Peterson A.T., Hewitt V., Vaughan H., Kellogg A.T. The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Clothing through American History, 1900 to the Present. Volume 1: 1900-1949

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garment production after the war, and ready-to-wear clothing became less

expensive and easier to make.

Clothing retailers at the beginning of the century included tailors,

seamstresses, department stores, and mail-order companies. After WWI,

American consumerism flourished, and department stores marketed Pari-

sian imports and installed make-up counters. Chain stores and discount

stores emerged and proliferated with the greater number of cost-conscious

consumers during the Great Depression. After WWII, department stores

moved out to the suburbs to follow the wave of consumers.

New fashion communication vehicles emerged during the first half of

the century. In the early decades of the century, Americans primarily

relied on ladies magazines and mail-order catalogs for up-to-date fashion

information. Fashion shows, a new type of marketing, were held and soon

became a critical form of fashion dissemination. By the 1920s, the

increased use of photos in magazines, catalogs, and newspapers helped

proliferate fashion trends. In the 1930s, Hollywood and Miss America

Pageants defined new fashions and communicated them to Americans.

The influence of Hollywood heightened in the 1940s as stars and Holly-

wood designers gained mainstream prominence.

Technological innovations shaped the business of fashion during the

first half of the twentieth century. Clothing manufacturers relied on sew-

ing and cutting machines to speed their processes in the 1900s, and, for

the first time, they used electricity to power these machines. In the 1920s,

several new artificial fibers were developed. Rayon, acetate, nylon, and

polyester were invented and woven into a variety of garments. Some of

these fabrics did not see wide use until WWII when the shortage of natu-

ral fibers such as wool, cotton, linen, and silk necessitated the use of arti-

ficial ones. Zippers became a widely used fastener in the 1930s,

supplanting the buttons used for many closures.

HAUTE COUTURE

1900S AND 1910S

During the first decades of the twentieth century, the French dominated

haute couture. Houses such as Worth and Callot Souers were the driving

forces behind many of the popular styles. The century launched with the

L’Esposition Universalle in Paris in 1900. Because French houses such as

Worth and Callot Souers, but also Drecoll and Paquin, participated in

L’Esposition, the modern concept of haute couture gained a worldwide

audience.

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THE BUSINESS OF FASHION

Charles Frederick Worth, who

founded the House of Wor th in the

1860s, is seen as the ‘‘father of haute

couture.’’ By the turn of the century,

his sons had taken over the business

and hired Paul Poiret as a designer.

Poiret did not last long working for

the Worths, and he opened his own

house in 1903. Poiret rebelled against

the ‘‘S-curve’’ silhouette that reigned

during the first decade of the 1900s.

By 1906, he introduced the empire sil-

houette, with a slim skirt, a style that

was inspired by classical Greek dress.

Poiret was aggressive in his promo-

tion of the designs, and they quickly

caught on. He also created Rosine, the

first perfume by a couturier. He coordi-

nated the packaging, fragrance, and

marketing campaign for it. Poiret was

not the only popular designer who was

inspired by classic Greek costume.

Mariano F ortuny made his name as

a designer by introducing the ‘‘Delphos

gown ’ ’ in 1907. This slim-silhouetted,

richly dyed gown was made of finely

pleated silk. The edges were trimmed

with small glass beads to weigh down

the silk. It varied dramatically from the popular silhouette of the day, because

it was uncorseted and flowing. The style highlighted the natural female form.

Callot Souers’ designs were ultra-feminine and were usually covered in

lace. This is no surprise because Madame Gerber, the oldest of the three

founding sisters, had owned a lace shop, and their mother was a lace

maker. Although they opened the house in 1895, they emerged as popular

designers in the 1910s. Day clothes trimmed in lace and ribbon and linge-

rie were their staple, but they also created a following for their period

gowns, which were contemporary versions of eighteenth-century dresses

complete with tightly corseted waistlines, hoop skirts, and pastel tulle.

