CODE IT MODEL
JEAN PATCHETT
THE 1950’S
TREND ANALYSIS ISSUE
THEN &NOW O1 1
SEE INSIDE COVER FOR THE NOW
EDITOR IN CHIEF
JILLIAN L HARMON FOUNDER & CEO OF CODE
Occasionally, trends are merely cyclical fads that reemerge with ime. Enduring trends - namely those that lived in the ďŹ ties - are perennial and so embedded in our common language that they never fully go away.
CODE DIOR MUSE
NATALIE PORTMAN
THE 1950’S
TREND ANALYSIS ISSUE
NOW &THEN 1 O SEE FRONT COVER FOR THE THEN
EDITOR’S NOTE
ODE’s mission is to uncover the connecion between history and fashion trends. This historical audit issue focuses on the 1950’s and showcases fashion trends as they react to sociocultural inluences. In order to understand the development of these trends, it is imperaive to be educated in what surrounds the populaion in terms of the societal cultural way of life at that ime. I have performed a deep-dive analysis of the 1950’s in terms of three major inluences: Magnospheric, Mezzospheric, and Microspheric.
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The Magnosphere covers signiicant events that have impacted society at large. This secion acts as an umbrella that heavily inluences the culture found within the Mezzospheric and Microspheric levels. The Mezzosphere analyzes changes in aitude or behavior of a person or community as a reacion to social, technological, economic, environmental and poliical advancements. The Microsphere examines contemporary mass culture, and all the inluences that color it – movies, music, super models, and stars and starlets society idolizes. It encompasses common entertainment and consumer items, which vary from one generaion to the next as those things change. None of these three simuli lives in isolaion and each may inluence the development of the other. Equally, they inluence the fashion environment development of trends. Fashion is not at all an isolated industry rather it is connected to all aspects of our life. The knowledge of historical cultural movements - such as those found within the 1950 decade in review - will provide you the framework to recognize and foresee the future direcion in which the fashion industry will move.
Jillian L Harmon Editor-In-Chief
CODE
Timeline // 6
Magnosphere // 14
1947 - 1951 // 8
The Post War Booms // 16
1952 - 1956 // 10
The Move to Suburbia // 18
1957 - 1959 // 12
The Civil Right Movement // 22 The Cold War // 26 The Postwar Life // 28
Mezzosphere // 32
Microsphere // 50
Fashion File // 92
American Lifestyle // 34
The Big Screen // 52
The History // 94
Shopping Malls // 38
The Music Notes // 74
The Masters // 100
Influence of Television // 40
The It Girls // 82
Two Trends // 110
Teenage Dream // 44 A Prosperous Decade // 48
Key Items // 124
T I M E L I N E
The following imeline covers the major events that impacted sociocultural life in the 1950’s era. Although this is the 1950’s Trend Analysis issue, the years 1947 - 1949 are included because they contain major events that directly inluenced the fashions found within 1950’s era.
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CODE 1947
1948
February 12 Chrisian Dior, at age 42, presents his irst collecion to the press. Just two years ater the end of World War II, Dior turned the page of restricion and gloom through the presentaion of unique silhouetes, longer lengths, new volumes, iny waists, and sexy busts. His presentaion was revered by editors as a revoluion in fashion.
July 26 Execuive Order 9981, ending segregaion in the United States military, is signed into efect by President Harry S. Truman. November 2 President Harry S. Truman is elected president of the United States. 1948 Television becomes commercially available to the American public.
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1949
1950
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April 4 The United States and Canada join the Western European naions to form the North Atlanic Treaty Organizaion (NATO). In this agreement, the members pledge to assist each other should there be an atack.
June 25 The Korean War begins. Communist North Korean troops cross the 38th parallel, the dividing line between North Korea and South Korea. American troops are ordered to defend South Korea.
September 4 The inauguraion of transconinental television occurs with the broadcast of President Truman’s speech at the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference in San Francisco.
1949 Modacrylics irst appear. Modacrylics are sot, strong, resilient, and dimensionally stable apparel ibers. They can be easily dyed, show good press and shape retenion, and are quick to dry.
1950 Acrylic Fibers are synthesized.
September 8 The treaty is signed by the U.S., Japan, and forty-seven other naions.
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CODE 1952
1953
February 6 Queen Elizabeth II ascends the Briish throne on the death of George VI.
