1950s American Fashion
Grace Kelly, who was award-winning actress and Princess of Monaco said a very independent quote “Women’s natural role is to be the pillar of the family.” (Brainyquotes.com). In the 1950s popular women were considered fashion icons, one of these icons were Grace Kelly. She dressed elegantly with her full skirt dresses, fit and flare dresses, and the tea-length skirts. These fashion icons charmed everyone and had the chance to bring several trends into the world that are still very popular today.
Christian Dior, the fashion designer who has created many brilliant pieces once said “A dress is a piece of ephemeral architecture, designed to enhance the proportions of the female body.” Fashion being a major impact in America brought many different trends to the people and showed their sense of nobility. “At the end
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“...the nation’s leading libraries converted their buildings into fallout shelters and disseminated survival information to millions of Americans.” (Spencer, Brett). While the men worked to earn paychecks for their families, women stayed home to clean the houses and to keep their dresses without a wrinkle on them. “The second half of the 1950s still emphasized women dressing for ‘their men”.” (1950 to 1960). Women during this decade were to look uniquely beautiful , but dress like every other women in America, they had to look attractive and suitable for outgoing errands. “... practical but attractive housedress, not only for household chores but suitable for quick errands or the school run.” (1950 to 1960). The Cold War brought women into where they had to play the role as the uprising wife who would take care of all the cleaning. “Women’s focus was on rearing children and keeping house as they had largely left the war years’ workplace.” (1950 to
“Slacks and Calluses: Our Summer in a Bomber Factory” is a book that describes the summer of two teachers, Constance Bowman Reid and Clara Marie Allen, working in a bomber factory for the military of the United States. This book explains how women’s role in society began to change during the time of World War II. Throughout this book, the author, Constance Bowman Reid, describes the way they were treated due to being female, how the country felt about women going to work in factories during the summer of 1943, and why women decided to work in bomber factories for the US during World War II. Constance Reid describes how there were many things that defined women such as what clothes they wore and what they occupation they carried. During this era, women were known to be classy in ways like females usually wore skirts in public and had careers as nurses or teachers.
During WWII to most men were drafted to join the military. This some what forced many women to take on the jobs most held by men at the time. When the Baby Boom happened, many Americans viewed this as a chance to get women back as household keepers. Many magazines at the time promoted sending women back to housewives. They would post articles like “Cooking To Me Is Poetry” and “Femininity Begins At Home”.
Between 1896 and 1940, the United States experienced a massive economic boom and social changes, causing a greater economic stability and a more rights for women in the society. The front cover of the 1940 Sears Fall Spring portrays an independent woman dressed in formal clothing, walking freely
Gender roles were reasserted in 1950s America postwar. Even if there was an increase in divorce rates popular culture and mythology upheld hetronormative marriage as a key to spiritual, financial and spiritual success. In the 1950s, the term “containment” referred to the foreign policy-driven containment of communism and atomic proliferation. In Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era (1988)
One of the biggest factors that caused the roles of women in the united States to change during the 1920’s was the work they did during World War I. While the men were serving overseas, the women stepped into the men’s jobs and made up the majority of the labor force at that time. This allowed women the chance to show that they can do some of the same jobs that men could do. After the war, the number of women in the workforce increased by twenty-five percent. This opened up more opportunities all over the country to earn their place in providing for their families. Another thing that changed for women, during the 1920’s was “flappers”.
According to thepeoplehistory.com, the clothes had been very simplistic but once World War II was over, new and larger amounts of fabrics, threads, and needles came about. Some of those new fabrics include taffeta, nylon, wool, and leather. Women’s dresses in particular exploded with new colors and patterns. The fifties marked an economic boom for America which spurred the rise of consumerism since more was available to the people. According to worcesternews.com, Marilyn Monroe was another huge fashion influence on the style for girls.
The time of the 1920’s and 1950’s both saw changes to the political and social structure following the conclusion of World War 1 and 2, respectively. The United States entered into an era of wealth and prosperity after these wars, and with more money and access to material goods, the public desired more consumer products. Also, social movements after these wars dramatically changed what the role of women are in society. While some argue that these eras are completely different, the 1920’s and 1950’s, separated by three decades, still have many similarities relating to the roles of women and consumerism. The roles of women, especially, dramatically altered after the Second World War.
Christian Dior and Chanel were one of the most famous fashionista during 1950s. As they were very famous, they gave a vast effect on the fashion history. Coco Chanel, started working again at the
Alina Serbina Pd 3 Essay #1 Compare and contrast United States society in the 1920s and the 1950s with respect to TWO of the following: role of women and consumerism The 1920’s and 1950’s played a big role in women’s roles and consumerism. The 1920’s was a time of an economic boom , due to the end of World War I. Once the soldiers came home , the life of women drastically changed. Many women were no longer satisfied with staying home and wanted to continue to work and perceive careers. The 1950’s were also a post-war decade , marking the end of World War II. This decade sparked an intellectual and economic boom because of the struggle to become a world power.
The 1920s influence is still seen in today 's culture, many people still embrace the 1920s as an age of great change and individualism. This age made woman who they are today, not only through fashion but by breaking down barriers to new forms of lifestyles not discovered by the common people. Not only was fashion used to express the rebellious lifestyle but today it is used to express who people are and where they come from as in what their occupation is as well as gender and race. Without the fashion of the 1920s fashion would be but a synonym for clothing and would have no meaning or power towards it. Therefore the 1920s was the most influential time period for men and woman’s fashion but mostly woman’s fashion because it broke boundaries so that women could succede
1970’s Fashion Earth day was first celebrated in United States in 1970. Hippies were primarily the ones who got Earth day passed by the government. Disco was very popular as well; People would go to nightclubs and strobe lights and mirror balls would be everywhere, the latest 70’s hits would also be playing. The Vietnam War, The Battle of Civil Rights and music affected a lot of the fashion in 70’s.
In the 1920s fashion was a movement of freedom with flappers, bobbed hairstyles and using art as a fashion statement. “Fashion should be stylish and fun,” (Twiggy). In any decade fashion was a way of saying something. One of the women’s careers was being in the fashion industry.
Washing, ironing, sweeping, ferreting out the rolls of lint from under wardrobes—all this halting of decay is also the denial of life; for time simultaneously creates and destroys, and only its negative aspect concerns the housekeeper” (Beauvoir 380). "The Married Woman" is a chapter in Simone de Beauvoir’s book, The Second Sex, which demonstrates her negative thoughts about marriage and the overall treatment of a married woman. I agree with Beauvoir’s argument concerning the inequalities between spouses and the exaggeration of house work because of the time the book was written. In 1950, women’s roles were greatly changed because the men came back from war and took their jobs back.
The word fashion design, the fabrication of fashionable clothes, originated from Paris, France. Paris was known to influence fashion and it also had names like fashion capital, fashion became more influential in the nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century. Jen Viegas claims that individuals first wore clothing about 170,000 years ago after the “second-to-last ice age.” Scientific researchers performed on lice’s DNA because of the relation between clothes and lice. The first, fashion designed piece was a dress, History of Fashion states that the royal court was the original inspiration for the expansion of the dress, the royal court would often get their pieces made anonymously.
Brigitte Bardot wore original clothing that caught the world’s attention in the 1960s. Brigitte differentiated from other models and actresses because of her irregular sense of style and taste in clothing that she wore, according to imdb.com. Her iconic look was what caught a lot of people’s attention, wearing bouffant waves in her hair, winged eyeliner and nude lipstick (Instyle.com) Her decisions on what she