During WWI, many of the couture houses shut down, at least tempo-

rarily. Even Paul Poiret shifted toward the war effort by enlisting in the

French infantry as a tailor. The couturiers who continued to design during

Mrs. Conde Nast in a Fortuny pleated tea gown, c. 1910.

[Library of Congress]

Haute Couture

151

the war adopted the wartime silhouette, which consisted of wide, barrel-

shaped skirts supported by petticoats with loose bodices. The hips were

often further accented with a peplum.

As the world emerged from the war in 1918, haute couture designers

found themselves in a more modern world. Those who adapted and cre-

ated more liberated designs found success in the 1920s and beyond, but

many couturiers found themselves out of step with the times and perma-

nently closed their houses not long after the war.

1920S AND 1930S

By the 1920s the role of the couturier as fashion dictator and trendsetter

was firmly established. Haute couture houses through Paris began vying

for the honor of originating new fashion trends through the production of

two collections per year. In keeping with the changing role of women in

the 1920s, an increasing number of haute couture houses were established

by couturieres (female couturiers), including Callot Souers, Vionnet, Ma-

dame Gres, Schiaperelli, and, of course, Gabrielle ‘‘Coco’’ Chanel.

Chanel infused her personal style into her designs, favoring simple

wool jersey dresses, skirts, and sweaters rather than elaborate day dresses.

Her creations broke with tradition and gave women an alternative to

‘‘fussy’’ fashions that required extensive fittings and assistance when dress-

ing. The simplistic styles she promoted were perfectly suited to the new,

active woman. Many couturiers attempted to return fashion to its previous

complex and elaborate state, but American women refused to participate

in these trends. So Paris, the dictator of fashion, in turn was dictated to

by American women who had the means more than their European coun-

terpar ts to purchase one-of-a-kind custom-made clothing.

The increased prosperity in America and abroad in the 1920s meant

that more women could afford couture garments, and Parisian fashions

became the ultimate status symbol. Once the domain of ‘‘old money,’’ cou-

ture became a means for movie actresses and the wives and daughters of

the new industrial tycoons to display their new-found affluence. Royalty

and the social elite attended couture shows and fittings with the nouveaux

riche, blurring the lines between past class distinctions.

The Great Depression of the 1930s devastated the haute couture

establishment in Paris. Haute couture, once the second-largest export

from Paris, dropped to twenty-seventh place by 1933 (Ewing 2001, 105).

American department stores cancelled orders. Both American and Euro-

pean clientele no longer had the funds to travel abroad to indulge in ex-

pensive, one-of-a-kind, custom-fit garments. In response, fashions

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continued to simplify, removing elaborate and expensive trims, offering up

simple silk dresses to those that still had the means to afford formal

dresses.

Challenging Paris’ role as fashion dictator in the 1920s and 1930s, a

new class of trendsetters arose: Hollywood stylists. Travis Banton, Edith

Head, and Adrian were three of the individuals responsible for launching

worldwide fashion trends through their wardrobe selections and original

designs for actresses Lillian Gish, Clara Bow, Marlene Dietrich, Tallulah

Bankhead, Joan Crawford, and Carole Lombard. Their designs were fea-

tured on the big screen as well as in fashion magazines such as Vogue and

Harper’s Bazaar and were adopted by women around the world. Paris had

no choice but to take heed of the garments on the ‘‘big screen’’ and incor-

porate the design elements into the couture collections.

1940S

Paris, the center of haute couture since Louis XIV established it as the

epicenter of fashion in the late seventeenth century, fell to Germany in

1940. When Hitler took Paris, many top designers retired, went into

exile, or fled the country rather than design for the Nazis. This, in addi-

tion to the mass exodus of the Jewish fashion workforce, led to the tem-

porary collapse of the French fashion industry center. The German

occupation now controlled haute couture. Nazism demanded ultra-

nationalism and absolute conformity, including conformity in clothing.