March 5 Josef Salin Dies
February 14 The 1952 Winter Olympics is held in Helsinki, Finland. November 4 General Dwight D. Eisenhower, commander of the Allied forces during WWII, is elected president.
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July 27 Fighing ceases in the Korean War. December 30 The irst color televisions go on sale. 1953 Polyester ibers become commercially available.
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1955
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May 17 Racial segregaion in public schools is declared unconsituional by the United States Supreme Court in Brown vs. the Board of Educaion.
May 31 The Supreme Court of the United States orders that all public schools be integrated with deliberate speed.
September 25 The irst transatlanic telephone cable begins operaion.
1954 Chanel reenters the couture market ater closing the French couture atelier in 1940.
December 1 Rosa Parks, an African American seamstress, refuses to give up her seat on the bus to a white man, promping a boycot that would lead to the declaraion that bus segregaion laws were unconsituional by a federal court.
American department stores sell copies of Paris styles. Low priced copies were sold as duplicates of famous Parisian designers such as: Dior, Jacques Fath and Givenchy.
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CODE Jacques Fath Suit Willy Maywald, 1951
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1957
1958
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September 5 Jack Kerouac publishes On The Road, a novel considered to be the testament to the “beat� generaion known as the newly awakened young who appeared in the late 1950’s.
December 10 Jet airline passenger service is inaugurated in the United States by Naional Airlines with a light between New York City and Miami, Florida.
January 3 Alaska is admited to the United States as the 49th state.
October 4 Russians launch Sputnik, the irst space satellite marking the beginning of the Space Age.
December 21 Charles de Gaulle becomes president of France.
August 21 Hawaii is admited to the United States as the 50th state. February 22 The Daytona 500 stock car race is run for the irst ime with Lee Pety taking the irst checkered lag. April 9 NASA selects the irst seven military pilots to become the Mercury Seven, irst astronauts of the United States.
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MAGNOSPHERE
The Magnosphere covers signiicant events that have impacted society at large. This secion acts as an umbrella that heavily inluences the culture found within the other two levels covered in this issue: the Mezzosphere and the Microsphere.
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THE POSTWAR BOOMS The term boom can be used to describe several events that occurred in the 1950’s: the booming economy, the booming suburbs, and the Baby Boom. This era coined the term Baby Boom because about 4 million babies were born each year throughout the 1950’s. By the ime the boom inally tapered of in 1964, there were almost 77 million baby boomers. Many American women had returned to the homemaking profession ater working for pay during World War II. The populaion was eager to have children because they were conident the future held nothing but peace and prosperity. This belief proved to
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be true in many ways. Between the years 1945-1960, the gross naional product more than doubled, growing from $200 billion to more than $500 billion. The majority came from an increase in government spending: construcion of interstate highways and schools, the distribuion of veterans’ beneits and an increase in military spending. Rates of unemployment and inlaion were low and wages were high. The middleclass people had money to spend and, due to the increased availability of consumer goods and a prosperous economy, there were more products available for them to purchase.
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THE MOVE TO SUBURBIA The suburban boom refers to the surplus of urban families who moved to the rapidly growing suburbs throughout the 1950’s. The Baby Boom and the suburban boom went hand in hand. Shortly ater World War II ended, developers began to buy land on the outskirts of ciies and use mass producion techniques to build modest, inexpensive tract homes. The G.I Bill provided many beneits to veterans of World War II, the major one being subsidized low-cost mortgages for returning
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soldiers. This meant that it was oten cheaper to buy one of these suburban houses than it was to rent an apartment in the city. This generaion of Americans loved the chance to avoid rent and the diriness of the city to live in their own homes on their own land. Shopping centers and fast food restaurants added to the convenience of suburban life. Thousands and thousands of American migrated to Suburbia.
Vintage illustraion adversising suburbia in the 1950’s. 1 O
WL WILL IAM L E VITT
William Levit was contracted by the federal government during World War II to quickly build housing for military personnel where he applied the techniques of mass producion to construcion. His assembly-line approach made houses extremely afordable however with litle variety in design, Architects called Levit’s models an emphasis on conformity and abominaion. William Levit revoluionizedt he way Americans live and ushered in an age of suburbia by providing inexpensive housing outside the city.
