.
Social changes went hand-in-hand with new economic realities, and one result was that many young
people who would have become wage-earners early in their teens before the war now remained at home
and dependent upon their parents through high school and beyond, establishing the notion of the teenage
years as a separate stage of development.[5]
Teens and college co-eds adopted skirts and sweaters as a
virtual uniform, and the American fashion industry began to target teenagers as a specialized market
segment in the 1940s.[9]
In the United Kingdom, the Teddy boys of the post-war period created the "first truly independent
fashions for young people",[5]
favouring an exaggerated version of the Edwardian-flavoured British
fashion with skinny ties and narrow, tight trousers worn short enough to show off garish socks.[5]
In North
America, greasers had a similar social position. Previously, teenagers dressed similarly to their parents,
but now a rebellious and different youth style was being developed.
Young adults returning to college under the G.I. Bill adopted an unpretentious, functional wardrobe, and
continued to wear blue jeans with shirts and pullovers for general informal wear after leaving school.[10]
Jack Kerouac introduced the phrase "Beat Generation" in 1948, generalizing from his social circle to
characterize the underground, anti-conformist youth gathering in New York at that time. The term
"beatnik" was coined by Herb Caen of the San Francisco Chronicle in 1958,[11]
and the stereotypical
"beat" look of sunglasses, berets,black turtlenecks, and unadorned dark clothing provided another fashion
alternative for youths of both sexes,encouraged by the marketing specialists of Madison Avenue.
Womens wear
The NewLook
Lisa Fonssagrives in an tailored suit features a long pencil skirt and a fitted jacket with peplum.
Photograph by Toni Frissell for Harper's Bazaar,London, 1951

2. Ball gown by Dior, silk taffeta, 1954. Indianapolis Museum of Art.
Natalie Wood (center,with Tab Hunter) and Louella Parsons wear ballerina-length evening gowns at the
Academy Awards,1956.
On February 12, 1947, Christian Dior launched the first collection of the House of Dior. The new
collection went down in fashion history as the "New Look". The signature shape was characterized by a
below-mid-calf length, full-skirt, pointed bust, small waist, and rounded shoulder line.[12]
Resisted at first,
especially in America, where fashion magazines showed padded shoulders until 1950,[1]
the radical new
silhouette soon became immensely popular, influencing fashion and other designers for many years to
come. The "softness" of the New Look was deceptive; the curved jacket peplum shaped over a high,
rounded, curved shoulders, and full skirt of Dior's clothes relied on an inner construction of new
interlining materials to shape the silhouette.[13][14]
This silhouette has drastically changed from its previous
more masculine, stiff, triangular shape to a much more feminine form.[15]
Throughout the post-war period, a tailored, feminine look was prized and accessories such as gloves and
pearls were popular. Tailored suits had fitted jackets with peplums, usually worn with a long, narrow
pencil skirt. Day dresses had fitted bodices and full skirts, with jewel or low-cut necklines or Peter Pan
collars. Shirtdresses, with a shirt-like bodice, were popular, as were halter-top sundresses. Skirts were
narrow or very full, held out with petticoats; poodle skirts were a brief fad. Ball gowns (full-skirted gown
for white tie occasions) were longer than ankle-length dresses (called "ballerina length"), reaching the
floor and worn to balls (as they are today). Cocktail dresses,"smarter than a day dress but not as formal as
a dinner or evening dress"[16]
were worn for early-evening parties. Short shrugs and bolero jackets, often
made to match low-cut dresses,were worn.[17][18]
Clothes for the space age
From the mid-1950s, a new unfitted style of clothing appeared as an alternative to the tight waist and full
skirt associated with the New Look. Vogue Magazine called the knitted chemise the "T-Shirt dress."Paris
designers began to transform this popular fashion into haute couture.[19]
Spanish designer Balenciaga had
shown unfitted suits in Paris as early as 1951 and unfitted dresses from 1954. In 1958, Yves Saint
Laurent, Dior's protégé and successor,debuted the "Trapeze Line," adding novel dimension to the
chemise dress. These dresses featured a shaped bodice with sloping shoulders and a high waist, but the
signature shape resulted from a flaring bodice, creating a waistless line from bodice to knees.[20]
These
styles only slowly gained acceptance by the wider public.[21][22]
Coco Chanel made a comeback in 1954
and an important look of the latter 1950s was the Chanel suit,with a braid-trimmed cardigan-style jacket
and A-line skirt. By 1957, most suits featured lightly fitted jackets reaching just below the waist and