The few fashion houses that remained worked mainly in collaboration

with the Germans. Because the United States and Great Britain stationed

battleships blockading the French coast, New York designers were cut off

from the annual fashion shows of opulent French haute couture. Ameri-

cans and Brits could no longer receive inspiration from Paris because no

news was coming from occupied Europe. Social trends dictate fashion,

and the entire civilized world was engaged in the war effort.

Before WWII, thousands of people worked for the couture industry,

with each worker specializing in one area such as seamstress, pattern

drafter, or trimmer (De Marly, 1980). Because the war devastated the

moneyed class and scattered the seamstress talent across Europe and the

United States, American designers now had the freedom to develop new

styles without the influence of Paris. Because supplies were short and

most materials were rationed, an opportunity emerged for creative design

along with the use of unique materials.

Hats became the item to dress up an otherwise politically correct

design. The adornment of feathers, raffia, and other leftover items not

Haute Couture

153

rationed provided a creative outlet. American designers were doing more

than creating design for a small elite population. They were responsible

for generating a positive response to the strict clothing regulations and

building morale on the home front.

When Paris was liberated from the German occupation, French

designers who had cooperated with the Nazis were perceived unfavorably.

Although Coco Channel closed her Paris fashion a year before the war,

her love affair with a high Nazi official made it difficult to open her salon

for many years after the war. Furthermore, many French designers had

proceeded with free use of material despite the fr ugality that non-French

designers had adopted during the war to comply with rationing. These

two attitudes, combined with the emerging popularity of American

designers, initiated a shift away from Paris as the arbiter of all fashion.

In an effort to reestablish Paris as the fashion center of the world,

fifty-three French couturiers banded together in 1945 to create a traveling

exhibition, known as The^atre de la Mode. This group included Cristobal

Balenciaga, Jacques Fath, Jean Patou, Elsa Schiaparelli, and Robert Ricci.

They revived an age-old method of displaying new designs by dressing

200 dolls that were complete with lingerie, hats, shoes, gloves, belts,

umbrellas, jewelry, and handbags.

In spring of 1947, when Christian Dior launched his ‘‘Corolle’’ collec-

tion, he brought a new vibrancy to French haute couture. The silhouette

of this collection was a stark contrast to wartime fashions. Whereas war-

time fashions had broad, padded shoulders, Dior’s collection featured

slender, feminine shoulders. Dior replaced the natural waist and bust of

the war with a corseted, nipped waist and uplifted breasts. In further con-

trast to wartime fashions, he replaced the modest, somewhat narrow skir ts

with wide, crinoline-stuffed skirts. Initially, the collection sparked criti-

cism because it was dramatically different from the fashions that had been

popular at the time.

Carmel Snow, the editor at Harper’s Bazaar, called Dior’s collection

the ‘‘New Look,’’ and it received praise as well as criticism. Many women

were enthusiastic about the feminine look specifically because it was a

stark contrast to the rationing and masculine silhouette that had domi-

nated their clothing during the early and mid-1940s. Although Dior is

credited with originating this look, other designers had tried to introduce

similar looks at the same time. Charles James, Jacques Fath, and Cristobal

Balenciaga introduced the silhouette in evening wear, although Dior was

the first to introduce it in daywear.

The New Look became so popular that it solidified Dior as a preemi-

nent style dictator for the next ten years. He passionately took on the role

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and launched a new silhouette twice a year, so to remain fashionable

women had to regularly purchase new wardrobes. In essence, Dior sped

up fashion changes to a modern pace.

READY

WEAR

1900S AND 1910S

In the early years of the century, most American designers worked for

ready-to-wear manufacturers. They prepared designs for the spring, fall,

summer, and holiday seasons, and, in some cases, they produced a resort

line (Tortora and Eubank 2005, 382). The American designers’ relation-

ship with ready-to-wear manufacturers remained essentially unchanged

until WWII.