THE CIVIL RIGHT MOVEMENT During the 1950’s the struggle against racism and segregaion entered the mainstream of American life. Several Americans spoke out against the inequality and injusice occurring during the 1950’s. African Americans had been ighing against racial discriminaion for centuries and this era was just the beginning of equality among races. Iniiaing with the Supreme Court’s school integraion ruling of 1954, the American legal system seemed sympatheic
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to the African American populaions demand that their fourteenth amendment civil rights be protected. Although Southern whites resisted the ruling and used violence to prevent blacks from assering their rights, a new movement was born. A peaceful equality movement began under the unoicial leadership of Dr. Marin Luther King Jr., helping to shape the civil rights movement of the next decade.
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R P ROSA PAR K S
By refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Alabama, city bus in 1955, African American Rosa Parks helped iniiate the civil rights movement in the United States. The leaders of the local black community organized a bus boycot that began the day Rosa Parks was convicted of violaing the segregaion laws. Led by a young Dr. Marin Luther King Jr., the boycot lasted more than a year and ended only when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that bus segregaion was unconsituional. Over the next half-century, Rosa Parks became a naionally recognized symbol of dignity and strength in the struggle to end racial segregaion.
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THE COLD WAR Harry Truman became president in 1945 following the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt. One of Truman’s irst decisions was to order that the atomic bomb be dropped on Japan. As a result, Truman, along with many of the American people, imagined that the United States had a monopoly on the “secret” of the atomic bomb. In 1949, Americans were shocked to learn that the Soviet Union made advancements in the race of internaional power when they launched an atomic device in Siberia. In 1950, frightened by the Soviet progress in producing atomic weapons, Truman ordered the development of the
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hydrogen bomb. The irst American hydrogen bomb was exploded in 1952. Soviet authoriies exploded their irst H-bomb in 1955. The arms race was under way. The Cold war heated up in June 1950 when Communist North Korean troops crossed the 38th parallel, the dividing line between North and South Korea. President Truman ordered American forces to defend South Korea. Eventually - ater the Chinese troops entered the war to support their North Korean allies - the ighing came to a stalemate and a truce was signed in 1953.
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THE Postwar Life Veterans of World War II and the Korean War were enitled to educaional subsidies, and many of them took advantage of these beneits by returning to college. The college students of the immediate postwar period and the generaion of college students who followed ater the veterans can be described as: Studious, earnest, rather humorless, bent on geing an educaion not for its own sake but because it clearly would, under the emerging naional system, lead surely and inevitably to a good job and the soluion to the youth problem of not so long before - economic security (Brooks 1966). The post war generaion of young
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people are labeled as The Silent Generaion. A group of youths in the United States called the Beatniks appeared in the later part of the 1950’s. Labeled as “newly awakened”, the group was established as a literary movement that included writer Jack Kerouac. Nicknamed the “Beats”, they adopted eccentric habits of dress and grooming. This included beards, pony tails, dirty sneakers and peasant blouses. The group experimented with drugs and rejected the conformist world. Although the Beatnik phenomenon faded, it may be seen as a precursor of some youthful protest movements seen in the 1960’s.
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THE BEATNIKS THEN & NOW
Yves Saint Laurent Fall 2015
UK Glamour 2012
The name Beatnik derived from New York. Author Jack Kerouac coined the name “Beat Generaion” in 1948. Beatniks dressed in oversized-chunky-long sweaters with huge cowl collars paired with slim or cigarete pants. Turtlenecks and berets we worn always in black. The females oten worn ited pencil skirts or carpi pants with there hair pined up in a bun or a bob. They could also seen wearing leotards, ights, and ballet slippers. The Beatnik fashion inluence carries through decades far beyond the 1950’s. Key features are seen styled in magazine shoots as well as on the runway. Pulled into modern day, the look appears updated and refreshing without losing the integrity of the original Silent Generaion.
Marc Jacobs 2008
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MEZ ZOSPHERE
The Mezzosphere analyzes changes in aitude or behavior of a person or community as a reacion to social, technological, economic, environmental and poliical advancements.
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AMERIC AN LIFESTY LE A Change in Patern
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orld War II altered society and forced communiies to reexamine values and aitudes. This greatly afected what the American people chose to wear. Several American women had returned to full-ime homemaking ater working for pay during World War II. The family ideal was emphasized, as women’s magazines stressed “togetherness.” In the ideal family of the 1950’s, dad brought home the paycheck, mom did the cooking and cleaning, and the kids were obedient and respecful.
