World War II fashion and style

During the First World War, despite the economic difficulties in many European countries, life in the rear went on almost as before. Women from the privileged strata of society dressed up, and the fashion houses continued their work. In the letters of the war years that have survived to this day, one can easily verify this, since women described entertainment and their purchased outfits.

The situation was different during the Second World War. During these years, hostilities covered vast areas of Europe. The lives of many were in danger, economic difficulties befell almost all countries. Due to the hostilities, the production of civilian clothing almost ceased. Many women donned men's military uniforms and joined the ranks of the defenders of their Fatherland.

Women's clothing has undergone significant changes, although there were no major upheavals in the fashion of the 40s, but the masculine style was clearly indicated. Civilian clothing was supplemented with military details - belts, buckles, epaulets, patch pockets. Women learned to be frugal, each became a designer for herself. A habit of walking bareheaded, or at least wearing a scarf twisted in the shape of a turban, has developed.

Clothes from the early forties to 1946 were shortened and widened at the shoulders, the waist was clearly marked. A thin waist emphasized fragility and grace, because even in a military uniform, a woman remained a woman.

In women's toilets, the waist was pulled together with a wide belt, a contrast was created between wide shoulders, a sun skirt and a thin waist. The shoulders were extended with puffs or special pads called "shoulders". In a coat, in order to emphasize the horizontal line of the shoulders, collars were sometimes completely absent, even in winter coats and fur coats.

Short sleeves-wings appeared on summer dresses. The kimono sleeve, which at that time was called the "bat", was lined to clearly preserve the volume and wide shoulders.

Various pockets, especially large ones, as well as collars, the ends of which reached the middle of the bodice, became popular details in the fashion of the 40s. The suits were with a very long jacket, often close to men's jackets, and also with wide shoulders, and a short skirt. A feature of the 40s was the wearing of a jacket not only with a skirt, but also with an ordinary colorful dress.

Skirts were popular - sun-flared, pleated, corrugated. Draperies, gathers, wedges, folds, pleats were especially preferred. Evening dresses, as they were, were long skirts to the floor, tight hips and flared at the bottom, narrow sleeves made of lace, bare shoulders or a kimono sleeve. Pants came into everyday use, as stockings were just a luxury.

The silhouette changed - its shape could be rectangular, more often this shape belonged to a coat; in the form of two triangles, the tops of which are connected together at the waistline (coat and dress); in the form of a square (jacket of a square suit with a narrow short pencil skirt). These silhouettes emphasized long thin legs with shoes with thick soles (platforms) made of cork or wood, high-heeled shoes, as well as sports flat-soled shoes or boots with tops. This shape of the silhouette lasted until 1946.

Women loved these geometric lines so much that the transition to smoother and more natural lines after 1946 was not easy for many. In some countries, especially badly damaged during the war, coats were sewn from woolen or even cotton blankets.

Elegant dresses and even linen were made of parachute silk. Dropped parachutes were the perfect fabric for creating beautiful dresses.And the first to use them were French and German women, although severe punishment was provided for picking up a parachute in Germany.

Wool, leather, nylon and silk were strategically important materials in the 1940s. That is why, when there was not enough leather in fascist Italy, cork heels appeared on shoes from Ferragamothat Adolf Hitler's girlfriend loved so much Eva Braun.

Was there jewelry during the war? Certainly. Those who could afford a lot, even during the war, wore gold and silver chains - this was the most fashionable decoration, and those who had constrained circumstances - simple metal chains.

Brooches and clips were popular among women of the 40s. The women decorated their outfits themselves - some with a fringe made of stretched threads, it is difficult to even say from which product, who embroidered with Angora wool, and who with artificial flowers. Flowers, flowers, nets for hair, knitted by their own hands, it was they who rescued women in those difficult war years. Both hair and hats were decorated with nets.

These things have achieved especially high skill in Poland. Buttons in the 40s were also special - covered with the same fabric as the fabric of the dress (where to find the same buttons at that time). Visiting dresses had many of these small round buttons. Women wore bags on a shoulder strap, sometimes they themselves were sewn from the same material as the coat. Fur was rare. But those who could afford it certainly wore it. They especially loved fur muffs.

High-quality materials disappeared during the war in European countries, production switched to the manufacture of strategically important products and, of course, weapons. Therefore, in the 40s, combined products were especially fashionable - fabrics and fur from old stocks, fabrics of different textures and colors, tulle became fashionable for elegant dresses. Indeed, in order to appear at the evening celebration, one could sacrifice his luxurious curtain.

Women tried to find opportunities and showed unusual ingenuity and imagination, who was capable of what. All were united in one thing - in color. Many wore dark colors, the main color being black. The most fashionable was the combination of black and yellow, white almost disappeared.

However, in spite of all misfortunes, a person, like a blade of grass to the sun, is drawn to life, to love. And this is confirmed by songs of the war years, music, poetry, films.

In Russia, and then in the Soviet Union, there were few opportunities to afford from what was said about the fashion of 1940-1946, mainly "quilted jackets", gymnastics, short skirts with opposite folds, tightened with a military belt, a headscarf or a hat with earflaps, rough boots and a desire to win. The only thing that was possible for girls of the 40s was to put on their favorite pre-war dress and curl their hair in curls, which were fashionable at that time of war. And what happiness was during a short respite on the fronts of our Motherland, when there was an opportunity for an accordion player to stretch the furs of his friend, an accordion, and for our girls (our grandmothers and great-grandmothers) to dance, or to hear the words of songs that warm the soul.

And the women of Russia began to dress in the style of the military of the 40s only after the war, at a time when Dior offered the women of Europe his "New Look"... At this time, the first fashion magazines appeared in Russia, brought from Europe by the wives of Soviet officers. There appeared those combined dresses that practical German and Austrian women sewed in the military 40s, a horizontal line of shoulders with "shoulders" or, as we called them, "lindens" (lime shoulders). After the war, our young grandmothers took out everything they had left from the old wardrobe, altered, combined, embroidered.

The most devastating war in European history was over ...

Fashion, contrary to the claims that it is independent of politics, is directly related to it. Here you can quote the words of the famous French writer Anatole France - show me the clothes of a certain country, and I will write its history.