Ready-to-wear garments were especially important to the working

class. Both men and women were attracted by ready-to-wear garments

because they were relatively inexpensive and did not require the time

commitment of sewing the garment oneself or visiting a tailor or seam-

stress. For recently arrived immigrants who brought clothing from their

home countries, ready-to-wear garments allowed them to quickly adopt a

more ‘‘American’’ look. Although it allowed them to blend into their new

home, the new look also kept them from looking like a ‘‘greenhorn’’

(newly arrived immigrant), which helped protect them from being targets

of con men and scams.

Customers of the ready-to-wear market also included sports enthusi-

asts and the military. Hunters, fishermen, and hikers often chose ready-

to-wear garments like the ones produced by Burberry’s. During WWI,

the U.S. government needed tens of thousands of uniforms quickly, and

they turned to ready-to-wear manufacturers to fill the orders.

Shoes and accessories were commonly created by ready-to-wear manu-

facturers. Gloves, undergarments, and coats were often readymade.

Knockoffs of French designer fashions were common in America at the

beginning of the century. When Paul Poiret came to the United States in

1913 to market his lines, he left in anger over the number of Americans

wearing copies of his designs. In France, he began to lobby for legislation

to outlaw the copying of designs, but that would not occur until the 1950s.

1920S AND 1930S

Although P aris remained the arbiter of style for women’s fashi ons, the

increased informality in society created a new wardrobe demand: sportswear.

Ready to Wear

155

The popularity of attending and playing sports in the 1920s and 1930s

created a demand for functional, comfortable, and yet stylish clothing for

both men and women. S portswear, so dubbed because it was clothing

worn by spectators at spor ting events, became a new classification of appa-

rel in the 1920s. Although the ready-to-wear industry had been estab-

lished for decades, the demand for sportswear provided the impetus for

the growth of the ready-to-wear industry. Low-cost, stylish wardrobes

were needed by both men and women to attend horse races, football

games, and other outdoor sporting events.

Another major contributing factor to the growth of the ready-to-wear

industry in the 1920s was the working woman. Women were now enter-

ing the workforce in increasing numbers and needed an affordable ward-

robe. Working women did not have time for home sewing or to visit a

seamstress for fittings, thus ready-to-wear apparel was the ideal choice for

the ‘‘working girl.’’ Dresses, skirts, jackets, and tops could all be purchased

as separates or coordinates, allowing working women to create a ‘‘mix-

and-match’’ versatile wardrobe for work and play.

Perhaps the single most important factor that impacted the growth of

the ready-to-wear market was the change in silhouette and undergarments

that occurred in the 1920s. Whereby the fashionable silhouette in previous

decades required elaborate support structures to create bustles and mono-

bosoms, the tubular silhouette of the 1920s required only a simple slip,

brassiere, and drawers. The silhouette and fit were simple and required

minimal engineering of pattern pieces to create high-quality, attractive,

well-fitting garments. The simple designs were well suited to mass manu-

facturing on the new cutting, pressing, buttonhole, and hemming

machines, eliminating the need for hand sewing and treadle machines. Pro-

ductivity was increased, although overall costs were decreased using assem-

bly line techniques, allowing fashionable clothing to be produced at price

points that could be afforded by all socioeconomic classes of society.

America led the charge in manufacturing and developed a new type of

couturier, the fashion designer. These designers were employed by either

department stores or manufacturers to develop apparel lines targeting the

new middle class who demanded comfortable, affordable, high-quality

ready-to-wear clothing. American designers began as ‘‘knockoff artists,’’

making line-for-line copies of Paris originals. Retailers and manufacturers

would employ artists and designers to attend the Paris fashion shows,

who, in turn, were charged with memorizing every detail of a single dress.