The American Highway System expansion during the Eisenhower administraion and the Suburban boom changed the American lifestyle drasically. Travelling and camping became common forms of acivity. These changes helped to create an emphasis on more informal or casual fashion styles. Department stores expanded sportswear departments for men, women, and teens. The proporion of leisure-ime clothing in the suburban American wardrobe increased, a tendency that accelerated as the period of 1950’s progressed.
Mezzosphere
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LEISURE WEAR THEN & NOW
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Casual garments worn during leisure ime and in informal situaions became an increasingly large part of the wardrobe. The essenial “third piece” included matching cardigans and pullovers and bolero-like cardigans called shrugs. Bermuda shorts were adopted in 1954, virtually replacing shorter short styles. Pant lengths included narrow cigarete pants that it the leg close, houseboy pants that ended at the ankle, and pedal pushers that ended at mid-calf. Many of these silhouetes have carried on through the decades. The cigarete pant has been updated with print, racing stripe detail, and brocade. Bermuda shorts were ideniied as a top trend throughout Spring 2013 Fashion week. Shrugs are seen throughout styled magazine shoots, on the runway, and have found their way into women’s closets throughout the years.
Brandon Sun Spring 2014
Streetstyle
Olivia Palermo
DKNY Spring Summer 2016
Streetstyle
Streetstyle
Burberry Fall 2011
Barbara Bui Spring Summer 12016 O
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SHOPPING MALLS he newly created suburbs drasically changed the lifestyle of a large number of Americans. This new lifestyle included frequening the suburban shopping mall. Shopping malls supplemented, and later replaced, downtown department stores; shopping had become another form of recreaion. American adolescents found the shopping mall an appealing place to congregate with friends.
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Mezzosphere
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IMPACT OF TELEVISION “For the most part, early television depicted a saniized view of family life, with exaggeratedly middle-class housewives as the most prevalent female characters. Women waning to emulate television fashions would have concentrated on the ball gowns and cocktail dresses worn by singers or those shown of by actress Loreta Young in the entrance scene to her weekly series” (Milbank, 1989).
elevision became commercially available to the American public in 1948, however only 20 staions were on air and only about 172,000 families had sets. In 1950, the number grew to 5 million families having a TV set in the house (Brooks, 1966). Television was a vehicle that spread fashion informaion throughout the country, inluencing watchers naionwide. Television’s inluences on fashion were most evident among the
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young. White buckskin shoes called “white bucks” became popular ater singer Pat Boone wore the shoe style on television. Elvis Presley look-alike pompadours – a slick, combed-back hairstyle – made it its way onto the 1950’s scene ater his character “Kookie” debuted the look on 77 Sunset Strip. Lucille Ball’s show, I Love Lucy, incorporated her pregnancy into the format of the TV show, which introduced maternity clothing as a huge market for women.
Mezzosphere
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TELEVISION’S INFLUENCE THEN & NOW
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Television’s inluence can be seen throughout a mulitude of fashions. Pat Boone’s classic white buckskin shoes called white bucks were copied by the teenage youth of the 1950’s. Today, this look is emulated on women’s runway shows updated with a new heel or closure detail. The Elvis Presley pompadour hairstyle was recreated several imes by the rebellious youth of the 1950’s and has been referenced in recent years through designer adverisements (see Prada image opposite page). Lucille Ball was an icon on and of the screen. She was pregnant throughout the ilming of I Love Lucy, calling atenion to maternity clothing. Today, the maternity wear market has made its way onto the runway (see Dolce & Gabbana image opposite page) and into ready-to-wear markets around the country.
Jacquemus A/W 2016
Streetstyle
Yohji Yamamoto A/W 2016
Prada Spring Summer 2012
Agnes B A/W 2016
Dolce & Gabbana 1 O
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TEENAGE DREA M he term “teenager” was rarely used before the 1950’s. Throughout the decade, young people began to see themselves as a disinct group. Their atempts to forge an idenity worried adults, who couldn’t understand the shit. Pre World War II, young people became members of the workforce soon ater they entered their teenage years. However, the post war socioeconomic status change kept many young people dependent on their families for a longer period of ime. Teens began relying on their parents through high school and beyond, and this accentuated the period of adolescence as a separate stage of development. The teen market in clothing grew rapidly and teenage fashions played an important role in the garment industry.
