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Tuesday, 09 February 2010
Vintage Fashion Guild VFG Label Resource
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1950 - 1960 Print E-mail
Written by Vintage Fashion Guild   

Vintage Fasion Guild Timeline 1950 - 1960

 

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Early 1950s Red Silk Gown Candy Shiveley,contentmentfarmantiques.com
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Early 1950s Navy Faille Suit,courtesy Jody Steinman, coutureallurevintage.com.
Dior's 1947 New Look had symbolized a new hope and by the 1950's both the hope and the style were fully embraced.

Hems fell and hems rose but the hourglass silhouette remained. In addition to the full skirt, slender pencil skirts were worn too. The emphasis on silhouette and form created a dependency on foundation garments - bullet bras, corselets, waist-cinchers and girdles pulled in, pushed out and persuaded while crinolines lifted and shaped full-circle skirts.

 

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ca 1955 - 56 Suzy Perette Velvet & Plissé Cocktail dress, courtesy Linda Warren, vintageclothesline.com.
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ca 1953 -54 Lilli Ann Petite Silk & Wool Suit,Hollis Jenkins-Evans,pastperfectvintage.com
The 1950's saw the birth of pret-a -porter (ready-to-wear) at first seen as a necessary evil but eventually gaining respect.. The US War Production Board sponsored a measurements survey of 100,000 women, using the data to standardize sizing for the garment industry.

Led by Dior, Paris couture retained its popularity but the private couturier was being supplanted by pret-a-porter and mass production. Design houses such as the USA's Suzy Perette and Lilli Ann and Horrockses in the UK, as well as American designers such as Ceil Chapman and Tina Leser, were proving that off-the-rack garments of quality could be made. America led the way with ready-to-wear and high fashion, once restricted to the wealthy, was available to the general population.

 

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1950s Tina Leser Cotton Print Dress w/wrap, courtesy of Vintage-voyager.com
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mid 1950s Ceil Chapman Ballgown, courtesy Marlene Garcia, memphisvintage.com
50's fashion was regulated by three c's - code, conformity and consumerism. Women's focus was on rearing children and keeping house having left the war year's workplace. Both men's and women's activities centered around family and home and clothing changed as a result. Emphasis was on practical but attractive housedresses, not merely for household chores but suitable for quick errands or the school run. Women dressed for 'wifely' roles! 

 

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ca 1951 - 54 Green Chiffon Evening Gown, courtesy Deborah Burke, antiquetextile.com
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ca 1951 - 54 Suzy Perette Black Satin Dinner Dress, courtsey Marie Baker, thevintagepeddler.com
A female function was to entertain or attend social gatherings - all to promote and further their spouse's career. Cocktail dresses - short versions of ball gowns - were essential. A woman was expected to wear a hat outside of the house (except for the most formal evening occasions) and gloves at all times - short for day, long for evening. Men tended almost to universally wear suits. The practice of dressing young people like their elders was still common, with the 'mother/daughter' look as particularly in vogue. 

 

The second half of the 1950's still emphasized women dressing for 'their man.' Structural garments (such as stiletto heels, girdles and bullet bras) were designed to highlight the natural appeal of a woman's figure, instead it virtually caricaturized it. American designer Anne Fogarty even wrote a book called "Wife-Dressing", where she emphasized that a woman is never properly attired without her girdle.

 

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ca 1958-59 Ceil Chapman Orange Silk Cocktail Dress, courtesy Maggie Wilds, materialgirlbags.com/Denise brain.htm
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ca 1958-59 Bendel's Satin & Velvet Party Dress, courtsey pastperfectvintage.com
The economy boomed and travel became affordable, encouraging worldwide ethnic influences on fashion. Hawaiian textiles were popular for summer wear and Oriental brocades for formal wear. A correlation was seen between fashion and other consumer goods (such as cars) and annually popular colors were mirrored in both. Strong design elements echoed across the board, an example being the aggressive fin-tailed, streamlined car designs that echoed women's bullet bras.

 

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1950s Surfriders Cotton dress,courtsey Marie Baker, thevintagepeddler.com
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ca. 1955 Tina Leser Cotton Print Dress, courtsey Linda Ames, vintagetextile.com
In the latter 50's two new looks arrived on the scene. Dior was not the sole practitioner of the fashionable silhouette. Balenciaga was also influential and in the mid-50's he created flawlessly cut clothing with loose, stand away backs with fitted fronts and shorter sleeves. He also introduced the sack dress, a shapeless shift, which was far removed from the hourglass silhouette that had endured for a decade. In 1958, Yves Saint Laurent successfully presented the Trapeze Dress for the house of Dior. More structured than the sack dress, but still offering comfort and freedom, its look eventually evolved into the mid-60's babydoll style.