Fashion Trends 1940-1950

Project History of Trends

(1940-1950)

Introduction/table of content

Introduction/table of content 2
First Half decade 1940-1950 3
Second half of decade 1940-1950 4
Inventions in 1940 till 1950 5
First Computer 5
Fashion in the 40‘s 6
The ‘Sweater girls’ and ‘Pin-up’ girls 7
The New Look 7
Theatre de la Mode (theatre of fashion) 9
The birth of the Bikini 9
Cosmetics 10
Hairstyles, Turbans and Snoods 10
Literature 11
Music 12
Music 12
Movies 13
Dominant styles in art 15
Architecture 17
Furniture / Interior Decoration 17

First Half decade 1940-1950

The first half of this decade was dominated by World War II.
At the beginning of 1940, although the European war had been on for several months, extensive
Cosmetics

During the war the cosmetics factories had to turn over to production of aircraft parts and sea-water purifiers. The output of cosmetics fell to a quarter of their pre-war output.
Some manufactories were refilling old lipstick tubes. Few women had more than two lipsticks to last the war and others even used beetroot juice to stain their lips![12]

Women were told to use potato flesh, lemon juice or egg white to tone the skin. Egg yolk instead of shampoo and vegetable oil could be used as foundation. However, as food was rationed, this advice was far from practical. [13]

Hairstyles, Turbans and Snoods

Movie-star Veronica Lake was famous for her “peekaboo” hairstyle, with locks cascading over one eye. This was thought to be dangerous for women working in factories. Bending over machinery, the hair could easily get tangle and she was persuaded to publicly change her style. Instead, her hair was swept up, out of harms way.[14]

Hats were increasingly replaced by head scarves and turbans – which had already come into fashion in the 1930’s. Another variation was the snood. Snoods were either made from fabric or crocheted or knitted out of yarn and held the hair in place at the
Many artists who subscribed to Social Realism were painters with socialist (but not necessarily Marxist) political views. The movement therefore has some commonalities with the Socialist Realism used in the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc, but the two are not identical - Social Realism is not an official art, and allows space for subjectivity. In certain contexts, Socialist Realism has been described as a specific branch of Social Realism.
Social Realism developed as a reaction against idealism and the exaggerated ego encouraged by Romanticism. Consequences of the Industrial Revolution became apparent; urban centers grew, slums proliferated on a new scale contrasting with the display of wealth of the upper classes. With a new sense of social consciousness, the Social Realists pledged to “fight the beautiful art”, any style which appealed to the eye or emotions. They focused on the ugly realities of contemporary life and sympathized with working-class people, particularly the poor. They recorded what they saw (“as it existed”) in a dispassionate manner. The public was outraged by Social Realism, in part, because they didn't know how to look at it or what to do with