After the show, the artist or designer would sketch all the details, and the

sketch would be translated to a garment, sold as a ‘‘French import’’ in

retail establishments. By the 1930s, the change in the economic climate of

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America meant that American designers no longer had the funds to visit

Paris for shows and began to rely less and less on Paris for fashion influ-

ence. American designers began creating their own designs rather than

knocking off Paris trends. American designers, such as Adrian, Claire

McCardell, Norman Norell, Valentina, and Adele Simpson, were among

the new class of designers who established the American fashion industry

in New York City in the 1920s and 1930s. Although American designers

may have looked to Paris for overall silhouette and trend, their interpreta-

tions were uniquely American: casual, simple, and comfortable.

1940S

Better methods of large-scale production resulted from experience gained

during the war, when rapid mass production of uniforms was necessary.

The c lothing industry was changed forever by innovations such as eco-

nomical cutting, using materials in different ways, better mechanized

methods of large-scale production, and the scientific discoveries of new

manmade materials.

Garment production for soldiers during the war resulted in increased

efficiency, lower cost, and standardization in quality and sizes. Mass pro-

duction of clothing became the way of the market after the war. Once

rations were lifted, the nation that saved together was ready to spend on

items for which they had done without for so long. Ready-to-wear cloth-

ing was no longer considered a second-class choice but a necessity to be

fashionable. It was often referred to by the French term pr^et-a-porter.

Rationing along with strict wartime regulations ensured that manufac-

turers would create garments in a quick, efficient, and economic manner

that achieved a standard of quality control at the same time. Mass-produced

garments offered through mail-order companies such as Sears, Spiegel, and

Montgomery Ward became popular, because very few people were able to

pay the high prices for high fashion during the war and reconstruction.

Designers such as Claire McCardell began producing ready-made day-

wear and sportswear for the common American woman believing in free-

dom, democracy, and casualness. Although her designs with their

simplicity and modern lines seemed radical at first, women liked the fit

and comfort of her garments. American designers, such as McCardell and

Norman Norell, led the way in work and leisure wear, combining stylish-

ness and practicality.

Perhaps inspired by the government’s mandate to ration fabric, Ameri-

can designers introduced the concept of separates. By coordinating skirts,

Ready to Wear

157

slacks, sweaters, and jackets, it gave the illusion of more outfits and a

larger wardrobe. Classic sportswear styles became popular on college cam-

puses and soon were adopted by society at large.

RETAIL OPERATIONS

1900S AND 1910S

Early in the twentieth century, tailor shops and seamstresses proliferated

in most urban areas and provided custom-made clothing and alterations

of store-purchased garments. Both large and small urban areas had a vari-

ety of small, boutique clothing shops. Many of them were family owned.

Some offered only men’s wear, only women’s wear, or only children’s wear,

whereas others catered to entire families. There were many specialty shops

for accessories such as jewelry or footwear. Some shops specialized in used

clothing, whereas others specialized in imported clothing.

Department stores owners built magnificent, multistory stores with

ornate decor. These elaborate stores were often described as shopping

‘‘palaces’’ and became destinations for family outings. Department stores

were located in the heart of urban shopping areas and gathered together

all of a family’s shopping needs under one roof. As the department stores

became more popular, they created multiple branch stores. For example,

J.C. Penney had thirty-six Golden Rule Stores by 1913. The stores’ name

was later changed to J.C. Penney’s.

Although department stores had long offered installment plans for

big-ticket items, they began offering credit plans for smaller purchases

such as clothes. They often advertised credit plans for clothing, especially

winter clothing. It was a necessity when the weather turned cold, but

many times people had not saved up to purchase new coats, sweaters, and

warmer clothes.

People who lived outside of cities purchased their clothing at local

dry goods stores or through mail-order catalogs. Sears Roebuck and

Montgomery Ward’s businesses were built on mail orders well before they

established physical stores.

1920S AND 1930S

The economic boom that swept America after WWI created a high

demand for consumer goods such as automobiles, radios, home appliances,

and telephones, not to mention fashionable apparel, especially for working

women. By 1920, nearly 9 million women were working in the United

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States (Tortora and Eubank 2005,

355), and they demanded professional

attire for work, dresses for evening,

and sportswear for weekend outings.

Department stores provided all the