Fashion from 1900-1910

The Edwardian Era started in 1901 bringing sophistication or La Belle Époque as the French called it. It was the time of luxury and privileged living for the rich and fashion designers often produced classy and glamorous designs. Although the 20^th century introduced a new individual freedom in fashion, the first ten years were more influenced by the 1770, where women would wear daily clothes we would only see at costumed events today.

Great events happened in the 1900, the first narrative film ‘The Great Train Robbery’ was released in 1903 and San Francisco was hit by an earthquake in 1906. During these times fashion was mainly blossoming in Paris, as creative art was discovering a new period. Tailored suites were recognized by the 1900, which was found to be suitable for all purposes as it was comfortable to move in. on the other hand men were not as impressed with the suite as they thought it was challenging their power in society and women started to hint for independence for the future which was also objected by men.

Gored skirts were also fashionable as they looked more tailored, matching them with jackets, women started to feel more comfortable in their everyday clothes as well as sophisticated in the elongated trumpet bell shaped skirts. Light coloured skirts were made for evening events while everyday skirts were made of heavy tweeds material. Loose leather topcoats were also in trend and women wore them on a countryside drive in the newly invented motor cars, because they prevented/reduced the cold weather.

Although new creations surfaced the fashion industry, women were still forced to ware corsets, which made them uncomfortable and ill, but they still had to ware them as their bodies were deformed. On the other hand men’s fashion didn’t change much in the first ten years of the century, their suites were mainly dull, except the fabrics used were light weighted compared to the heavy, breathtaking materials used before.

Ballet Russes

Ballet Russes was found by Serge Diaghilev in the 1909 at the Theatre du Châtelet Diaghilev was a Russian impresario who had already succeeded in Russian art, music and opera in Paris in 1908. Ballet Russes always changed and created new creative form of choreography, music, stars and costumes. Luminous choreographers like, Fokin, Nijinsky, Massine and Balanchine, choreographed and trained dancers in St. Petersburg, in order to live up to the high expectation the Parisian audienc3 demanded.

 However, Fokin’s first choreography was in 1907, his “graduation performance” idea was the premier of Ballet Russes, which was performed at the Mariinsky Theater  Collaborating with Benois’ libretto, which he created in 1903 and Nikolai Tcherepnin’s composed music, rising interest in ballet amongst the public. Fokin was the choreographer for the Ballet Russes from 1909-1914, he was known to stage complex and fresh routines, such as Pavillon d'Armide, Daphnis et Chloe, and Le Coq d'Or.  Vaslav Nijinsky, a dancer and a student of Fokin later became the choreographer of Diaghilev’s Ballet School. Although his significant three ballets never failed to impress, he was fired for his lack of commitment. He was hired again in 1916 and only created his last ballet ’Till Eulenspiegel’

After the death of Diaghilev in 1929, the company was claimed and owned by Colonel Wassily de Basil and René Bum. Although the Ballet Russes de Monte Carlo was kept its reputation while having Balanchine and Massine as choreographers, Basil and Blum’s constant arguments led to them ending their partnership in 1938. De Basil found another company and called it Ballet Russes de Monte Carlo, while Blum renamed the company calling it the Original Ballet Russes.

 The combination of new choreography, music and art for each production productions were sensational and Ballet Russes was becoming hugely popular around the world. As Ballet Russes was inflectional among people and creative art, the public’s attention started to focus on composers and artists. Ballet Russes de Monte Carlo began to tour around the United States after the World War II started. Although the company was successful dancers started to retire or leave, either to open their own dancing studios in America or to works as a choreographer for a company as new Ballet schools started emerging in America.

Ballet Russes is still one of the most influential dancing today as it shows each artist’s ability and creativity individually as well as a team                                                                                                                 

Ballet Russes introduced new daring costumes to the fashion world, resulting mixed reviews from the public as some of the audience thought it was inventive and unique, while others thought it to be inappropriate. Diaghilev was known to include glamorous, eye-catching and exciting new fashionable costumes in every Ballet Russes performance. At the time of Ballet Russes, people were still getting used to the new inventions of fashion, such as Chanel’s Little Black dress and the corset which was brought back to fashion. However, Léon Bakst’s flashy and fleshy costumes didn’t change the minds of the uprising designers at the time.

