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September 19, 1949
Lisa Fonssagrives, the highest-paid, highest-praised high-fashion model in the business, considered by many of her colleagues the greatest fashion model of all time.
(In 1949, at least)
In case you have come here looking for 1940s costume ideas, here
are some 1940s costumes at BuyCostumes.com!
Hankies for Sport
Another phase of the current fad for the girls to copy boys' fashions is found in handkerchiefs. For sports use there are being made women's Irish linen handkerchiefs with the hand-rolled hems and the corded borders so popular with the men. The only difference is in the size. The men's are 19 inches square while the women's are only 15 inches.
Read more about 1940s Fashions in
Fashions Of A Decade: The 1940s (Hardcover) Chronicles clothing
trends of the 1940s and the influence of World War II on styles of dress,
availability of many fabrics, and the new ideas of designers at war. Author:
Baker, Patricia. Published On: 1992/02/01. Language: ENGLISH
Link to Book
For The Graduation Ball
Dear Pattie,
When you and your mother go looking for your new formal, remember this: Color
counts much more than the way the dress is made these days, for nearly all the
frocks in the stores are smart. Besides, you slender young girls of the teen age
have no figure worries.
I'll tell you what looks striking with a very clear skin
and brown hair and blue eyes - that's a fresh pink dress. And a heavy weight
crepe will be a good fabric to choose. But pink needs something to accent
it, like a bit of gold braiding with jewels. See what you find and like. And
remember this, you never can go wrong on a glorified shirt maker style.
Now, after the color, the next important thing is
slippers and a gay doo dab for your hair and a pretty little evening bag. But
you can't pick these until the dress is bought So write again.
About your
Christmas pearls, indeed, you can wear them with sweaters. Every schoolgirl does
this.
Mary Hampton, 1941
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RETRO-SPECTIVE THE DECADES PAST:
Fashions of the 1940s
Vintage Dior to Die For
Late 1940s Rare Christian Dior Haute Couture Evening
Gown, model 00840.
The strapless dress is made from blue-grey organza,
and embroidered with iridescent sequins in the shapes of stripes and
polka dots.
A whalebone bodice attaches to the full petticoat by a
series of tiny snap buttons. Side closure with hooks. Made Of Silk.
Source: From the Long Live Christian Dior Spring-Summer
YOOX Collection
Left: This smart coat-and-dress combination is beige. The
dress in crepe and the coat in wool. Brown woven-in plaid is featured on
the jacket while the dress has radiating tucks on the yoke and large
buttons. Sketched in a Kansas City shop. (1941)
The Class Of 1948
Would you have a true picture of the class of 1948? This class of 119
sweet girl graduates has attained a height rarely, if ever before
reached by any
Girl's Latin School group. It has had the broadest
influence in the shaping of senior classes and has affected the lives of
many in this school by reason of its weightiness.
These surprising
statements are supported by statistics which show that our class has a
height of 669 feet; it has a waistline of 3,068 inches; and it weighs
14,757 pounds. No other senior class, moreover, has looked out on life
with greater understanding; our aggregate shoe size is 846.
Such a class as this naturally consists of the most learned and vivid
personalities that can be found in any group, if indeed a group equal to
ours in any respect can be found.
 True to the methods of compilers of statistics, we polled this unusual
group in an effort to gain an insight into the innermost thoughts of our
illustrious contemporaries and to discover what that phenomenon, the
average senior, was like.
We learned that the average senior in the
class of 1948 is 5'5" tall, and that her weight fluctuates between 123
and 128 pounds, the change to the latter figure invariably
corresponding with a vacation.
She wears size 7A shoe, the perfect size
for a modern young lady. Her eyes are brown, and her naturally straight
brown hair is worn in curls, which infallibly disappear on rainy days.
Our average girl prefers a gay time to a quiet evening at home.
***
Winter Fashion East Coast 1948
HAVE A 40s FASHION PHOTO?
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on in!
>>FASHION STATEMENTS<<
COLOR IS INDIVIDUALITY! - Color runs rampant this season in sandals, pumps and sport shoes. And
that will certainly satisfy your desire for individuality and smartness!
North Carolina, May, 1942.
Fashion Sense - Hats and HairdoDid you ever see a pretty girl perfectly turned out in tailored suit and hat but spoiling the whole effect with a burst-mattress style of hairdo? Or did you ever weep for the otherwise attractive maid who insisted on a mannish haircut even when wearing the most feminine and frilly of evening gowns?
Girls who would be well-dressed remember that the hairdo should match the hat and the hat should complete the dress.
There's a growing union between
milliners and hairdresser. The milliners point out that it's no use to design a sleek and sophisticated hat for a lady who persists in a frowsy hairdo.
And the hairdressers wail that their best efforts often are ruined when a customer tops off a modish coiffure with a hat dreamed up from a nightmare.
One famous hairdresser,
Antoine, has solved the grievous problem by designing hats and hairdos at one fell swoop. Many noted milliners, in desperation, now are advising their clients as to the general type of coiffure suitable for each new hat.
Things to remember are that a tailored suit and severe hat call for a sleek coiffure, of the not-a-hair-out-of-place school. An exotic evening gown, on the other hand, should be matched in mood by a softly feminine hairdo.
When you buy a new hat, be sure It matches your hairdo. Or else make the hairdo match the hat
February 13, 1942
Lana Turner Inspired Simulated Sapphire Earrings. These earrings will
help you "Step back into the golden age of gorgeous with this set of
earrings inspired by silver screen starlet
Lana Turner."
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Meanwhile, Back in France
Bathing Beauties circa 1948
Voted "Best Dressed" of her class of 1948. Boston, Massachusetts
1940s Women's Suits
Skirt length is below the knee, jacket is worn long - to below the hips,
but is tailored at the waist. Shoulders are emphasized and padded or
puffed at the sleeve.
The Rag Industry - News
"Do you think that New York's Fashion Futures" presentation will influence style trends really in this country, "and in this
hemisphere?" was a leading question shot at Mayor LaGuardia of
New York by one of the members of the alert style, radio and newsreel audience. "I certainly do," he shot back, with a twinkle in his eye. More than once the mayor emphasized the fact that he intended to make fashions available to all women, everywhere, even on farms and in rural districts. "The problem of manufacturing in this country as distinguished from designing clothes in Paris," he said, "is making clothes for more women, More than once he reiterated his conviction, "that we could produce more clothes, cheaper, better styled and above all, available to everybody at a low price.
The Hammond Times,
December 27th, 1940
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A
Reverse Pump in Brown or Blue Linen with White Toe and Heel, North
Carolina, May, 1942. Price $7.95.
More 1940s Shoes.