Story Board Summary

Miranda Bess
MFD 201 Fashion History
Starr
7 April 2021
The 20s, 30s, and WWII
The 1920s was a time of great social and economical change that shaped the fashion and
trends of that time. Going into the 20s, the US was calming down from the horrible and
gruesome WWI of the 1910s and one of the ways that people tried to heal from that time was
through music and fashion. The 1920s era followed the Edwardian era which consisted of clothes
that accentuated the feminine shape while the 1920s valued lower waist lines that eliminated the
natural curves of a woman's body to give her a more boyish figure. Higher hemlines were also in
style as well as brighter makeup with women applying more rouge and brighter lipstick. The
flapper dress became very popular and is often what we associate this time in history as the trend
of this decade. One of the events that had the biggest environmental impacts on fashion during
this time was prohibition. Prohibition in the 1920s was a nation-wide government ban on alcohol
from 1920 through 1933. This caused outrage throughout the US and soon enough, illegal
speakeasies began gaining popularity. Speakeasies were bars and clubs that sold alcohol illegally
and it would be a place where young people went to drink and dance to good jazz music.
Speakeasies were a place where people could dress up, let loose, and have fun which really
captures the spirit of that era and we can see this through the fashion trends of the 20s.
After the fun and lively 20s, came a decade that completely opposed the decade previous.
The 20s aimed to eliminate curves and femininity in its trends while the 1930s reverted back to
natural waists and ankle length hemlines. Feminine curves were aimed to be accentuated in this
decade to create a softer look which was a stark contrast to the decade previous. However, while
the 1920s was a decade filled with dancing and letting loose, the stock market crash of 1929 put
a strain on this era and left a lot of people penniless. The 1930s was an incredibly hard time and
it is definitely reflected in fashion and trends. Due to the crash, a lot of designers and businesses
wanted to ration fabric so they created designs that allotted for the least amount of fabric. The
ready to wear industry gained popularity during this era due to its lower prices and oftentimes,
designers would produce cheap imitations of garments seen coming out of Paris. While the Great
Depression has a tremendous effect on fashion, the 30s also had trends that were very glamorous
that were mostly followed by celebrities and elites. Famous actresses such as Marlene Dietrich
was one of the actresses that people looked to for fashion inspiration.
While the Great Depression caused many people to go through difficult financial times, it
seems that those troubles were amplified leading into the 40s with the beginning of the 2nd
World War in 1939. Just like in the 30s, fabric was rationed in order to make uniforms for the
soldiers fighting in the war so designers tried to create styles that used the least amount of fabric,
this meant shorter hemlines and more fitted silhouettes. Because most of the fight was in
Europe,there were minimal designs coming out of Paris which allotted for American designers
such as Claire McCardell and Norman Norell to thrive during this time.
Overall, doing research into these decades it became very clear that socio-cultural
environments and psychological factors have an immense impact on fashion and trends of a time
period. Certain social, political, or economical events can be seen having major influences on
fashion during a certain time because fashion is a representation of the time we live in. The 20s
was a time of excitement and fun and this is expressed in the popular flapper style dress because
it was easier for women to dance in. In the 30s, we see more ready-to-wear designs because of
the crippling financial times and in the 40s, the War influenced trends in the form of more simple
and minimal designs in order to ration as much fabric as possible. It will be interesting to see
how the fashion of our time will be seen and the events that may have influenced trends.

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Miranda Bess

MFD 201 Fashion History

The 20s, 30s, and WWII

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