1930s-1940s Fashion

The most characteristic North American fashion trend from the 1930s to the end of World War II was attention at the shoulder, with butterfly sleeves and banjo sleeves, and exaggerated shoulder pads for both men and women by the 1940s. The period also saw the first widespread use of man-made fibres, especially rayon for dresses and viscose for linings and lingerie, and synthetic nylon stockings. The zipper became widely used. These essentially U.S. developments were echoed, in varying degrees, in Britain and Europe. Suntans (called at the time "sunburns") became fashionable in the early 1930s, along with travel to the resorts along the Mediterranean, in the Bahamas, and on the east coast of Florida where one could acquire a tan, leading to new categories of clothes: white dinner jackets for men and beach pajamas, halter tops, and bare midriffs for women. Fashion trendsetters in the period included the Prince of Wales (Edward VIII from January 1936 until his abdication that December) and his companion Wallis Simpson (the Duke and Duchess of Windsor from their marriage in June 1937) and such Hollywood movie stars as Fred Astaire, Carole Lombard and Joan Crawford.

Jean Patou, who had first raised hemlines to 18" off the floor with his "flapper" dresses of 1924, had begun lowering them again in 1927, using Vionnet's handkerchief hemline to disguise the change. By 1930, longer skirts and natural waists were shown everywhere.But it is Schiaparelli who is credited with "changing the outline of fashion from soft to hard, from vague to definite." She introduced the zipper, synthetic fabrics, simple suits with bold color accents, tailored evening dresses with matching jackets, wide shoulders, and the color shocking pink to the fashion world. By 1933, the trend toward wide shoulders and narrow waists had eclipsed the emphasis on the hips of the later 1920s. Wide shoulders would remain a staple of fashion until after the war.In contrast with the hard chic worn by the "international set". designers such as Britain's Norman Hartnell made soft, pretty dresses with fluttering or puffed sleeves and loose calf-length skirts suited to a feminine figure. His "white mourning" wardrobe for the new Queen Elizabeth's 1938 state visit to Paris started a brief rage for all-white clothing.Feminine curves were highlighted in the 1930s through the use of the bias-cut in dresses. Madeline Vionnet was the innovator of the bias-cut and used this method to create sculptural dresses that molded and shaped over the body's contours as it draped the female form.

Advertisement for women's fashion at McWhirters department store, Brisbane, Australia, 1941
Through the mid-1930s, the natural waistline was often accompanied by emphasis on an empire line. Short bolero jackets, capelets, and dresses cut with fitted midriffs or seams below the bust increased the focus on breadth at the shoulder. By the late '30s, emphasis was moving to the back, with halter necklines and high-necked but backless gowns with sleeves Evening dresses with matching jackets were worn to the theatre, nightclubs, and elegant restaurants. Skirts remained at mid-calf length for day, but the end of the 1930s Paris designers were showing fuller skirts reaching just below the knee; this practical length (without the wasteful fullness) would remain in style for day dresses through the war years.Other notable fashion trends in this period include the introduction of the ensemble (matching dresses or skirts and coats) and the handkerchief skirt, which had many panels, insets, pleats or gathers. The clutch coat was fashionable in this period as well; it had to be held shut as there was no fastening. By 1945, adolescents began wearing loose, poncho-like sweaters called sloppy joes. Full, gathered skirts, known as the dirndl skirt, became popular around 1945.

Gloves were "enormously important" in this period. Evening dresses were accompanied by elbow length gloves, and day costumes were worn with short or opera-length gloves of fabric or leather.
Manufacturers and retailers introduced coordinating ensembles of hat, gloves and shoes, or gloves and scarf, or hat and bag, often in striking colors. For spring 1936, Chicago's Marshall Field's department store offered a black hat by Lilly Daché trimmed with an antelope leather bow in "Pernod green, apple blossom pink, mimosa yellow or carnation blush" and suggested a handbag to match the bow.

XOXO Anisa

1920s Fashion

The poufy hair styles of the 1910s were gone as women started trimming their hair. More modern and stylish cuts such as the Bob Cut, the Marcel Wave, the Eton Crop or shingled styling’s increased in acceptance and popularity. Those that resisted this trend would often draw their hair back and knot it with a chignon. The 1920s fashion-conscious male would commonly part their hair close to, if not in the center. They would then slick it back with a product called “Brilliantine”; an oily, perfumed hairdressing that added sheen to the hair as well as holding it in place. This was a look made extremely popular by the Silver Screen Star, Rudolph Valentino among other.To accompany evening wear, headbands or Spanish hair combs would often hold the knotted chignons in place. The Bob hair style was made popular in the U.S. by Irene Castle and actress Louise Brooks and to this day is still referred to in jokes, cartoons and movies. For 1920s fashion, makeup was simple: Cream rouge circling the cheekbones, eyebrows plucked and thinly penciled in and pale powder. Vivid red lipstick was used to emphasize the “Cupid’s bow” of the upper lip, and to exaggerate the width of the “P” on the lower lip. Thus creating what we now know as the “Rosebud Pout”.

1920s fashion, it is interesting to note, was still being made either at home, or by tailors and dressmakers.  Ready to wear fashion of the industrial age didn’t exist until the 1930s. The design houses of Paris would assemble two collections on an annual basis; a fall collection and a spring collection.  Each designer would then display their new creations on models in their salons. The designs would then be bought, replicated and altered to suit the physique of the wearer. This process would often require several fittings and the time and skill of seamstresses, tailors and their apprentices. 1920s fashion designs had to be simplistic enough to be reproduced and altered without too much added expense.

In the years 1880-1910, the ideal female profile would resemble the letter “S”. Ladies would force themselves into corsets and squeeze their waists down to often below 20 inches in diameter. This would raise their ribcage producing a prominent chest or “pigeon front”. The sides would be pushed back and the rear raised or padded to produce the lower curve of the “S”. Skirts were full length, often touching the floor as the glimpse of an ankle was considered rather racy.

1920s fashion brought change and women began flattening their busts and removing their corsets creating a less shapely look which became known as “Garçonne” which was French for “boyish”.

FASHION ICONS OF 20s

Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel  (1883-1971)

French designer, Coco Chanel, was one of the first women to employ pants in her designs, cut her hair short and totally reject the corset. Because of her vision she became one of the most influential designers and entrepreneurs of that century.

Her first Chemise was designed (by her) in 1920 and in 1925 she designed the collarless cardigan jacket. Chanel No.5, her signature perfume scent, was also released in 1925.

Elegance, luxury and simplicity were a trademark of her style. Chanel, in her own way, helped greatly in the freedom and emancipation of female fashion as well as the evolution of 1920s fashion.

Jean Patou

A new French designer, Jean Patou, became a success with his two-piece, wool jersey sweater and skirt outfits. The women of America were now leading increasingly active lives and so saw appeal and value in Patou’s 1920s fashion range.

Elsa Schiaparelli

By the end of the twenties, the younger generations had started searching for their own style. The 1920s fashion of Elsa Schiaparelli elegantly filled this gap. By combining the classical styles of the Romans and Greeks with the now modern “Bohemian” style, she introduced a range of elegant dresses that didn’t hide the body as the chemise did, but enhanced the natural contours.

XOXO Anisa