As Ballet Russes always introduced new creative costumes, they set a new normality to fashion of shocking and unexpected styles. As Ballet Russes introduced comfortable and relaxing costumes, Coco Chanel related to Ballet Russes in many of her collections. Chanel once stated that she “have always attempted to give women a feeling of becoming at ease with their time.” As well as being influenced by Ballet Russes, Chanel also designed costumes for four of their productions from 1924-1929, she also helped Diaghiev stage his ballet in1919. Coco Chanel showed her appreciation for the influential work of Ballet Russes; Chanel released a perfume called ‘Cuir de Russie’, which was inspired by the scented leather of Cossack boots. Also Chanel has a lipstick known as Ballet Russe. 

Paul Poiret was also influenced by Ballet Russes, he believed in creating unique ideas for fashion and Ballet Russes supported his opinion upon fashion. Poiret thought of fashion as creative and glamorous, yet practical and comfortable for women. One of Ballet Russes’ productions in 1910 encouraged Poiret to let his imagination take control of his new collection. Ballet Russes continued to inspire many other designers at the time for the creativity the company brought to the fashion industry during the 1900 and until today.      

KING OF FASHION: Paul Poiret

Paul Poiret born in 1979 was a French fashion designer during the early twentieth century; he set a new standard of artistic significance to his fashion by introducing the free-flowing dresses and replacing tight corsets with brassieres.

Poiret was born in Paris and lived with his parents and three sisters in an apartment above the shop, his father worked as a cloth merchant. Paul’s family had an interest in art and decorate their home with affordable art works. The family also owned a country house in Billancourt, where Poiret spent his time pressing petals from the garden, construction fountains and gathering bits of metals and junk for his antique collection. When Poiret was 12 his family moved to Rue des Halles in Paris and there he attended Ecole Massillon. However Paul was sent to a boarding school when his sisters contracted scarlet fever in order to avoid the illness.

Poiret started showing an interest in fashion as he was often seen scanning through magazines and catalogs, he also was known to enjoying and attending theatre and art exhibits. However at the age of 18 Paul graduated and was sent to an umbrella maker by his father, he still continued to pursue his fashion interest by drawing designs and sewing them using the small wooden mannequin his sister gave him.

Poiret’s first fashion job came when a friend persuaded him to take his designs to the Maison Raundnizt Soeurs to a woman called Mademoiselle Choruit. She was impressed with Poiret’s work and bought 12 of his designs. Poiret then started to gain clients and visited a variety of dress houses. Later in 1896 a designer named Doucet offered Paul a full time job which he accepted. When Poiret told his family the news, his father was in disbelieve and Paul had to take him to Doucet’s studio to convince his father.

Poiret blossomed during his time at the Maison Doucet; his first design was a red cloak which sold 400 copies and customers demanded it in different colours. At Doucet’s, Poiret created new designs every week, which were displayed by ladies at the horse races on Sundays. He also designed costumes for a variety of theatrical productions.

People started to recognize his name and his designs which encouraged him to venture out into Parisian society, while doing so Poiret met Madame Potiphar; with home he began a love affair. Also Paul’s relationship with his father hit a difficult patch and became tense as a result of Poiret starting to experience independence. His relations with Doucet suffered as similar tension as a result of professional impetuosity, this led to Poiret Maison Doucet, but his relationship with Doucet improved after a while.

Following Poiret leaving the Maison Doucet, he joined the army and spent the next year doing military services. Not enjoying the time he spent there, Poiret returned to Paris to do what he loved and enjoyed most. In his autobiography ‘King of Fashion’ Poiret explained “the study of what pleased me: feminine elegance”.

After returning to Paris, Poiret accepted a job offer at the Maison Worth (ran by two brothers, Gaston and Jean Worth), which gave him the opportunity to design dresses for the general public, instead the high-society ladies of Paris. Poiret’s new simple Designed dresses freed women’s bodies from tightened forms and featured a classical high waste-line style, tubular shape and long skirts. The very small designs colours’ were plain and bold, which were becoming popular at the time. The Worth brothers had different opinions on Poiret’s work, as Gaston was pleased with the profit Poiret’s designs brought, while Jean was less impressed with the lowering standard he noticed Poiret bringing upon the Maison Worth. While working for the Worth brothers Poiret presented some of his designs to the princess of Russia, who wasn’t impressed with them. Lacking the ability to please the high-society clients and loving working for the general public, Poiret left the Maison Worth and started working on his own.

