1950's fashion

   


After World War II, there was a huge push to get women back into the home and the kitchen, to do the traditionally womanly duties of raising children and looking after the house. In magazines, television programs, books and other media, the housewife, or "homemaker," was lauded as the supreme goal; going against one's "femininity".

   1950s fashion was an integral part of this push. Unlike the boxy silhouettes of rationed 1940s uniforms, 1950s fashions emphasized fragile femininity, in the form of soft shoulders, stiletto heels, wrist-length gloves and full, billowing skirts. Even working women's outfits hinted at fragility, with pencil-slim skirts and little hats with veil and feathers.

   The "New Look" for 1950s women actually originated in the 1940s, with Christian Dior's seminal collection called Corolle. This collection contrasted the austere, "make do and mend" aesthetic of 1940s fashion with full skirts, soft shoulders, and a tight waist, emphasizing the bust and the hourglass-shaped figure.

   Dior would go on to invent more haute couture 1950s fashions, with names like the Princess Line, the Profile Line, the A Line, and the H Line. His influence remained high throughout the 1950s. Other fashion houses were forced to follow his innovations.

The most fashionable color scheme of the year was black and white, used day and night, winter and summer, and in either proportion—black with white accessories, or white with black accessories. There was a big wave of Spanish colours, like a rich yellow or ruby red worn with accents of black. This Spanish influence was also felt in the widespread use of ball fringe, jet and passementerie, and many hats were of Spanish inspiration, resembling those worn by matadors

Another feature of 1950 fashions that persisted from the 1920s revival was sleevelessness. Sleeveless dresses were worn for all four seasons of the year. Women liked them because of the easy fit they gave through the shoulders. Sleeveless blouses were also worn and, for evening, harness tops that were hardly more than yokes around the neck.

This is a fashion show taken in New York of 1950's fashion.