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Mezzosphere
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TEDDY BOYS THEN & NOW Teddy Boys created the irst truly independent fashions for young people. The term Teddy Boy was established when working class Briish adolescents adopted styles in menswear that had an Edwardian lavor. The look included: longer jackets with more shaping, high turned-back lapels, cufed sleeves, waistcoats, and well-cut, narrow trousers. The female versions of Teddy Boys wore long gray jackets over ight, high necked black sweaters and black skirts. They combined dark stockings with high heels with pointed toes. O1
Jens Laugesen 2008
Junya Wantanabe 2007
Saint Laurent 2014
Songzio 2014
Balenciaga 2011
Saint Laurent 2014
Paul Smith Spring 2011
Richard James 2014 1 O
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A PROSPEROUS DEC ADE
uring the Eisenhower era, Americans achieved a level of prosperity they had never known before. While other parts of the world struggled to rebuild from the devastaion of World War II, ciizens of the United States saw their standard of living surpass what previous generaions had only dreamed about. The economy overall grew by 37% during the 1950’s. At the end of the
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decade, the median American family had 30% more purchasing power than at the beginning. Many factors came together to produce the prosperous decade. The G.I. Bill gave military veterans afordable access to a college educaion and as a result, a group of highly-educated employees joined the work force at a ime American businesses were willing to pay a great deal for such skills.
Mezzosphere
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MICROSPHERE
The Microsphere examines contemporary mass culture, and all the inluences that color it – movies, music, super models, and stars and starlets society idolizes. It encompasses common entertainment and consumer items, which vary from one generaion to the next as those things change.
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THE BIG SCREEN Fashion and ilm have always gone hand in hand. Moion pictures drive creaivity whether a designer draws inspiraion from ilm costume or a leading lady dawns the latest couture. These are the top ive Hollywood hits that have helped deine the fashion of the 1950’s.
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TITLE
SUMMARY
Funny Face
Jo Stockton, a shy bookstore employee is transformed into the latest “It model” ater being discovered by a fashion photographer. With the help of major fashion editor Maggie Prescot, Jo becomes fashion’s newest darling through a series of gorgeous photo shoots staged throughout Paris. With the help of the legendary Edith Head as costume designer and an array of breathtaking Givenchy gowns, Funny Face is a fashion show in itself.
YEAR 1957
STARRING Audrey Hepburn
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THEN Audrey Hepburn Funny Face, 1957
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NOW Rosa Clara 2016
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TITLE To Catch A Thief SUMMARY YEAR 1955
STARRING Grace Kelly // Cary Grant
With the costume design by Edith Head, To Catch a Thief deines the quintessenial heroine. Kelly’s blonde curls, a bold red lip and Dior’s New Look silhouete captures the elegant style of the 1950’s.
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THEN Grace Kelly 1957
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NOW Chrisian Dior Spring Summer 2013
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TITLE Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
YEAR 1953
STARRING Marilyn Monroe // Jane Russell
SUMMARY Gentlemen Prefer Blondes calls itself, ‘the most glamorous musical of all ime’. The movie features an array of eye-catching outits worn by Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell, who star as show-girls in search of rich husbands. Memorable outits include an iconic pink gown in the “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend” musical number and the show-girls’ extravagant performance costumes.
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THEN Marilyn Monroe 1952
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NOW Dolce & Gabbana Spring Summer 2013
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TITLE Rebel Without A Cause SUMMARY YEAR 1955
STARRING James Dean
This non-fashion ilm provides viewers a “borrowed from the boys” inspiraion. Rebel Without A Cause star James Dean set the fashion tone for rebellious teenage youth of the 1950’s in blue jeans, a white t-shirt and a bold red leather jacket.
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THEN James Dean 1955
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NOW Kenzo Autumn Winter 2016
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TITLE And God Created Woman
YEAR 1956
STARRING Brigite Bardot
SUMMARY In what launched bombshell Brigite Bardot’s career, French ilm And God Created Woman turned the French actress into an overnight sex symbol. Bardot plays Juliete, an 18-year-old who sirs up drama as she captures the atenion of many diferent men. The ilm ends with the line “that girl was made to destroy men,” sealing the sultry status Bardot became known for.
