1940's Fashion for Fall

1940's Vintage Vogue

The 1940's continue to make strong fashion statements in today's trends. Tweeds, silks, cottons and linens were all popular fabrics in the 40's that you see carried over every season. In the forties, hemlines began to rise, tailored dresses grew popular, and style lines were introduced. A change in fashion was vividly apparent as the 30's passed and the 40's approached.  The "flapper" style of the 30's deemphasized the female figure, however as the early-forties greeted us, the female body became the inspiration behind emerging design trends.
As the women's natural physique became symbolic, designers began creating fashionable art that highlighted the hourglass silhouette by drawing emphasis to the waistline. This encouraged both designers and consumers to create and wear pieces that were flattering to the female figure. Not to mention, bathing suits (or "sun suits" in the 40's) became more revealing, thus leading to the current-day "bikini."

The modern reference to "classic" style is a direct relation to 1940's fashion. Coco "Gabrielle" Chanel, Dior and Oleg Cassini are a few designers that were extremely popular in the 1940's, just as they are today. This was an impressionable era where new looks were made popular and possible for women, and thus have remained classics since then. For example, Chanel (pictured), introduced women's casual-wear, women's suits and dresses, trousers, hats and costume jewelry which has still remained with us through 60 plus years since, in the ever-evolving world of fashion.   

These same looks have trickled into each season since the '40s, including Fall 2009.  The Kate Spade ensemble below is reminiscent of a tweed suit that looks like it walked off the runway nearly 70 years ago. With a tailored coat and a figure-hugging skirt, this 1940's look is updated with grosgrain ribbon trim but still features classic, bracelet-length sleeves.

In the mid-forties platform pumps became popular as a result of material shortage, preventing the production of "wedgies" (wedged shoes).  Since wedges have a filled in platform sole, designers had to test their creativity and eliminate the use of large amounts of material which leads us to the platform pump.  Still trendy to this day, popular designers like Jessica Simpson are delivering on these original 1940's styles. Simpson's Michaela Platform Pump (left) is a close representation of the classic design (right). 

 Beret hats were typically worn by men and boys from Germany and France back in the 1940's, however, you can see from the photo of Chanel above that she risked wearing the same beret-style hat as a woman.  These hats are still popular today and resemble the time-honored look from the 1940's, much like the one featured here from Nordstrom.

Even though we are decades past the years that made most fashion popular, it is safe to say that "what's old is new again".  Designers from the 1940's still remain a household name as much as their inspirations continue to make a saturated appearance in our market today.