Fashion during 1940's ww2

Fashion of the 1940's during World War 2, for men and for women. From the start of ww2 women's dresses were knee--length and featured padded shoulders. The clothing was simple due to the rationing of material. Women wore curls and bright lipstick to emphasise the feminine look. When the war was over and the material was available again the 'New Look' was born. Christian Dior created the New Look, this featured a nipped in waist, longer lengths and fuller skirts. Also during the ww2 period the government encouraged the 'make do and mend' policy, which basically means recycle and re-use garments. 

Women converted mens suits into women's suits, because men were away in the forces. Heavy blankets were converted into overcoats. Jumpers made from wool were unwoven and knitted into something else. With make do and mend women stopped wearing skirts unless they were re-made. Women started wearing trousers and dungarees as well. 

During the ware men generally wore plain solid colour suits. Either navy or black with white shirts. When the men weren't wearing their army caps, they wore their wide brimmed fedora. A smart strong, stylish hat worn mostly by businessman.

For this project I constructed a 1940's style dress for an everyday women, I also constructed an apron to go with the dress. I made the dress in pale pink gingam (checkered material) with a wrap around belt. The apron I kept simple with cream cotton and one pocket on the lower half. The apron was quite easy to make as was the dress because they were simple designs, you had to keepin mind that material was limited in 1940 due to rationing. The budget we had for the apron and dress was £5.00 each, I went slightly over the budget because in modern day material is more exspensive.

WW2 Dress

Also for this I had to create samples this included patchwork, recycled materials sewn together, weave, batik (done with hot wax), knitting, prints, and I took a photo of each of these to improve my presentation.

Patchwork sample

Knitting sample

This was another sample I did, for this get an image and some fabric or an item of clothing, place the image down on a flat surface facing up and cover with glue, not too thick but be generous, then place the fabric over the image, press down with a rolling pin firmly, then peel the whole thing off the surface and leave to dry. Once dry dampen the image with warm water and peel off the paper from the fabric,the image you started out with should then be imprinted onto the fabric.