1940's Dresses

Even someone who knows hardly anything about the 1940s will probably know that roughly

half of it was consumed by a major war and that the rest was just a big period of recovery and rebuilding, but also a time of hope. The fashion of the period matched this very closely material was hard to come by and was generally quite unadorned; but women found ways of making it glamorous and as much fun to wear as possible. This was still a time when most women would wear a skirt or a dress and wear a hat. Women only wore trousers when involved in manual work, and during the war they were increasingly doing manual labour like working on the land, making war supplies or roles that men would of done had they been around, and it is possibly this series of events that started the ball rolling to the point where trousers for women started to be accepted as more normal.

One of the things that first strikes you when you see the typical 1940s dress is that it was made to fit the body snugly, with minimal frills and flaps. The fact that materials were hard to come by is usually given as the reason for this style, but dresses from the pre-war period were still pretty narrow, although they were typically full length. So the shorter but tight nature of the 1940s dress was influenced both by the existing fashions and post-war supply restrictions. If you look at what came next the 1950s it could be argued that this style was enforced, waiting to pop like a bottle of champagne, but women probably didn't realise it at the time.

The classic look of the 1940s dress was sensible, direct, frugal and more than practical. Sleeves and skirt both tended to end at the elbows and knees respectively, and it would not have been all that unusual to have sturdy zips and useful pockets everywhere. Colouring would not necessarily have been as drab as you might imagine dyes were available and pale blues, greens and reds would have been common. That said, if you are planning on scouring the vintage clothing stores to get a dress with that authentic wartime feel so real that it sounds like the Glenn Miller Orchestra, something in the service shades navy blue, airforce grey or army green is essential.

As this asture period ended, the shape of things to come in women's dress was looked clearly more optimistic. Dresses were definitely getting a little longer, although they did not reach 1930s lengths. And details such as pleats, which can dramatically increased fabric volume, began to make a return to the styles of the era.

It is worth remembering also that for most working-class women, shop-bought dresses were very rare many or most women made their own clothes at home. This means that dresses and skirts would have been made in an exact size to fit well, but it also means that you should pick carefully when seeking genuine vintage items when shopping today. But when you eventually find that dress that completely befits this hugely influential decade in women's fashion, you won't look back.

by: Callum Asterman

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