Women's 1950s Fashion Designerswoemn Fashion Desgners in 1950

Dolores's interest in fashion history dates from her teenage years when vintage clothes was widely available in austerity stores.

A 1950s clothing ad. — A 1950s wear advertisement.

Digital Comic Museum; Fox Characteristic Syndicate; wikimedia commons; CCA

Women'south fashions of the 1950s reflected a complicated mix of conservatism and glamour—a girl-next-door freshness as well every bit alluring femininity. Women who had lived through the privations of the Nifty Low and Globe State of war 2 were now able to afford new styles and embraced them all, from the elegance of one thousand, sweeping skirts to shorts and trousers.

An hourglass effigy dominated the look of the 1950s. With cinched-in waistlines and accentuated hips and busts, the style was a decidedly mature one.

Despite the mature, bourgeois look of major designers, a new feeling for casual attire crept onto the scene, as women increasingly began to wear pants, shorts, sportswear, and shoulder-revealing sundresses.

Hallmarks of 1950s Fashion

An hourglass figure predominated
Skirts were big with crinolines or slim pencil skirts
Women increasingly wore trousers
Shirtwaist dresses were pop
Hats and gloves e'er worn for apparel or business

1950s housewife

Arthur: Tetra Pak on wikimedia (CCA)

Historical Context for 1950s Manner

In the 1950s, economic gains created a new consumer-driven guild and enabled a family unit to live quite comfortably on one income. Women who had taken factory work during Earth War Ii quit or were fired. As people strove for a conservative simplicity, the housewife became the feminine ideal of the mean solar day. Though the suburban lifestyle may seem shallow to some, and restrictive for women, it must be remembered that for 20 years people had been living in fear of poverty, and they had but emerged from the staggering losses of World War II.

The underlying fear of the nuclear bomb, the changes wrought by the Civil Rights Motion, and the perhaps overblown threat of communism took a backseat to a yearning for the simple, idealized life depicted in mass media. Television transformed entertainment and the news, influencing trends and depicting fashionable homemakers.

The New Look

Christian Dior introduced the New Look in 1947. With its tight cinched waist, billowing skirt, and pronounced bosom line, the New Look recalled historic styles of the mid-19th century and set the tone for the side by side decade.

Huge skirts needed the back up of petticoats made of nylon mesh. Hoops, or crinoline cages, a relic of the 1850s, were brought dorsum. Sometimes, petticoats showed beneath the brim hem, trimmed in pretty colors.

Wearable styles during the war years had featured irksome colors, squared shoulders, and a minimal use of fabric and embellishments due to wartime restrictions. The New Wait offered a new opulence and a new await at femininity.

Pencil Skirts and Big Skirts

Tailored suits appeared very feminine, with tight waists and accentuated hips. Though Coco Chanel introduced her more comfortable, almost boxy, suit, relieved past a blouse with a pussycat bow, the long, slim look of a nipped-in waist and narrow brim remained a popular silhouette.

For day wear and casual occasions, a broad skirt was worn without the large crinolines, for a soft, draped advent. Shirtwaist dresses,frequently worn past TV housewives, were a popular alternative to the more exaggerated styles.

Pop Prints of the 1950s

Afterwards the austere colors of the 1940s, prints came back in a big way. From stripes to florals, prints generally appeared in colors on a white background.

Wild floral skirts, like the one above, contrasted with a plainly-colored, short-sleeved knit top.
Stripes of all kinds appeared, from bold blackness-and-white horizontals to thin black or dark blueish stripes on a calorie-free background, often worn with 3/4-length sleeves.
Polka dots showed upwardly in contrasting colors, like reddish on white (and vice versa), or dark bluish and white, or white on white with nubby or textured dots.
Embroidered designs and appliqués were often featured near the hem of a wide skirt. A felt poodle appliqué became the iconic symbol of 50s fashion and is often worn today for 50s parties or for Halloween.

Dress circa 1954

Deutsche Fotothek/ Rossing (CCA)

Fabric and Technology of the 1950s

New advances in mass production allowed for more garments to be manufactured at greater speed and in greater quantity than e'er before. As product speed increased, clothing became more than affordable, and off-the-rack manufacturers hurried to copy the designs of haute couture.

Fabric Types

Nylon, no longer needed for wartime parachutes, became a manner staple used to make hose, lingerie, blouses, and sportswear.