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THEN Brigite Bardot
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THE MUSIC NOTES The relaionship between fashion and popular music is one of mutual creaivity. Reciprocal inluences have resulted in some of the most dynamic apparel creaions ever created in popular culture. In the 1950’s, subcultures ariculated themselves through fashion resuling in disinct and noteworthy trends.
ROCK ‘N’ ROLL Rock ‘n’ Roll was the soundtrack of the 1950’s. The song itles and lyrics of the early hits - most of which were writen speciically for teenage audiences - expressed the feelings of the era’s young people: rebellion. This feeling is visualized as teenagers began wearing ight iing blue jeans and white t-shirts; a far stretch from the adolescent accepted norm of ironed slacks and buton downs.
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ELVIS P RESLEY “He was the guy the guys wanted to be, and the guy the girls wanted to date,” said Kevin Kern, the director of public relaions for Elvis Presley Enterprises.
From sequined jumpsuits and capes to pink shirts and black leather pants, Elvis was a fashion force who consistently went beyond the edge. The suede lace-ups were blue. The pants were slim. The jackets were vibrant. The smile was enicing. The ‘do was slicked to perfecion. Teenage boys everywhere emulated Presley’s style and teenage girls longed to date a boy with a rock ‘n’ roll style.
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The fashions of Elvis Presley have stood the test of ime. Designers oten look to the King of Rock for inspiraion in silhouete, detail, and theme.
Balmain Resort 2011
Balmain Spring 2012
Belstaf
Isabel Marant 2012
Miley Cyrus in Balmain
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THE IT GIRLS For the irst ime in history, models became superstars in their own right. Featured in several adverisements and on the cover of magazines, women everywhere looked to these supermodels for fashions latest trends. The most inluenial of models, also known as the “big three� are: Suzy Parker, Domiva, and Jean Patchet.
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Suzy Parker Revlon Cosmeics 1 O
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S U Z Y PARK ER
Unlike any fashion model before her, Suzy Parker was on a irst-name basis with the world, bringing her own radiant personality to every shoot. Moving to Paris in 1950 at age 17, she went on to wow Chrisian Dior and became a muse to Coco Chanel and Richard Avedon. Suzy appeared on the cover of dozens of magazines and in adverisements, movie, and television roles. She is most known for being the face of Revlon cosmeics.
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DO M IVA
Domiva was discovered on a sidewalk in New York by an editor at Vogue. She worked closely with famous photographer Richard Avedon, whose iconic photograph “Domina with the Elephants� (pictured opposite page) taken in August 1955 has become an icon worth more than one million dollars. The gown worn in the photo was the irst evening dress designed for Chrisian Dior by his new assistant, Yves Saint-Laurent. Domiva was reputed to be the highest-paid model of her ime.
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Domiva with the Elephants Richard Avedon, 1955
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JEA N PATC HETT Jerry Ford of Ford Models once said “[Jean] was a super model decades before the term ‘super model’ was coined.”
Jean Patchet signed with Ford Model Agency in 1948 and her career took of almost immediately. She debuted with Vogue in September of 1948 at the young age of 22. With dark hair, dark eyes, long and graceful limbs, and a signature mole next to her right eye, Patchet became a star.
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Pictured: Suzy Parker Jean Patchet Swansdown, 1953
FA S H I O N F I L E
The Fashion File contains an overview of the fashion culture of the 1950’s era. The secion includes a brief history of the producion and acquisiion of clothing and texiles, the masters of design, the dominaing trends, and every woman’s key items.
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THE HISTORY The producion and acquisiion of clothing and texiles throughout the 1950’s is recognized through the Fabric Revoluion, the Changing Couture, the American Mass Market and the New Centers of Fashion Design.
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Pictured: Chrisian Dior Vogue, 1950
FABRIC REVOLUTION Before World War II, clothing was made from a limited number of ibers: natural ibers (silk, wool, coton, and linen) and manufactured ibers (rayon and acetate). Many syntheic ibers came onto the market in the 1950’s. The major apparel ibers that appeared at this ime included modacrylics (1949), acrylics (1950), polyesters (1953), triacetate (1954) and spandex (1959). Ease of care was the most notable characterisic of most of the postwar fabrics. The emergence of a more casual lifestyle combined with the mother running the household without servants made these fabrics widely accepted by the American middle-class. In addiion, the popularity of travel helped to promote drip dry fabrics and in the late 1950’s, there were wash-andwear fabrics. These new ibers contributed to the abundance of full skirts found within the 1950’s era.
