Different events in the past have led to cause several variations in the way people dress up and how a particular style became trendy. Historical events like World War II, the Holocaust, the Great Depression, and many more are among the significant highlights of various fashion changes in the world.
From the 1920s to the 1990s, fashionable attires represented the mood for each decade, showcasing the societal changes during the continuous evolution of clothing, such as women’s casual attire, girls party dresses, and the plethora of hairstyles and accessories.
The Flapper Dresses
A few years after World War I in the 1920s, changes in women’s fashion included higher hemlines and lower waistlines of girls' dresses and skirts. The popularity of high and wide-heeled shoes, jumper blouses, low-cut V-neck shirts, knitted long-sleeve shirts, draped hats, and turbans also increased during this period.
Flappers came across as a generation of young ladies dressed up with short skirts knee level in length, feathered accessories, bobbed hairs or boyish cuts, and heavy makeup. Women listening to jazz music, drinking alcohol, and driving automobiles during those years seemed like the norm.
The Bias-Cut Gowns
During the Great Depression in the 1930s, when the economic downturn reached its worst, the world of big screen and entertainment became the people’s way to escape.
The Hollywood glamour and femininity craze returned as fashion trends, including evening gowns with diamond accents, slim-cut dresses with belts for a casual look, and floral printed garments.
These bias-cut gowns are diagonal, accentuating the body’s lines and curves and allowing the fabric to wrap it casually smooth.
The Bikini
World War II marked a remarkable change in the evolution of women’s wear as restrictions limited how they dressed. Only homemade dresses and skirts out of materials such as curtains, nightgowns, and bedsheets were allowed due to the banned use of excess fabric in making outfits. Working women wore military-style shirts with button-up collars during the war, and those in the Corps wore full war military uniforms.
The government demanded fabric rationing led to the not-so-foreseeable popularity of two-piece swimsuits in the 1940s. Louis Réard, a French designer, came up with this idea and named it after the coral reef in the Marshall Islands called the Bikini Atoll, where the nuclear bomb was first tested in public.
The “New Look”
The war has ended, the army has returned home, and the restrictions have been lifted. These caused the revival of the economy in the 1950s to the 1960s, which allowed the comeback of fashion glamour – girls’ party dresses and pencil skirts with ruffles or lace accents, mini-dresses, maxi-length skirts, round-neck styles on sleeveless shirts or long sleeve shirts, and polo-necks.
Christian Dior introduced the “New Look” fashion concept, shouting that wartime was officially over with its nipped-in waists, structured bust areas, and large layered skirts.
The hippie fashion also became a fad in the late sixties and seventies, giving birth to loose-fitting and flowing maxi skirts and dresses in shimmering fabrics for dancing in nightclubs. The sixties also brought the fashionableness of ethnic-printed blouses, turtleneck sweaters, and wild-patterned brightly coloured shirts. The shoe trend includes flat ones, sandals, and heels with rounded toes and feminine lines.
Leggings, Crop Tops, and T-Shirts
The fashion trend evolved again in the 1980s, introducing the use of leggings, longer skirts, and dresses with straight lines as design. Women in the professional labour force preferred wearing straight conservative skirts and broad-shouldered blazers.
Music and movie artists like Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, and many others influenced a great deal in fashion in the eighties. Then in the nineties, women’s wear became more provocative, bringing the popularity of crop tops and halter tops.
Designer labels also came into the fashion world, promoting status and trendiness. T-shirts have expressed individual tastes and preferences through printed images, statements, and mainstream references.
Author
Simon Mkhize, the founder of The Edge Search, Steps To Become., Online Scoops and Khabza. I am passionate about digital content making and online blogging platforms.