With some financial help from his mother, Poiret opened a shop at No.5, Rue Auber in Paris. Poiret gained the attention of by-passers by displaying modest, complex and colourful designs on his shop’s window display. While his shop became popular, Poiret perfected the design that the princess rejected and gradually it became very popular. In his autobiography he called the cloak “Confucius” and quoted “every woman bought at least one.” He also stated that the design was the beginning of the Asian influence in fashion.

Poiret was not a fan of the corset and he introduced the brassiere, allowing women more comfort and freedom. However in contrast of his thoughts on corsets, Poiret created the popular tight skirt. Eventually Poiret’s business grew bigger and the shop was too small to fit his new ideas and collections, therefore Poiret moved into a house of Rue Pasquier. Although Poiret raised many eyebrows regarding his choice of his business’s practices, however the criticism never affected Poiret’s growing reputation.

Poiret stated in his autobiography “People have been good enough to say that I have exercised a powerful influence over my age, and that I have inspired the whole of my generation. I dare not make the pretension that this is true …” however he thought of his creative work to be inspired by artists, he says It was in my inspiration of artists, in my dressing of theatrical pieces, in my assimilation of and response to new needs, that I served the public of my day." Poiret continued to reinstate that the artist as an important and creative force in fashion through his career. Poiret worked with Paul Iribe, they produced les Robes de Paul Poiret, recontees par Paul Iribe, with Iribe creating drawings of Poiret’s dress collection. Two years later Paul Poiret also produced a similar album with Georges Lepape titled Paul Poiret vues par Georges Lepape. Both productions were extremely successful, which led to Poiret to helping artists developing their talent and increase exposure amongst the public, this increased the popularity of fashion illustrations and literature.

Poiret also mentioned how hard he had to work in order for his collections to be well known, he says "I did not wait for my success to grow by itself. I worked like a demon to increase it, and everything that could stimulate it seemed good to me." Poiret toured around Europe with nine models to promote his designs, which gained him recognition around the main capitals in Europe.

Poiret established a school of decorative art in 1912 as he expanded his interest in painting art; he named the school Martine which was later used for the Maison Martine founded by Poiret. The school gave Parisian women the opportunity to learn about different designs and to be creative with their designs as there was a non-structured curriculum and no criticism. The school also caught the eye of artists, such as Raoul Dufy and Poiret’s friendship with Dufy struck up quickly. Poiret later sponsored Dufy’s artistic activities, leading him to experiment the world of art exhibition in 1924. However Poiret’s experience was unsuccessful and he didn’t pursue it further.

Poiret’s career ended temporarily when he was called into the military service during the World War I. he then travelled to Morocco after he was released from service in1917 to deal with the aftermath of his experience in the war. By the time Poiret returned to Paris to continue his dressmaking business, he had discovered his interest in perfumery and interior decoration.

Poiret also developed a passion of organizing parties since he was a child. Poiret’s parties were sophisticated and well attended as they fulfilled all the aspects of entertainment, including dancers, orchestras, a party was said to featuring a python, monkey merchant, a garden full of wild animals. Some parties were attended in the “Oasis” a theatre Poiret created in his garden and others were based on themes. Poiret also planned parties and balls for other people. Paul Poiret died in 1944, spending his last years pursuing in his love of painting.

Fashion from 1910-1920

Those ten years people went through dark times, in 1912 the titanic ship sank and two years later the First World War began. Luxury lives didn’t matter much as people only cared about staying safe, women started rebelling trends that made them uncomfortable or deformed their body shape. Therefore corsets were thrown away as women welcomed hobble skirts. Paul Poiret was the designer of the decade and he was strongly influenced by eastern colours and designs, he created a line of eastern jewelled slippers which became common.

During the war years women took men’s factory jobs in order to keep them running as men went off to fight. This resulting in women enjoying their independence and wanting to freedom, therefore fashion produced practical wear for women,. Introducing shorter dresses and creating more practical shoes, such as ‘spectator boots’ which became popular at the time, cut steel buckles were added to women’s shoes for decoration as well as other accessories.