3. shorter, narrower skirts. Balenciaga's clothes featured few seams and plain necklines, and following his
lead chemise dresses without waist seams,either straight and unfitted or in a princess style with a slight
A-line, became popular. The sleeveless, princess-line dress was called a skimmer.[21][23]
A more fitted
version was called a sheath dress.
A popular style of brassiere for women during the 1950s was the "bullet bra", where cups were pointed in
a conical shape.[24][25][26]
This brassiere design was popularized by actresses like Patti Page,Marilyn
Monroe, and Lana Turner, who was nicknamed the "Sweater Girl".[27]
Sportswear
New York had become an American design center during the war, and remained so, especially for
sportswear,in the post-war period.[28]
Women who had worn trousers on war service refused to abandon
these practical garments which suited the informal aspects of the post-war lifestyle. Casualsportswear
was an increasingly large component of women's wardrobes. Casualskirts were narrow or very full. In
the 1950s, pants became very narrow, and were worn ankle-length. Pants cropped to mid-calf were
houseboy pants; shorter pants,to below the knee, were called pedal-pushers.Shorts were very short in the
early '50s, and mid-thigh length Bermuda shorts appeared around 1954 and remained fashionable through
the remainder of the decade. Loose printed or knit tops were fashionable with pants or shorts. They also
wore bikinis to sport training.[29]
Swimsuits were one- or two-piece; some had loose bottoms like shorts with short skirts. Bikinis appeared
in Europe but were not worn in America in the 1950s.[29]
Hats and hairstyles
Hair was worn short and curled with the New Look, and hats were essential for all but the most casual
occasions.[17]
Wide-brimmed saucer hats were shown with the earliest New Look suits, but smaller hats
soon predominated. Very short cropped hairstyles were fashionable in the early '50s. By mid-decade hats
were worn less frequently, especially as fuller hairstyles like the short, curly poodle cut and later bouffant
and beehive became fashionable.[21][30]
"Beat"girls wore their hair long and straight, and teenagers
adopted the ponytail, short or long.
Maternity wear
In the 1950s, Lucille Ball was the first woman to show her pregnancy on TV.[31] [32]
The television show I
Love Lucy brought new attention to maternity wear. Most of the maternity dresses were two pieces with
loose tops and narrow skirts. Stretch panels accommodated for the woman's growing figure. The baby
boom of the 1940s to the 1950s also caused focus on maternity wear. Even international designers such as
Givenchy and Norman Hartnell created maternity wear clothing lines. Despite the new emphasis on
maternity wear in the 1950s maternity wear fashions were still being photographed on non-pregnant
women for advertisements.[33]
On September 29, 1959, the maternity panty [1] was patented which provided expansion in the vertical
direction of the abdomen. The front panel of this maternity undergarment was composed of a high degree
of elasticity so in extreme stretched conditions, the woman could still feelcomfortable.[34
Menswear
Suits
Immediately after the war,men's suits were broad-shouldered and often double-breasted. As wartime
restrictions on fabric eased,trousers became fuller, and were usually styled with cuffs (turn-ups). In
America, Esquire introduced the "Bold Look", with wide shoulders, broad lapels, and an emphasis on
bold, coordinated accessories.[35][36]
In Britain, clothing rationing remained in place until 1949.
Demobilised soldiers were provided with a suit by the government, usually in blue or grey chalkstripes.
Savile Row, the traditional home of bespoke or custom tailoring, had been heavily damaged in the Blitz
and was slow to recover.[35]
In 1950, Harper's Bazaar proclaimed the "Return of the Beau". Savile Row
introduced the "New Edwardian Look", featuring a slightly flared jacket, natural shoulders, and an overall
narrower cut, worn with a curly-brimmed bowler hat and a long slender overcoat with velvet collar and
cuffs.[36][37][38]
This was the style commandeered by the Teddy Boys, who added bright socks and a

4. bootlace necktie, achieving a "dizzy combination of Edwardian dandy and American gangster."[37]
The
horrified tailors of Savile Row dropped the overtly Edwardian touches, but the style of business suits
continued to move away from the broad English drape cut, and single-breasted two-piece suits with
narrower lines and less padding in the shoulders became fashionable everywhere. Dark charcoalgray was
the usual color, and the era of the gray flannel suit was born. By the later 1950s, a new Continental style
of suit appeared from the fashion houses of Italy, with sharper shoulders, lighter fabrics, shorter, fitted
jackets and narrower lapels.[36][39]
Sports and leisurewear
Sport coats generally followed the lines of suit coats. Tartan plaids were fashionable in the early 1950s,
and later plaids and checks of all types were worn,as were corduroy jackets with leather buttons. Khaki-
colored pants, called chinos,were worn for casualoccasions. Bermuda shorts, often in madras plaid,
appeared in mid-decade and were worn with knee socks. Hawaiian shirts, worn untucked from
suspenders, also became widely popular during this era.This summer fashion of the Hawaiian or Carioca
shirt became particularly popular in America, with even President Truman being photographed wearing a
marine flora shirt.[40]
Knit shirts and sweaters of various kinds were popular throughout the period.[36]
Some young men wore tight trousers or jeans, leather jackets, and white tee shirts.
Hats and hairstyles
Men's hair fashion favoured the wet look, achieved by the use of products such as Brylcreem. Young men
often grew their hair out and, with pomade or other hair treatments,coiffed their hair into pompadours.
References-
1. http://topnewslife.com/blog/2014/05/30/40s-fashion/
2. History of Fashion by Manmeet Sodhia, Kalyan publisher.