With the United States and allied forces embroiled in World War II, fashion took a back seat to patriotism and the nation dressed down as labor and materials previously used in the fashion industry were redirected to support the war effort.
Before the German occupation of France, the primary role of the American fashion designer was to copy looks from Parisian runways for mass consumption at home. The crippling of French fashion houses, however, freed other designers to develop their own creativity, albeit within the confines of fabric rations and a climate in which fashion was considered a disposable luxury.
In the early 1940s, the federal government restricted the use of natural fibers and limited the amount of fabric that could be used in a single garment.
Designers responded with spare tailoring and V-shaped silhouettes reminiscent of the military uniforms many American men were wearing at the time. Hemlines rose to the knee, skirts were cut close to the hip, jackets were shortened and shoulders were broadened and padded. Sailor motifs and military embellishments appeared for the first time in women’s wear.
Because leather was restricted for overseas use, shoes were made of alternative materials like alligator and mesh and were available in only a handful of colors. Heels were restricted to no more than an inch in height. Hats remained in vogue as a way to offset austere silhouettes, although many were adorned with makeshift decorations including bits of tinfoil, muslim, paper and string.
The McCall’s dress pattern emerged and women dressed themselves and their families in homemade clothes as a Vogue advertising campaign urged Americans to “Mend and Make Do.”
Simply pleated, A-line skirts were topped with demure blouses that often featured full collars and puffed sleeves. At night, swing skirts twirled to Big Band jazz on the dance floors of USO clubs.
Many women continued to wear simple shift or swing dresses while doing housework. Others took up the slack in the workplace and took to wearing slacks themselves. raiding their husband’s closets and modifying menswear patterns to suit their own figures. The look that had raised eyebrows when it was pioneered by Katherine Hepburn and Marlene Dietrich was now considered chic.
Meanwhile, designers like Bonnie Cashin, Vera Maxwell, Claire McCardell, Anne Klein and Tina Leser transformed ready-to-wear clothing’s hand-me-down reputation by showing women how the versatility of coordinated separates could make them appear to have more clothes than they actually did.
The times called for creativity and women responded with elaborately rolled hairstyles and dramatic makeup to counteract their drab wardrobes. Side parts with finger waves were also popular thanks to film starts like Lauren Bacall, Rita Hayworth and Veronica Lake.
Opulent fashion made a comeback in 1947 with the introduction of Christian Dior’s controversial New Look, which preserved broad shoulders and cinched waists, but added long, swirling skirts that demanded yards of fabric.