As the war drew to an end, the first Sneaker was designed in 1917 which became popular since it was the first shoe that didn’t make noise when walking. Also women were seen in sportswear more often because they were comfortable and easy to move in. also men’s clothing changed radically, as the frock coats and double breasted jackets were thrown away and the ‘dandy look’ was in trend. 

Madeleine Vionnet

Madeleine Vionnet was born in 1876 in Chilleurs-aux-Bois, Loiret. As she was born in a poor family Vionnet worked as a seamstress at the age of eleven. After her brief marriage failed, she left her husband and worked as a hospital seamstress in London as well as working for Kate Reily. However Vionnet returned to Paris and trained for well known fashion associates, such as fashion house Callot Soeurs and Jacques Doucet.

Vionnet employed over 1,100 seamstresses in The House of Vionnet, which she found in 1912. The House of Vionnet was the first house to make ready to wear designs. In 1920’s Vionnet created her signature trademark The Bias Cut, allowing fabrics to cling onto women’s bodies and move with the wearer. Creating body-fitted looks helped transform women’s clothing making her famous in the fashion industry.

Vionnet was influenced by the modern dances of Isadora Duncan, creating corsets, padding, stiffening and any simple, accentuating designs for curvy female figures. Madeleine once said “when a woman smiles, then her dress should smile too.” Vionnet also created garments that floated freely around a woman’s body rather than deforming its shape as she was also inspired by ancient Greek art.   

Vionnet simple designs apparently involved a long process, including cutting, draping then pinning fabric designs onto small-sized dolls. Vionnet then would recreate them in chiffon, silk or Moroccan crepe onto actual size models. However Vionnet used materials that were not common by other well known fashion designers in the 1920s and 30s, such as crepe de chine, gabardine and satin. Vionnet was also know to order wider fabrics than necessary in order to create her designs (especially dresses) that clung to and moved with the wearer, including handkerchief dress, cowl neck and halter top.

In 1930s Vionnet created luxurious and sensual designs worn by stars, such as Marlene Dietrich, Katherine Hepburn and Greta Garbo. Later in the 1930s Vionnet started to mentor later designers passing on her signature movement, elegance and appreciation of the natural women figures. Vionnet expressed her dislike for the world of fashion and personal publicity as she believed “Insofar as one can talk of a Vionnet school, it comes mostly from my having been an enemy of fashion. There is something superficial and volatile about the seasonal and elusive whims of fashion which offends my sense of beauty.”

Madeleine Vionnet died in 1975. However, Vionnet’ bias cut has made her one of influential designers of the 20th century. Vionnet has been an inspiration in many well-known designers such as John Galliano, Issey Miyak and Halston……etc

 

Fashion from 1920-1930

In the 1920s three important women’s fashion magazines were established, Vogue, The Queen and Harper’s Bazaar. The magazines provided mass introduction of trendy styles and fashions. Waistlines also became loose with full flared skirts accompanied by jackets that were tightened at the waist with belts. During the 1923 waistlines were dropping between the waist and hips as baggy trends continued to emerge. It wasn’t until 1924 that the waistline dropped to the hip.

In 1925 designers introduced dresses without a waistline and towards the end of the decade straight bodices and collars were popular amongst women, as well as knife-pleated skirts. In the 1928 fashion launched new styles; with rising hemline to the knee and making more fitted dresses which were the 1930 graceful fashion styles.

During the 1920s garments were mainly fastened with buttons and the closer-fitted flapper-styled dresses were secured with an incessant flab, they were regularly applied to the left side seam of the garment. Also designers often used hooks, snaps, buttons, however zips were not used on garments until later years in the decade.

Fabrics such as cotton and wool were regularly used as they were easily found, on the other hand silk was one of the most desired fabric, but as it was supplied limitedly it made it expensive and with people dealing with the economic problems the war caused, most women weren’t interested in expensive clothes. Therefore designers started to use artificial silk, which at the time was called ‘rayon’ and it was used to make stockings which became popular in the 1920s.

The Life of Coco Chanel

Born Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel in 1883 has become the biggest name in the fashion industry later in 1920. She was born in the workhouse in the Loire Valley where her mother worked. However Coco later claimed that she was born in1893 making herself ten years younger, she also asserted that her birth place was Auvergne.

