How World War 2 influenced fashion

The crisis of World War 2 proved to have an immense impact on fashion in all the countries involved. The German invasion of Poland in September 1939 impacted everything that happened in the fashion industry and everyone involved, over the next decade. Fashion follows the world economic state and its social trends, so, undoubtedly, World War II demanded changes in the way every man, woman, and child knew clothing styles and fashion design.

By December 1941, Germany had invaded Norway, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, France, Yugoslavia, and Greece, and the level of this crisis naturally forced haute couture to step out of the limelight and take a back seat to focus on helping the rising panic caused by the global conflict. The war had successfully affected everything in every way, and even countries that were not directly involved in the conflict felt an impact.

Women everywhere had to make an effort to get by with much less than they would ordinarily be accustomed to.  Due to the war causing a severe financial pinch, fabric was rationed. A cheaper synthetic fabric called Rayon was developed, as other popular cheap fabrics were being used for other purposes. Nylon and Wool were needed by the military, so Rayon certified a handy replacement and most women’s clothing was produced from this.

In June 1941, it was the UK’s turn to face Germany. Nazis had invaded the island and the fair distribution of fabric forced a coupon system to be put in place. Adults in Britain received 66 clothing coupons per year, which eventually was reduced to 36 coupons by 1945 due to the strong decrease in funds. Prices were high, yet supplies were limited. A strong majority of government forces enforced restrictions on the use of fabrics and other materials to make clothing as most of the supplies were needed for military purposes.

London’s Harvey Nicols noticed a gap in the market when a rising fear of a gas attack in the city developed. The fashionable store started selling gas protection suits made from pure oiled silk in a variety of colours. Ordinary warm and comfortable Utility Jumpsuits were already popular amongst the wartime women, so a fashionable alternative along with pockets for paper and valuables was hugely welcomed.

Before the war Paris had a huge impact on fashion. However, it was soon to lose its leadership as functioning couture houses were frowned upon during the war, as they were thought unnecessary and greedy. Yet Paris continued to offer excessive use of fabrics such as draping, pocket flaps, non-functional buttons and cuffs. Immensely popular designers such as Coco Chanel were forced to shut their houses down, so it seemed couture fashion was going into hiding. Coco Chanel especially was criticised for her relationship with a high ranking Nazi official, so the public’s opinions of popular designers began to get in the way of the fashions ‘importance’.

US women used the military look for inspiration, and as the US had all contact cut with Paris, they were forced to come up with their own entirely new style. The silhouette, inspired by the army’s uniform, demonstrated broad, often padded shoulders, and narrow hips. What with the fall of Paris’ fashion rank, the industry moved to New York. Drab and patriotic colours such as air force blue, black, browns and grey flannel were used so as not to spend more than necessary on fabric production. Again, Rayon was used, as it did not shrink or crease and enabled production in either light or heavyweight form. Wool was used for soldier’s blankets so fabric designers also began to come up with wool and rayon blends.

The restrictions on purchasing fabric meant skirt hemlines rose. An order named the L-85 Order was put in place which specified the amount of fabric the amount of fabric allowed and also restricted the number of pleats and trimmings, along with jacket and trouser lengths. Fastenings had to be 100% necessary, as the metal used for zippers was in use by the military and buttons were scarce. No fastenings there for ornamentation were allowed. Recycling, and home-making clothing became the only way for wartime women to survive. Short and boxy meant was the style of the times, not because of trend, but out of necessity.

Elsa Schiaparelli

Elsa Luisa Maria Schiaparelli was born at the Palazzo Corsini in Rome on the 10^th of September, 1890. Her mother was a Neopolitan aristocrat and her father was a renowned scholar and curator of medieval manuscripts, and he also ran a library in the Palazzo Corsini where Elsa was born. Schiaparelli’s considerably older sister Beatrice was considered a great beauty, whilst Elsa was thought to be unfashionably thin.

Elsa did not enjoy her school life, although she read non-stop, she did not take kindly to anything academic. Elsa’s uncle, Giovanni Schiaparelli, an astronomer, recognized her intellectual curiosity and invested his time in looking through his telescope at the stars with her. At the age of 19, she started a course in Philosophy at the University of Rome. Elsa had a mystic way of thinking and enjoyed the course immensely. Two years later, she published a book of poems about grief, love, sensuality and spirituality. The book took her traditional family by surprise and shocked them. As a result her father sent her to a convent, which failed miserably when Elsa went on a hunger strike and had to be removed.

A year later, at the age of 22, Elsa excitedly accepted an invitation to go and work as a nanny in England. Whilst travelling over the England, she stopped in Paris and was dazzled by its style, influential women and modern attitudes. Paris sparked the beginning of Elsa’s love of fashion. Whilst there, she was invited to a ball, a new phenomenon for Elsa as it was to be the first one she had ever attended. As she did not have any gowns, she purchased some dark blue fabric from a department store and draped and pinned it around her body.

