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1940s Film Clips
Paris Is Back! (Collier's Magazine, 1946)
Filled to the brim with the same sort of glee that is often only experienced with the unanticipated recovery of your most treasured personalized jewelry, the attached article is a 1946 fashion review that enthusiastically announced the return of a smiling, giggling Paris - now that the "Mein Kampf" book club had finally vacated the Faubourg St. Honorè.
Having no foresight as to the fashion juggernaut that would commence in one year with the appearance of Christian Dior's "New Look", the journalist puts all her credibility in one basket by declaring that all eyes are on the French fashion designer Madame Marcelle Dormoy. Much ink is spilled concerning the bleakness that clouded fashionable Paris during the occupation and the difficulty all fashion houses experienced in 1946 securing suitable fabric for their creations (at black-market prices).
The writer recovered some of her street-cred anticipating the meteoric career return of the well-loved French film actress Edwige Feuillère (1907 – 1998), who is personified herein as the epitome of French Glamour returned. Click here to read a 1946 article about Le Corbusier.
| The Hats of 1947 (Collier's Magazine, 1947)
With the exception of the broad-brimmed sun hat pictured in the attached fashion editorial, you will find that women's hats were growing smaller throughout the course of the Forties and they tended to sit farther back on the cranium, requiring hairdos that would accommodate and complement these creations.
The Sally Victor hat composed of red cherries took its inspiration directly from the bizarre, comical costumes worn by the actress Carmen Miranda. This fruit theme was typical of many post-war milliners. The six other hats in the piece were by two American designers: Lilly Dache and John-Frederics.
Click here to see what men's summer hats were like during this period.
| Fashion Modeling in the 1940s (Coronet Magazine, 1944)
Although this 1944 article sums up the bygone world of the New York fashion model, the terms "heroin chic" and "bulimia" are not found on any of it's five pages (an over site, no doubt). The Forties were a time when a model would be just as likely to get a booking from a commercial artist as she would a photographer, and, unlike the Twenties and the earliest days of the Thirties, it was a time when a standardized image of beauty was well-established.
"five feet nine inches in height, weight 110 pounds, bust 33, waist 24, hips 34, blonde or a light shade of brown hair. She will have quick, clever eyes and a very expressive face."
"Many of the models are bitter, unhappy girls inside. They soon grow disillusioned with their dream of modeling as a gateway to theatrical glory; they learn that their height is against them." Click here to read a 1952 article about Marilyn Monroe.
Click here to read articles about fashions during World War Two.
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| Adele Simpson and Her Fashions (Collier's Magazine, 1945)
Although "Ashlee" and "OJ" Simpson get more impressions on the internet than the designer Adele Simpson (1904 - 1995), it must be remembered that she was a prominent player in American fashion for many decades who was awarded both a Coty Award (1949) as well as a Neiman Marcus Award (1946) and her creations were highly sought after by the crowned heads of both Europe and Hollywood. She first came into the public eye during the 1940s, when the war in Europe knocked the couturiers of Paris right out of fashion's orbit and the American clothing industry had to rely upon domestic talent if they were to survive. The attached 1945 article by Aimee Larkin is titled, "The Great American Dress".Click here to read about wartime fabric rationing in the 1940s.
| The Fashion Group (Collier's Magazine, 1948)
At the time this article appeared on the pages of COLLIER'S MAGAZINE, the Fashion Group was already over twenty years old and in need of more office space.
Established in 1928 by the crowned-heads of the American fashion industry, it was decided that the dominate fashionistas 'needed a forum, a stage, or a force to express and enhance a widening awareness of the American fashion business and of women’s roles in that business." This article points out that there were present in that room on that historic day a smattering of women who toiled in the vineyards as fashion journalists and collectively it was understood that the two groups very much relied upon each other.
The Fashion Group was established in order to: "judge trends by watching sales figures, which indicate which fashions are on the wane and which are gaining favor. They travel around to see what we do, and therefore, what we need." Today, the Fashion Group has offices in every major American city as well as branches in the fashion capitols of Europe, South America and Asia.
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