Chanel stated that her mother died when she was only six leaving her father with five children which he quickly abandoned to the care of various relatives. Coco was sent to the orphanage of the Catholic monastery of Aubazine, where she was taught the trade of a seamstress. Gabrielle learnt how to sew during school vacations that were spent with relatives in the capital of Moulins, she sewed with more thrive than the nuns could teach her. Chanel left the orphanage when she was eighteen and worked for a local tailor.

It was thought that Coco lied about her life in order to reduce the shame that poverty, illegitimacy and orphan-hood granted the unfortunate in the France during the nineteenth-century. Chanel claimed that she was six when her mother died instead of twelve, as well as stating that her father sailed to America after the death of mother and that she was sent to live with two cold-hearted unmarried aunts. Gabrielle has taken on the name Coco while working as a singer in cafes and concert halls from 1905-1908, it was the nickname given to her by the soldiers who watched her.

Chanel became the mistress of a rich military officer and then a wealthy English Industrialist after she moved to Deauville during the World War1. She opened a millinery shop in Paris in 1910 as the two men introduced her to some women of society and her hats became popular, she then expanded her business as she had two boutiques in both Deauville and Biarritz.

Maison Chanel was recognized by the 1920s (it remains to this day), Coco also became a fashion icon as she was considered having an edgy modern style for her bob haircut and tan. Also during the 1920s Coco Chanel was the first designer to introduce loose women’s clothing using jersey, (normally used for men’s underwear) as she created loosened styles for women, which became popular for the post-war generation of women as they ignored the tight lacing corsets and they became old-fashioned.

Coco Chanel launched Chanel No.5 in 1922, the fragrance that is still very popular today. Pierre Wertheimer became Coco’s business partner two years after the launce (taking 70% of the perfume business) and reportedly her lover. The fragrance company is now controlled by the Wertheimers. Later in 1925 was Chanel’s successful year by launching the cardigan jacket and the little black dress making both items impartial in every Chanel collection until this day.

Chanel nursed the injured soldiers during the World War II, which led to her affair with a Nazi officer. After the war ended the affair drew unwanted publicity attention for Chanel and she escaped to Switzerland. Coco ended this self-imposed exile when she returned to Paris in 1954, expanding her signature styles by experimenting with Christian Dior’s feminine New Look. Coco Chanel’s new collection won the press in Europe and was popular in the United States as she introduced the pea jacket and bell-bottoms for women and her effortlessly stylish boxy cardigan suits, which became popular among the Hollywood stars such as Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly.

Chanel also designed costumes Cinema, such as ’La Regle de Jeu’ and theatre, including ‘Antigone’ (1923) and ‘Oedipus Rex’ (1937).

Coco kept working until her death at the age of 88 in 1971, dedicating her life to fashion and spending her last moments the style that become a part of her life.

Katharine Hepburn played the role of Chanel in a Broadway musical based on the life of Coco Chanel in 1969. 

Elsa Schiaparelli

Born in Rome in 1890, she was thought of as unfashionably thin in her youth while her older sister was thought to be a beauty. At the age of 19 Schiaparelli went to the University of Rome to study Philosophy, however her uncle acknowledged Elsa’s curiosity as they spent time looking through his telescope. Two years after Elsa started University, published a novel of pomes about sorrow, love, sensuality and mysticism as Schiaparelli had a spiritual way of thinking about the world. However her father wasn’t very pleased with the content and he sent her to a convent, which she was then removed from after going on a hunger strike.

At the age of 22 Schiaparelli accepted an offer to travel to England and work as a nanny. On her way to London Elsa went to a ball in Paris as she had no ball gowns, Elsa bought some dark blue fabric, wrapped it around her body and pinned it in place. When Elsa arrived to London she spent here time visiting museums and attending lectures. Schiaparelli moved with her husband to New York, where she worked as a scriptwriter, although Elsa enjoyed and appreciated to the modernity of the city, her husband abandoned his family as he distanced himself from the city and by the time he left Gogo Schiaparelli, Elsa’s first child was born.

