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Explaining 1950’s Fashion
In today’s blog, I’ll be explain 1950’s fashion so you can identify it when you’re out in the wild and dress in that style if you like!
Why? One of the things I’m hearing from clients when I say something is 50’s styled is – what’s that? So I thought I’d make a short series telling you how they dressed in every era and why.
Disclaimer! I’m not a historian, just a Personal Stylist with an interest in fashion history.
Shapes and Styles
So let me set the scene. Dior’s ‘New Look’ in 1947 changed fashion and defined 1950’s fashion. Waists became more fitted. Skirts came out fuller and a bit longer as they could afford to use more fabric. Waspie girdles gave women the pointiest breasts seen in history. The sillhoutte was feminine and showed off a ‘womanly’ figure.
Woman who were working during the war were fired and back to being housewives again, entertaining and mingling with other housewives. Clothes weren’t designed for manual labor any more. They were for looking pretty in, entertaining and supermarket shopping.
French fashion and style dominated this era. Dior, Chanel, Givenchy and Balenciaga ruled the scene at the time.
The stiletto had just been invented which was the strongest, highest and thinest heel. As some of you know it can change how your leg looks and how you stand. People were dressing up more and going out to party and could look sexy in this heel.
Speaking of sexy, the bikini was also born. Two pieces had been worn since the 30’s but engineer Louis Reard made the skimpier version we know today. Named after the Bikini Atoll which was a nuclear test site. He believed it would have an explosive impact – which it certainly did. People were starting to afford holidays now and could go out and show it off.
Hair become shorter making way for cute pixie cuts, curled bobs and short rolled under fringes. Makeup tended towards a red lip mainly though teens wore a pink. People usually had matching nails and lips – it wasn’t the most creative time. The cat eye eyeliner (a flick on the end of the eye) started with rockabilly style .
Teenagers and Subcultures
The teenager emerged in America first. Breaking away from mother’s styling and many became Rockabillies or Betniks – think of the movie Grease (greaser). We were starting to get a youth culture and subcultures in fashion.
Beatniks preferred a trouser like capri and ballet flat with a knit. Audrey Hepburn popularised this look in her movie Funny face. This might seem like normal casual wear nowadays but if you’re imagining this teenager’s parents in her big pastel skirt with heels clutching her pearls, you can see how the teenager has defined herself with a more casual comfortable style.
Greasers wore biker jackets and jeans and typically had plain white t-shirts and a pompadour (a high curled fringe) haircut. Named that way because of all the grease in their hair to make those quiffs. Grease the film was actually made in the 70’s but set in a 50’s high school and showed teenage subculture really well.
Rockabillies tended to like a patterned shirt like a Hawaiian, and a good rolled up jean showing a selvedge (stitch line on the side) with their saddle shoes. Saddle shoes were typically black and white and laced up like a brogue. Hair tended to still have the victory rolls or rolled fringes of the 40’s with a scarf worn as a hairband.
Teddy Boys wore frock coats with velvet contrasting lapels, a shirt, Western rolo tie, tight trousers, creeper shoes and also slicked back jelly rolled hair. A frock coat had Western details like long thin black pockets with a triangle on each end. The creeper shoe with its big platform started in the 1950’s but the punks of the 1970’s took it on as well as the modern day alternative scene.
Film stars and Fashion Icons
People having money again after the war lead to big Hollywood and films and film stars like Marilyn Monroe and James Dean who many aspired to look like.
Marilyn had the hourglass body that was fashionable in that era plus glamour and sex appeal. Making her an icon of the decade who is still having many documentaries and films made about her now. The hourglass body is proportionate with top and bottom being as wide as each other. This shape is curvy and voluptuous almost like a cartoon. Many people in the 1950’s chose clothing that made it look like their body was this ‘feminine’.
Unfortunately most eras tend to have body types that are in fashion and designers make clothes to make it look any body type appear like this. Nowadays lots of people aspire to have Kim Kardashian’s figure and wear clothing to show off their bottom or get surgery like she did.
Audrey Hepburn was more petite and slender having originally trained as a ballet dancer before getting into acting. With darker features and more of an understated and elegant vibe, she is a great icon to have. She was Givenchy’s muse and popularised the little black dress in the 60’s but the fifties is when she started emerging and starring in many films wearing this brand predominantly.
Grace Kelly was a big icon of this time too. She was a film star who went on to marry the Prince of Monaco. There’s always a royal that everyone looks to for style inspiration and the 50’s had her. Just like Kate Middleton, Grace’s wedding dress was very desirable in style and Kate’s one is actually quite similar. Hermes even named a bag after her (that’s how you know you’re an icon).
James Dean brought youth culture to the silver screen with his classic and simple greaser-like style. He barely accessorizes and usually let his jackets and handsome face do the talking. His style is pretty timeless and can definitely still be replicated today if you’re after some elegant menswear inspiration!
Menswear
Menswear started to become more casual. There were still skinny suits like the ones you see the Beatles rocking in the early 60’s but polyester was cheaper so people started to shift towards patterned shirts, more knitwear jeans and sports coats.
Cardigans and sweater vests started to replace suit jackets – at least for lounging at home though more people started to wear them to work. Cardigans with stripes on the side fit in with the varsity style that was growing for preppy teens.
If you weren’t rock and roll enough for some of the subcultures I mentioned earlier, you may be on the preppy side. Wearing college style knits, letterman jackets and shirts and ties. Ties were also becoming more colourful and near the end of the era started to slim down.
Trousers would be worn at the waist with the shirt tucked in and a belt. This showed off the two pintucks at the waist. If you’re slim, this can be a great way to add volume to your figure.
How to do the 1950’s now
So, you may have been reading this thinking I’d love to do some of this now, how can I?
Firstly, there are many vintage shops that have pieces from the 50’s that you can buy. You just need to have patience when going through everything. Some personal favourites are Beyond Retro, Rokit and Atika.
You can find many brands nowadays that specialise in making retro style clothing. Here’s some I’ve picked up on my travels: Collectif, Vivien of Holloway, Pretty Kitty Fashion, British Retro, Unique Vintage, What Katie Did, Rockabilly Rules.
In the 1950’s many people were still making their own clothes like they had to do in the war. There are many sellers of vintage patterns online and still in various shops for a good price. For those who don’t sew, patterns are the stencils of each piece of the clothing which you put on the fabric and draw around. You can have a go at making 50’s clothing from a pattern of the era or find someone that can do it for you.
And finally, like I mentioned in the finding your style video, you can take current high street items and style them in a 50’s way. Many 1950’s pieces are so classic and iconic, you’ll still be able to find something like them now. Go online, read some books, watch films, listen to 1950’s music and see how people were dressing and how you can incorporate that into your own style.
It may be simply that you try a pointy bra under your knitwear and a big petticoat under your pleated skirt to give yourself the New Look shape. Perhaps you have jeans that you can roll up, a quirky shirt, and a sports jacket and all you need to do is watch tutorials on how to roll your hair.
I hope this has started to paint a picture of this era in fashion for you. I’m always here to chat and help you find ways of making 1950’s fashion work for your skin-tone, body type and personality 🙂