1940s Women's Fashion

On September 3, 1939 England and France declared war on Germany for invading Poland, and refusing to withdraw troops. On June 14, 1940 Paris fell to Germany. The United States officially entered World War II on December 8, 1941.

Up until the outbreak of hostilities in Europe during WWII, American fashion designers simply copied the styles of French designers. The US did not make any of its own fashions, but became quite skilled at making inexpensive, mass-produced copies. This allowed most American women, even those on a modest budget, to be fashionable. Once the Germans occupied Paris, the American designers were cut off from Paris haute couture and were forced to design new fashions for the United States market. Many concentrated on sportswear which led to the United States emerging as the sportswear capital of the world.

In 1941, war good manufacturing took center stage. During 1942, the War Production Board began severely restricting the amount of yardage used in garments. On March 8, 1942 the War Production Board issued regulation L - 85, which regulated every aspect of clothing. Stanley Marcus was the apparel consultant to the War Production Board. At this time he took the stand that it was the designer's patriotic duty to design fashions which would remain stylish through multiple seasons.

American designers introduced the concept of separates and co-ordinating components in order to create the illusion of more outfits than one actually had. Classic sportswear styles took hold on college campuses and were soon adopted by all levels of society and all age groups.

Dresses and suits became slimmer and shorter; most skirts were only as wide as was needed to walk and sit, and hem lengths rose to the knee. Padded, square shoulders imitiating a military uniform were popular, and a common dress style buttoned down the front of the bodice and was trimly belted at the waist. Many bodices and blouses had gathers or darts at the shoulder and waist to give shape and fullness at the bust but still keep a trim waistline. Suits remained popular, with padded, square shoulders and fitted skirts. Dress and suit styles were simple and practical with clean lines. "Air force blue" becomes the popular color. Slim tubular look in knitted dresses or chemises with cinch belts also became popular. Another popular style was the one strap dress with an uneaven hemline.

Night dresses throughout the 40's were frilly short skirts. Satin evening suit is also worn with high-heeled ankle straps, short satin evening skirts appear with lace blouses in a variety of colors.

Through the 40s, translucent powder, red lipstick, black eyeliner, and red nail polish were quite popular. Long hair became the fashion in the 40s, even though working women were encouraged to keep it short. Popular styles included the pageboy, the Victory Roll, and barrel rolls. Hair became neatly folded at the ear, netted at the back, twisted into braids, or pinned on top of the head. Ballet slippers with winding ribbons are popular along with leather platform shoes.

Undergarments at the end of the forties had finally made the transition to two separate pieces, the bra and the girdle. The term "bra" was now widely used to identify the upper portion of the outdated corset. After World War II, wire was introduced into bras and nylon stockings came back on the market. A new look is boned girdles with wastbands and padded bras that flatten the midriff, cinch the waist, and point the breasts.

For casual wear in the 1940's,  women wore housedresses most of the time for doing housework or lounging. Dressier housedresses were sometimes worn to play cards or other casual social occasions. For summer wear, shorts outfits or playsuits were popular, in cotton or rayon.

In 1947, after the war's end, an unknown French designer named Christian Dior came out with his first designs. The collection, which would be called "The New Look," featured natural shoulders, enhanced breasts, pinched-in waists, padded hips, and long, full skirts that sometimes used as much as five yards of material. At first, women the world over were outraged by the expense, the scandalous waste of fabric, and the styles that harkened back to the 1900s. (Keep in mind that in 1947, most of Europe was in ruins and still facing severe food and clothing shortages.) Women were so infuriated that, at a March 1947 Paris photo shoot, one of the models was severely beaten and stripped of her New Look dress. Quickly, though, women (especially those in America, who did not face shortages like those in Europe) were won over by the sheer extravagance of the New Look. It was just what they had been craving during the years of sacrifice and careful, conservative clothes.

"We were emerging from the period of war, of uniforms, of women-soldiers built like boxers. I drew women-flowers, soft shoulders, fine waists like liana and wide skirts like corolla."  -- Christian Dior, February 1947