Though cotton fiber was still a popular option for summer clothing, Dacron and rayon reduced ironing chores with their no-wrinkle textures. Laundry chores became simpler with the new drip-dry garments. The new fabric blends included two-way stretch materials that offered figure control for swimwear.

Constructed fibers and blends cutting into the wool industry's market share while freeing consumers from pesky moths that, in the by, could destroy wool garments stored in the cupboard.

Woman in shorts 1952 — Adult female in shorts 1952

Harry Paulson at the John Oxley Library of Queensland (Public Domain)

Women in Pants

When women pulled on pants to work in the factories during Earth War II, they discovered a new kind of liberty and comfort. From loose hostess pants to tight knit slacks and short shorts, trousers made inroads into women's fashions.

The side zipper was a popular closure as it left a smooth front end and seemed dressier than front-zipped jeans. Straps attached to the hems of slacks pulled wrinkles of the material, for a sleek, tapered look.

Women at home or at the beach wore curt shorts with tucked-in blouses, or shirts tied at the midriff. Pedal pushers ended merely below the knee, while Capri pants concluded at the lower calf, in a coincidental all the same sophisticated style. But for dress occasions outside the habitation, for going downtown or to church, dresses were notwithstanding a must.

Little hats and summer gloves — Petty hats and summer gloves

Deutsche Fotothek (CCA)

Accessories of the 1950s

Gloves. A well-dressed woman wore gloves and a hat exterior the home for all but the most coincidental occasions. Long, elbow-length gloves appeared for formal and evening wear with short-sleeved dresses or strapless gowns. Short gloves worked with suits or long-sleeved garments and were too worn in warmer months.
Hats. The New Wait premiered below wide-brimmed garden-style hats. But smaller hats prevailed for virtually of the 1950s. Tidy little hats adorned with veils were popular and came in an assortment of colors, ofttimes pastels for leap and summer.
Spectacles became a manner argument and featured new designs similar the true cat'south-eye fashion with flared, pointed edges. Frames came in a wide variety of colors.
Jewelry was classic and understated. Pearls or faux pearls were the iconic necklace of the 1950s. Plastic pop beads were a pop costume accompaniment. Slim watches and subdued rings, along with clip-on earrings, were bourgeois and elegant.
Shoes. High heels worn for dressy occasions had rounded toes, often with peep-toes. Only a new sense of comfort crept into women's footwear. Espadrilles were a popular selection for beach and vacation habiliment. Tennis shoes were worn around the habitation and garden and came in uncomplicated styles for maximum comfort. Saddle oxfords, a relic of the 1940s, were popular with the younger set, often paired with brusque socks called bobby socks.

Undergarments

A well dressed woman wore a diversity of undergarments including a bra and panties. A bra added bust support and helped create the hour glass figure that was the style of the day. Slips were worn under pencil skirts while petticoats helped to maintain the shape of a New Wait style skirt.

Garter belts supported nylon stockings. For casual clothing, socks were worn with pants. Teenagers wore brusque socks called Bobby socks with New Await fashion skirts.

To maintain the tiny waist needed to wait good in well-nigh styles, women wore girdles. A girdle could fit slightly above the waist or just to the waistline. Some girdles extended down to the thigh. Girdles were worn with dresses, skirts, and pants to create a polish, slim wait.

Short hair was often worn curled. — Brusque hair was frequently worn curled.

wikimedia commons (CCA)

Hairstyles

Long hair, often worn by young girls, was drawn up into ponytails, or pulled into a French twist for formal occasions.
The Italian cut featured short, loose curls for a sophisticated nonetheless free wait.
Bangs, worn with both curt and longer hairstyles, were worn short and curled.
The page male child was a medium length manner that was sleek with the ends turned under.
Black women and white women with very curly hair frequently had their hair chemically straightened or used hot combs for a sleek expect.
The bouffant and bubble cut relied on teasing (dorsum combing) and hairspray to maintain a poufy hair style.

Influential Style Designers of the 1950s

While Christian Dior gave nascence to 50s fashion with his New Look in 1947, many other designers influenced the decade.

Clare McCardell, an American designer, had introduced a casual country-daughter await to clothing in the 40's using denim and gingham. She connected to design clothing throughout the 50'due south.