Schiaparelli was introduced to Gaby Picabia the ex-wife of born artist Francis Picabia, Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray, therefore when Man Ray and Gaby left for Paris, Elsa joined with them. When Schiaparelli arrived in Paris, she began making clothes and one of her dresses was seen by Paul Poiret, who asked Gaby to “compliment the designer” and encouraged by his comment Elsa opened her own business only to be closed in 1926 regardless of the flattering reviews. Schiaparelli’s knitwear sweaters collection was launched in early 1927 using double layered stitches in order to hold the sweaters shape as well as the geometric design decoration; this led to featuring the sweaters in Vogue the next month.

In spring of 1927 Schiaparelli started expanding her collections, including skirts, wool cardigans and accessories. In summer of 1927 Elsa launched a sweater with the illusion of a white bow knitted into a black background, which also featured in Vogue with the heading “artistic masterpiece.” Elsa then included bathing suits, beach pyjamas, tweed sport suits, two-piece linen dresses, coats, and ski costumes to her collection.

In 1930 and 1931, Schiaparelli continued to make progression in practical sportswear, introducing a patented invisible brassiere backless bathing suit and a daring divided skirt for a tennis costume, which was worn by Lili de Alvare. Strengthened by her accomplishment in sportswear, Elsa introduced her reversible black and white evening dresses in1931 that included draping trains that clipped up under the waist for dancing. In 1933 Schiaparelli returned to New York and was shocked by reporters that surrounded her as she was unaware of her designs’ popularity in the United States.

In 1940 Schiaparelli’s collection was based on a military theme relating her ideas to the war as she included a brown and disguise print taffetas. In July of that year begun a lecture’s tour called “Clothes and the Woman”, when her tour ended Elsa then returned to New York in 1941 to live there until the war ended. During the war Elsa volunteered at a variety of war-relief associations.

 However after the war ended in 1945 Schiaparelli found that women were interested in the “New Look”, recalling the gloves, petticoats and the corsets from 30 years before. Christian Dior was known as the master of the New Look, on the other hand Schiaparelli continued to present collections expressed her understanding of fashion since she rejected the new fashion movement. However by 1854 Elsa Schiaparelli was forced to close the house of Schiaparelli as she was financial troubled. Nevertheless Schiaparelli continued working for celebrities until her death in 1973.  

Although Schiaparelli’s career faded in the 1954, she is still an influence in fashion today as many designers constantly imitate and adjust her ideas and designs.

Fashion from 1930-1940

In the 1930s women started to sew and make clothes at home by mending and patching garments as women started to lose interest in buying expensive ready-to-wear clothes even though fashion was changing drastically. The flapper twenties style was replaced by softer and more feminine styles. Also hemlines dropped from the knee to the ankles and this continued until the end of the decade. Torsos were molded below squared shoulders; necklines were also lowered, soft gathering replaced darts and most importantly dress’s waist were brought back to the normal waistlines.

The upper skirt yokes was introduced during the decade, they became popular for the detailed shaped of the skits. The skirt yokes was a v-shape and extending from one hip to the center of the yoke and continuing to the opposite hip. Other skirts were often designed layered/full at the bottom with pleats or gathers.

Films were influencing fashion as evening gowns were introduced by movie stars to the public. Launching the peplum in the thirties as an evening wear, empire-waist frock with ties at the back with a hemline that fell to the ankles and trains to add formal glamour to the style, boast butterfly or large, puffy sleeves, bows were also added for decoration.

Fur became popular during the thirties and women were wearing it during the day or in the evenings. Fur capes, coats, stoles wraps, accessories and trimmings decorated women’s dresses. The desired pelts were sable, mink, chinchilla, Persian lamp and silver fox.

Improvements that were accomplished during the decade was of the developments in the mass production techniques. This gave women the opportunity of accessing well-made clothes, however when the World War II started limited women from accessing to manufactured clothing as men and women were focused on their responsibilities.

Fashion in the 1940s

During the war women recycled and reproduced new garments using old unwanted clothes as the media encouraged women to be home sewers. Vintage wear became very popular in the 1940s and women tried to create elegant styles without spending too much money. Collections of fashion houses during the war were of knee-length dresses and featured padded shoulders, fashion trends were mainly simple and practical in order to help women work and look elegant.

