A lesson in 1950s women’s fashion history: Dior’s New Look, Hollywood Bombshells, and The Golden Era of Couture. Not to argue over details, but the 1950s’ appearance truly reflected a few years earlier. When scholars discuss 1950s fashion history, the period is typically described as 1947–1957 — and coincidentally fits the years Christian Dior ran his design line. Following the death of the designer early in 1957, 21-year-old Yves Saint Laurent took over at the Dior, rounding off the decade with his beatnik-inspired collection of 1960.
Fashion peaked during this notorious period, reflecting the world’s determination to left wartime ration and austerity policies behind. The fashion business produced, and then some; the world sorely needed beauty.
Celebrating the conclusion of World War II meant honoring women as women, capital W — with nipped waists, voluminous skirts, well done-up hair, and accessories for every conceivable occasion. Better or worse, the synchronization of hats, gloves, and handbags — the not-a-hair-out-of-place norm of the age — gave women countless stylish and cosmetic options. The decade may be regarded as a step back for women who pursued heavenly ether-levels of beauty, but boy, did it provide some amazing looks.
1950 Women’s Fashion: The Hourglass Silhouette Returns
DIOR’S NEW VIEW HIGHLIGHTS
The 1950s were dominated by the shape Christian Dior proposed in his 1947 New Look Corelle Line collection. The nipped-in-the-waist outfits, which accentuated the feminine form, reflected a fast-paced pendulum swing; in the 1940s, men’s designs with clean wartime shoulders and slender hips dominated. Now hips were stretched with tulle and crinolines adding weight, waists were snatched and shortened to Victorian proportions, and shoulders were softened with padding that contoured them. Objectives: a profoundly “feminine” form.
“It begins at the waistline,” Vogue’s Paris Collection story from the March 1, 1952 edition concisely says. Right away, the waist attracts the attention. It’s newly high, newly low, or both; however, it’s always there, constantly accentuated, and therefore fashion seems more feminine than it has in years.
Golden Age in Couture
PARIS RECOVER AFTER ITS OCCUPATION
“The Chambre Syndicale de la Couture has asked that any media displaying Paris models from this collection print the following line — to apply to all models shown: “ Copyrighted model — reproduction restricted.” Obviously, this does not apply to stores and manufacturers that have acquired the original designs. Printed in “Paris Collections Note” in Vogue’s September 15, 1951 edition, this PSA was
Stated differently, the designs Paris couturiers were relentlessly putting out as their city recovered from their devastatingly deballassing German Occupation was fueling the world’s ravenous thirst.
A clandestine industry of Parisian couture knock-offs grew and people with photographic memory were even sent by American department shops to the Parisian press for weeks to rapidly sketch what they saw to be swiftly replicated.
Scholars of fashion history now see the ten years 1947–1957 — the ten years Monsieur Dior was designing — as Couture’s Golden Age. Couturiers were fashioning the period, and it was ostentatious clothes at outrageous rates for luxurious lifestyle. By the conclusion of the decade, young fashion and the Space era look will replace the perfect beauty created during the golden era when designers used a high degree of miraculous fairness as though pushing the boundaries of beauty.
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A stricter silhouette starts to show.
CHANEL SLIPS SLIDES BACK INTO FASHION
A fresh silhouette was developing half a decade into the New Look. Only for so long can fashion be current. The strict hourglass started to soften and lose its sharpness. Dior brought in Y-lines and H-lines. Starting with two stacked inverted triangles with touching points, the decade finished with the dominant profile of an upside-down triangle — a trapeze form or A-line silhouette that glided away from the body.