Cristóbal Balenciaga gave united states the 3/iv length sleeve. His designs offered a looser style that released women from stiffly structured tailored garments. Combining a loose glaze with a pencil skirt created a unique new appearance. His 1957 sack clothes without a waistline evolved into the shift-style dress that became so popular in the 1960s.

Hubert de Givenchy was famous for creating habiliment for his favorite muses Audrey Hepburn and Jackie Kennedy. He entered the Paris couture scene at an early age with designs based on separates with a youthful appeal.

Coco Chanel reestablished herself as a designer after Globe War II with article of clothing clothing. Her indigestible suits with contrasting trim, worn with a soft blouse adorned past a pussy-cat bow, were created for ease of movement. In 1955, she introduced her signature quilted handbag with a gilt chain strap; it is nevertheless pop.

1950s Mode Icons

Movie stars stood as fashion icons of the 50s, wearing clothing on and off the movie set created for them by manner designers.

Audrey Hepburn, whose look inspired Givenchy, created an air of youthful grace. With her slim figure, unusual in a time that celebrated a mature hr-glass silhouette, Audrey became a fashion icon yet admired and copied today.
Grace Kelly'south classic clothing style came beyond wonderfully in films like Rear Window. Her elegant still natural style reflected an inner beauty. Hermes created the famous Kelly purse for the actress-turned-princess in order to shield her "babe crash-land" from the press.
Barbara Billingsley, or as the earth knows her, June Cleaver, was a housewife who wore pencil skirts and pearls to clean her home. The iconic 50s Boob tube female parent tin can exist seen in reruns for a keen look at how women were supposed to dress.
Doris Twenty-four hours symbolized a salubrious, girl-adjacent-door beauty combined with a perky kind of sensuality and was often portrayed in films and flick magazines wearing the casual vesture styles that became then popular in the 50s.

Movie Poster from Funny Face

(Public domain) on wikimedia commons

Alternative Fashion

"Crackpot" was the proper noun coined to describe a group of intellectuals, artists, and poets in the 1950s. Much similar bohemians of other eras, the beatniks stood against mass consumerism and the conservative ethics of the 24-hour interval.

Female person beatniks rejected fashion trends and wore their hair long and natural. They did not use makeup. Unlike the bohemians (and after hippies) who played with historic styles and clothing concepts, the beatniks wore modernistic garments in an austere manner.

Beatniks were oft portrayed in media as cute, funny characters who wore black turtlenecked shirts and played bongos. In the picture show Funny Face, Audrey Hepburn portrayed a beatnik kind of girl who worked in a bookstore.

Grace Kelly (to a higher place) has it all: wasp waist, pearls, gloves, hair curled at the ends.

For Further Reading

Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion; Edited past Valene Steele; Scribner Library

Fashions of a Decade - The 1950s; Patricia Baker; Chelsea Firm; London; 2006

The Fifties; David Halberstam; Ballantine Books; Random House; New York; 1993

Fashionable Clothing From the Sears Catalogs Mid 1950s past Tina Skinner

Stylish Clothing From the Sears Catalogs Early on 1950s by Desire Smith

Fashionable Clothing From the Sears Catalogs Late 1950s by Joy Shih

Questions & Answers

Question: Where tin I go plus size vintage clothes?

Reply: Vintage plus-sized clothes are difficult to notice. In general, American women are taller and heavier than they were in the past. American women counterbalance fifteen pounds more than they did xx years ago with 68% wearing size xiv or above. While the average tiptop was five'3" and weight 140 pounds in the 1960s, today American women average five'4" tall and 168 pounds.

When I was a skinny young affair, I had trouble finding vintage clothing that fit properly due to beingness tall and somewhat broad-shouldered., so you don't take to exist a plus-size to have trouble finding older garments that fit properly.

Some vintage stores are trying to source larger sized vintage clothing due to need. There are some online sites like Ballyhoo Vintage Clothing which offers plus-sized vintage dress from the 1930s through the 1960s. Etsy offers larger sized vintage clothing, particularly garments from the 1970s.

Berriez, a vintage store in Brooklyn, New York sells plus size vintage on its Instagram account. Also check out Belen'south Linens, Bluish Velvet Vintage, and Bloomers and Frocks.

You can also look for retro or vintage way, new clothing fabricated to expect like bodily vintage. If you are looking for the real thing, authentic quondam clothing, exist careful when you shop online. Many sites make it look like the article of clothing is really old when information technology is a reproduction or based on vintage habiliment.