Hats became very popular during the war and women were able to use recycled older pieces of clothing, which otherwise would go to waste. Suites also became popular during the war as they were comfortable for women and easy to move in during work. Women normally curled their hair and wore bright lipstick to maintain their femininity.   

How the fashion industry was affected during the Word War II

During the WW2 women’s lives took a drastic change, as men joined the army forces women were forced to take on their husbands’ responsibilities whether it was at home or at men’s work place. Some women even worked in the military forces, which demanded of them to either go near or into combat zones, causing some women to loose their lives.

As women’s lives were more practical, fashion began to express the newfound force of women. Collections included big, broad shoulders and slacks, practical knee-length skirts and strict tailoring. Smart suits, simple frocks, sensible shoes and a serviceable shoulder bag which became the working woman’s fashion uniform. The fashion statement during the WW2 was the military uniform, a fitted jacket and a sensible skirt or slacks, the colours options were also limited to only olive drab, khaki, white and navy.

As the war years progressed, the fashion industry started to lack access to fibres as silk was used for parachutes, nylon for military supplies and metal for weapons. However the media was quick to promote methods for home sewers, assisting women on how to make dresses out of curtains, jackets from cushions and how to cut-down adult’s clothing and make them into children’s wear.                           

Fashion designs and creativity were limited, because most designers weren’t supplied enough of common fibres, such as leather (replaced by cork soles.) On the other hand fur which was not rationed and it was used to regain the glamour that was missing in fashion during the war. Therefore designers focused on the use of interesting colours, details and accessories, for example chartreuse, maroon, rust, ochre and teal replaced the plain styles. Shoulders decorations, which emphasized the strong top-heavy silhouette also became popular, and sweetheart necklines accompanied the look. Exotic floral and neat polka dots also replaced decorative elements (beads, braid…etc), also shoes collections changed from sophisticated to astounding sky-high platforms.

Britain was majorly affected during the war and the government took every opportunity to help produce affordable clothing. Therefore the British government encouraged women to reinvent fashionable items by recycling and reproducing old clothes. However, the Utility scheme was made illegal as the government thought it to be unpatriotic to decorate clothes and forbade manufacturers using the CC41 (Clothing Control 1941). Although the government thought of CC41 as unpatriotic the Incorporated Society of London Fashion Designers, whom invented the CC41 thought of it as creative. The society was led by Captain Molyneux, Norman Hartnell, Digby Morton, Victor Stiebel, Angèle Delange, Peter Russell, Madame Bianca Mosca and Hardy Amies. Their 34 smart Utility designs included, squared shoulders jackets/blazers and short skirts. The Incorporated Society of London Fashion Designers tried to keep fashion interesting while to the usage of cloth was narrowed. The items that became popular in the fashion industry were the turban, which was worn by women to prevent their hair from entangling in factory machines. Also the siren suit, the wedge sole shoe and the kangaroo cloak were also very popular. 

Paris was seen as the house of fashion and although there were many fashion houses in France before the war, a great number of them closed as WW2 broke, some closed for several years while others closed permanently. As some of the well known designers started to fade out, American designers started to emerge the surface of the fashion industry. Megan Spagnolo said "Though American designers couldn't completely pave their own way at this point, it really helped that they no longer had the competition from overseas."

Men mainly wore military uniforms; while women had to swap the then most fashionable convertible suit for a jacket, short skirt and blouse (the jacket could be shed for night wear). Stockings were unavailable and women used their eyebrows pencil to draw a line at the bake of their legs in order to create the illusion of them wearing stockings.

Fashion was thought to be invented in France, as many great French designers broke the fashion industry, such as Paul Poiret, Coco Chanel and Madeline Vionnet. However many fashion houses, including the Maison Vionnet and the Maison Chanel and fashion French designers started setting up fashion houses in other countries.

Due to difficult times, housewives were more appreciated for dealing with the responsibilities they had and the Vichy regime promoted models of wives and mothers supporting the new comfortable and practical fashion creation. Women’s evening gowns became shorter, their daywear’s colours were lighter and the clothes were practical.

Designers were able to create new collections only because they recycled fabric and made use of the material that would usually be thrown away. Although many fashion houses closed down in Paris during the war, other houses remained open and continued to produce astonishing new collections, such as Nina Ricci, Jacques Fath  , Marcel Rochas and many more.