CHANGING COUTURE The establishment of haute couture in France in the 19th century shaped the designer members to be the primary source of major fashion trends. The Chambre Syndicale was a French couture organizaion of designers who showed at least two collecions a year. Haute couture acted as a business organizaion that served to promote the products of designers. Membership in the Chambre Syndicale required the development and showing of new style ideas several imes a year. In the postwar period, potenial customers and the fashion press atended fashion shows presented by each designer. Garments shown and sold by couture houses were expensive to make and extremely hard to sell. As a result, the houses made most of their revenue of of afordable items such as perfume. For example, Mr. Chrisian Dior launched his irst fragrance Miss Dior the same year he debuted his “New Look” collecion in 1947. This allowed him to coninue creaing couture collecions. 97 O
AMERICAN MASS MARKET Sportswear garment designs within the American market originated as early as the 1930’s and 1940’s. The eliminaion of Paris as a design center during World War II allowed American designers to lourish ulimately making New York City a post-war center for design. The American mass market was organized to originate, manufacture, and distribute clothing to retailers throughout the United States. Innovaive and creaive American designers created new styles and their work was regularly reported by the fashion press.
Pictured: Sonnet Dress Chrisian Dior Autumn/Winter 1952
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Charles James 1948
NEW CENTERS OF FASHION DESIGN In the postwar era, fashion design centers other than Paris became extremely important. Where travel had required lengthy and slow airplane trips, there was a certain pracical aspect to having a single important center for fashion design. However, In the postwar period, jet travel made reaching any of the major ciies in the world faster and easier. The fashion press could cover shows in diverse parts of the globe much easier than before. By the 1950’s Florence, Rome, and London had joined Paris and New York as important centers of fashion design.
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THE MASTERS Today, the houses remain one-word icons: Dior. Balenciaga. Balmain. Givenchy. However, during the 1950’s era, these fashion labels were directed by the very men and women who lent the house their name and were sill being build into the itans they are now.
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CHRIS TI A N D I OR 1905 - 1957
With the debut of his revoluionary “New Look”, Chrisian Dior wrote a new chapter in the history of fashion. His 1947 collecion debut was the catalyst for haute couture’s midcentury revival and established silhouetes that would stand fashions test of ime. “Dior single-handedly unraveled the noion of austere, frugal women’s wear and ushered in an era of feminine glamour and extravagance” (VanityFair). “I wanted my dresses to be ‘constructed’, moulded on the curves of the female body whose contours they would stylize. I accentuated the waist, the volume of the hips, I emphasized the bust. In order to give my models more hold, I had nearly all the fabrics lined with percale or tafeta, renewing a tradiion that had long been abandoned” (on his 1947 collecion)
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Chrisian Dior Dress, 1955 Photographed by Richard Avelon 1 O
CRISTOBAL BAL EN CI AGA 1895 - 1972
Cristobal Balenciaga had incredible tailoring skills making him known in the industry as the architect of haute couture. He is well known for using the female body as a sculpture upon which he built his creaions. Cristobal Balenciaga was a masterfully innovaive cratsman who created luid silhouetes and sculpted coats, while transforming waistlines and maintaining unparalleled aristry. “A couturier must be an architect for design, a sculptor for shape, a painter for colour, a musician for harmony, and a philosopher for temperance.�
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Balenciaga Ensemble, 1950 Photographed by Irving 1 PennO
PIE RRE BAL MA I N 1914 - 1982
Pierre Balmain is known for his ability to create simple yet glamorous ensembles as well as extravagant evening gowns. He believed that the ideal of elegance in clothing was achieved only through simplicity. Uilizing his exquisite taste in embroidered fabrics for evening, Pierre Balmain’s signature style ofered a startling contrast to the relaxed and uilitarian looks of the day. He provided women a bold, opulent and feminine product. “Keep to the basic principles of fashion and you will always be in harmony with the latest trends without falling prey to them.�
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Balmain Ensemble, 1955 Photographed by Henry Clarke 1 O
H UBE RT D E GI VEN CH Y 1927 - TODAY
Hubert de Givenchy established his couture house in the 1950’s in Paris and was one of the very irst to launch a ready-to-wear collecion. Givenchy single-handedly invented the sack dress and raised hemlines to show of more legs. Inspired by his iconic muse, Audrey Hepburn, he brought a modern sensibility to the old school of haute couture. “The dress must follow the body of a woman, not the body following the shape of the dress.”