After ten days in Paris, Schiaparelli travelled to London where she spent the majority of her spare time visiting museums, attending operas and lectures. Elsa became captivated by one particular lecturer, Wilhelm Wendt de Kerlor, as he spoke of magic, eternal life and the power of the soul over the body. She was introduced to him after the lecture and the two were married a year later. By 1921, Elsa’s husband had become very successful as a lecturer and the couple relocated to New York.

Elsa was spellbound by the modern style of New York, and especially by the women, who played sport, drove cars and did not wear corsets. Her husband, on the other hand, was not impressed, unable to handle the pressures of city life he began to spend an increasing amount of time on the road, lecturing and giving private philosophical consultations. By the time Elsa gave birth to her only child, her husband had abandoned his family and she was left to raise Maria Luisa Yvonne Radha on her own. Her daughter’s doctor took offered to help Elsa, who was residing in a cheap hotel, and put her in touch with Gaby Picabia, ex-wife of Parisian born artist, Francis Picabia. Gaby had come to New York to open a business selling clothes designed in Paris and she was finding it a struggle to build a clientele. The doctor had anticipated that Elsa, with her contacts, could assist the businesswoman. Elsa started to work for Gaby and eventually made the acquaintance of people in her circle of prestigious friends.

In the mid 1920’s, Picabia and Schiaparelli decided to leave New York for Paris. She was quickly immersed in the Parisian artistic and social scene whilst still struggling to financially support herself. Then, coincidentally, Elsa’s situation changed drastically. Needing a dress for an occasion, Gaby asked Elsa to design one for her. Paul Poiret saw the dress, and told Gaby to ‘compliment the designer’ for him. Inspired by this compliment, Elsa continued to design and create clothing for herself and her friends. In 1925, Elsa was asked to design for a small Parisian fashion house owned by an American friend. Through no fault of Elsa’s designs, however, the house was forced to close in 1926 for financial reasons. Undeterred, Schiaparelli created and presented her first collection from her attic apartment in 1927. The collection included hand knitted sweaters complete with geometric designs which were featured in French Vogue the next month. Schiaparelli’s sweaters were designed using a special knit which meant they kept their shape for longer, a feature uncommon in any other knitwear.

In the spring of 1927, she continued to showcase her collections, broadening the variety into skirts, wool cardigan jackets and accessories. In August of that year, she included a sweater with the illusion of a white bow knitted into a black background. This sweater proved immensely popular and was illustrated in Vogue in December 1927 with the caption “artistic masterpiece.” The year after she added bathing suits, beach pyjamas, tweed sport suits, two-piece linen dresses, coats, and ski costumes to her collection.

In1929 moved two floors down from her attic building in exchange for salons and workrooms. In 1930 and 1931, Elsa continued to make advancements in practical sportswear. Designs included a backless bathing suit that encompassed a patented invisible brassiere, and a tennis costume with a divided skirt, an unseen trend in women’s clothing. Lili de Alvarez shocked the fashion world by wearing Schiaparelli’s divided tennis skirt to a tournament in London. Inspired by the success of her sportswear collections, Elsa introduced evening wear to her collection in 1931: reversible black and white gowns with draping trains that hooked up at the waist for practicality when dancing.

The next year Schiaparelli opened a small shop where she sold accessories at slightly lower prices than in the main showrooms. By this point Elsa had 400 employees working in eight different workshops. In 1933, she returned to New York where her designs were already popular.

Schiaparelli developed a fascination with the use of fasteners and experimented with different buttons, clips, slides and elastic inserts in skirts which, ironically, replaced the need for any sort of fastening. In 1935, she moved to a much larger space which was transformed into 3 showrooms, offices and workrooms. The lower floor was transformed into boutiques, the first one like it, called the Schiap Shop. In celebration of the opening, Elsa designed cotton and silk fabrics printed with her own press clippings. She also introduced evening gowns made of draped fabric.

In September 1939, France and England declared war on Germany and Elsa’s Spring 1940 collection had a military theme with ‘trench’ brown and camouflage print taffetas. In July of 1940, Elsa sailed to New York to begin a lecture tour called ‘Clothes and the Woman.’  However at the beginning of 1941 she sailed back to Europe only to return to New York in May. She lived in the city until the end of the war where she volunteered at various war-relief organisations. In1945, the end of World War 2, she returned to Paris to find the mood of fashion had been altered completely by the crisis. The look recalled the petticoats, gloves, and corsets of 30 years before, a style that Schiaparelli had never favoured. Although she continued to present collections, her financial situation failed and in December 1954, she was forced to close the house. However she did not fade into the background, as up until her death, she continued to be visited by celebrities in her lavish Parisian apartment and a house she owned in Tunisia. Elsa travelled the globe, attended many social events, including major fashion shows. Although the house closed in 1954, her style never faded and she continued to be an inspiration even after her death at the age of 83, on the 13^th of November, 1973.

1940-1945

1940-1945

·         Wide shoulders emphasised more than ever before.

·         Skirt hems only just covered the knee.

·         High neckline, remained throughout the decade.

·         1942: The angular, masculine line suited the war era as women began to take on men’s roles.

·         1943: In the fourth year of the war, fabric became an expensive commodity.