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Givenchy Tops & Skirts, 1952 Photographed by Nat Farbman 1 O
TWO TRENDS The fashion trends of the 1950’s are divided into two disinct ime periods: The New Look (1947-1953) and The Unit Shape (1954-1960). The New Look had style lines that nipped in at the waist and enormously full skirts creaing an hourglass silhouete. In contrast, The Unit Shape style introduced united dresses and loosely ited jackets creaing a shapeless and straight silhouete.
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The Bar Suit Chrisian Dior Spring/Summer 1947 O 112
THE
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LO O K CODE
Chrisian Dior 1 O
THE NEW LOOK 1947 - 1953 CHRISTIAN DIOR Feminine. Timeless. Shapely. These are the words that oten imes describe the collecions crated by Chrisian Dior. The New Look Collecion of 1947 established a silhouete that will be forever be emulated by designers. Pictured here are several interpretaions of the infamous hourglass shape found in evening wear, coats, and separates.
Chrisian Dior
Chrisian Dior
Chrisian Dior
Chrisian Dior
Chrisian Dior
Chrisian Dior
Chrisian Dior 1 O
THE NEW LOOK 2010 - 2016 RAF SIMONS Raf Simons debut collecion for Chrisian Dior was at the Fall 2012 Couture show. Simons has a irm (and rare) belief that fashion - even couture - should be wearable. Simons philosophy is in tune with the houses founding father and that is why his 20 collecions at the house have succeeded. His updated interpretaions include that of the Bar jacket, derived from Chrisian Dior’s 1947 “New Look” collecion, full skirts, and impeccably tailored pants. O1
Chrisian Dior Spring/Summer 2015
Chrisian Dior Autumn/Winter 2015
Chrisian Dior Spring/Summer 2015
Chrisian Dior Autumn/Winter 2014
Chrisian Dior Spring/Summer 2015
Chrisian Dior Autumn/Winter 2015
Chrisian Dior Autumn/Winter 2012 1 O
The Sack Dress Hubert de Givenchy 1957 O 118
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THE UNFIT SHAPE 1954-1960 Cristobal Balenciaga had introduced the united dress style as early as 1954 and Dior presented the A-line in his collecion in 1955. Coats were straighter and some full-backed blouson styles began to gain popularity by 1956. By 1958, women began buying united chemise-type styles, the A-line trapeze, and the sack dress (pictured here). The unit shape coninues on to dominate O 1unil the mid 60’s.
The Sack Dress
Chrisian Dior A-line Dress
YSL Trapeze
Simoneta Fabiani
Chrisian Dior Chemise Dress
Balenciaga
Balenciaga 1 O
THE UNFIT SHAPE 2010-2016 The unit shapes introduced in the 1950’s have become key inluences for many modern day collecions. The Cocoon coat (pictured here), the A-line, trapeze, and united shit dress have truly stood the test of ime. Updated fabrics, fastenings, lengths and details give these classic 1950’s shapes a unique and modern update that will coninue to see for decades O 1to come.
Balenciaga Autumn/Winter 2015
Kate Spade Spring/Summer 2014
Alexander McQueen
Cynthia Rowley Spirng/Summer 2015
Chloe Spring 2011
Carven Autumn/Winter 2013
Diane von Furstenberg Spring 2012 1 O
KEY ITEMS The following compilaion includes the key items found within every woman’s closet throughout the 1950’s.
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Key Items
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S H I RT WA I S T D R E S S
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Key Items
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N E W LO O K D R E S S
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Key Items
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T H E C O AT D R E S S
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Key Items
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BALLERINA DRESS
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Key Items
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CHEMISE DRESS
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Key Items
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T H E G I G I B LO U S E
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Key Items
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CARDIGAN SWEATER
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Key Items
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C I GA R E T T E PA N T
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Key Items
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PEDAL PUSHERS
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Key Items
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BERMIUDA SHORT
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Key Items
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NARROW SKIRT SUIT
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Key Items
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F U L L E R S K I RT S U I T
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