·         Magazines began to give advice on recycling old clothing.

·         Clothing made from two different fabrics so they can be made using parts of older garments.

·         1944: On-going shortage of fabric.

·         Close fitting garments made of two different fabrics.

·         Shoes recycled and done up making them look large.

·         Fashion magazines tried to mask these necessities as current trends.

1930-1940

1930-1940

      ·         Depression began in the 1930’s

·         Shapes of the 1920’s were forgotten to make way for more sinuous shapes and longer hemlines.

·         Relaxed fit remained.

·         Designers experimented with new cuts and fabrics.

·         For evening the bias cut was favoured. (created by Vionnet)

·         Silk velvet or silk satin used for evening gowns.

·         Synthetic fabrics such as rayon and nylon were common for everyday garments.

·         After 1935, zippers were used for ease instead of hook and eye fastenings.

·         Zips grew to be design elements.

·         Costume jewellery, popularized by Chanel, became an accessory staple.

·         By 1938, small shoulder pads were in.

·         Movies influenced how women dressed and thought of fashion.

·         Women desired to look like their screen idols.

·         Prompted many Hollywood courtiers to produce clothing for the mass market through department stores.

·         Popular movie inspired looks: full length garden party dress, picture hat, wool suits, fur collars, and negligees.

·         World War 2 began 1939

1920-1930

1920-1930

·         World War 1 ending was still very much on everyone’s minds, meaning the excitement remained.

·         Fashion responded by dropping waists to high hip level.

·         Dresses became unfitted.

·         Certain gowns held onto the 1910’s style, but most trends leaned towards simplicity.

·         Simple bodices were made using only a few tucks for shaping at the shoulders or a small gather at the side seam.

·         Skirt hem lines worn above the ankle.

·         Necklines: simple scoop/V neck.

·         Sleeves both long and straight or a bell shape.

·         Chiffons, soft velvets, lightweight wools, light silks, and soft cottons used.

·         Dresses simple in construction, but detail was used on the surface such as embroidery, and beading for evening wear.

·         Fabric manipulation such as pin-tucks or pulled threadwork used on gowns.

·         Semi sheer dresses were worn over matching slips.

·         ‘Flapper era’ established in 1926.

·         Drop waist continued.

·         Skirts and bodices became more complex with circular flounces, seaming and floating panels.

·         Decorative seaming, contrasting fabrics, and overlays grew in popularity.

·         Quality was expressed through fabric instead of cut.

·         Construction expressed through fabric manipulation.

·         Time consuming and expensive beading was greatly popular, for dance dresses especially.

·         Skirt lengths, which some considered indecent, were suppressed in 1928/1929 and asymmetrical hemlines (knee length at front, longer at back) made an appearance.

·         Waistlines gradually rose to the natural waist.

1910-1920

1910-1920

·         Hobble + lampshade skirt became popular.

·         Developing interest in asymmetrical draping techniques.

·         Even less boning used in corsets – used for supporting shape as opposed to changing it completely.

·         Suits fashionable for daywear.

·         Walking became easier as skirt hems were raised to the ankle.

·         First World War began 1914.

·         Skirt hems rose to well above the ankle.

·         Bodices leaned towards the higher waist.

·         Skirts full and tiered.

·         Other popular fancies: bat-wing sleeves, over-drapes and flying panel skirts.

·         Wool and linen favoured for practicality.

·         Asymmetrical designs used for bodices and skirts were made in satin, taffeta, chiffon and light-weight silks, with washable cotton used throughout hot summers for ease.

·         World War 2 ended 1918.

·         Early Art-Deco inspired prints were used post war years.

·         Driving clothes used to protect against dust were needed due to the rising number of people driving cars.

Style: 1900-1910

1900-1910

The Victorian era drew to a close at the beginning of the Twentieth century, and it also brought with it the end, and beginning, of new fashions.

·         Skirts and dresses were elongated at the back to form a train.

·         Skirts silhouette: fitted and the hip using pleating & smocking

·         Fullness in the skirt was only below the knee

·         For decoration, techniques such as tucks, hem ruffles, lace insertions and buttons were used.

·         In the daytime, ladies adorned high necked dressed and the chest was undefined, and the boning in the bodice would often finish below the waist.

·         Bodices often presented wide cape-like collars that fell over the shoulders.

·         Sleeves fitted from shoulder to elbow, with fullness from the elbow to the wrist.

·         Double sleeves sometimes worn: small gathered under sleeve revealed at the wrist.

·         Evening dresses much more daring: often worn off the shoulder with/without sleeves.

·         Edwardian era began 1905.

·         Small balloon sleeves.

·         Nipped in waists not seen since 1895.

·         Skirts were full, although the fabrics used were soft and allowed to drape.

·         Paul Poiret revolutionised design – around 1906.

·         Paul Poiret showed slim, straight skirts.

·         Fewer undergarments worn.

·         High boned collar disappeared.

·         High waist/empire line grew in popularity.

·         Lace/cord work/applique/beading/tucking/insertion were popular on gowns.