Coming soon 5 March – 31 August
2015
Fashion on the Ration: 1940s Street Style
From 'onesies' to wear in the air raid
shelter to jewellery created from aeroplane parts - Fashion on the Ration looks
at how fashion survived and even flourished under the strict rules of rationing
in 1940s Britain, often in new and unexpected ways.
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Models show off 1940s outfits outside the
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Fashion on the ration: how make do and mend defined
wartime style
A new exhibition
shows the ingenious lengths people went to to stay stylish in the 40s,
including a wedding dress borrowed 12 times and outfits made to last
Maev Kennedy
Wednesday 4 March 2015 / http://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2015/mar/04/fashion-on-the-ration-make-do-and-mend-wartime-style
It was a time to make do and mend by
transforming an old chenille bedspread into a truly startling new coat, put on
a brave face by applying beetroot juice as lipstick, and put a best foot
forward treated with Moondusk Cyclax fake stocking cream, complete with paint
on false seam, advertised as “bare leg freedom with the beauty of sheer hose”.
A new exhibition at the Imperial War
Museum
The government issued regular bracing
suggestions, including cheerful pamphlets on how to darn and patch by Mrs Sew
and Sew. Propaganda films included instructions on how to chop up and remodel a
man’s felt hat, ending with the unconvincing assurance “when he sees your new
sports hat, he certainly won’t regret his old trilby”.
The surprise, in archive photographs and
films, and original clothes from the period, is how good many people looked.
Designers including Hardy Amies became involved, and Winston Churchill’s much
copied one-piece siren suits were immaculately made by tailors Turnbull and
Asser.
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1940s magazines form part of Fashion on the
Ration: 1940s Street Style Photograph: Carl Court/Getty Images
“People now think that ‘utility clothing’
meant cheap and nasty – but in fact the reverse is true,” curator Laura
Clouting said. “They were actually extremely well made because they were
expected to last and last, which is why so many that have survived are still in
such good condition.”
“The restrictions, the narrow elegant cut,
the simplicity of line, the absence of frills and trimmings, means that the
clothes look remarkably stylish today – much more so than those before or
immediately after the war.”
The rules were strict: no more than five
buttons and two pockets, two pleats, no trouser turn-ups for the men, and
braces not elasticated belts – any spare elastic went for women’s underwear.
Trousers for women changed from beach to town wear, with one ad boasting “for
the home front but with a military touch” showing a woman in a pinstripe suit
vaulting over a five bar gate.
People were ingenious at finding sources of
unrationed materials. The exhibition includes supremely stylish underwear made
for Pamela Mountbatten out of a navigation map printed on silk given to her by
an RAF boyfriend.
Although everyone was subject to rationing
and coupons, some did much better than others: Vogue offered tips on cutting
down a dinner gown into a smart black silk day dress, which wasn’t much help if
you didn’t have a black silk dinner gown to start with.
“If you were well off, and started the war
with a fabulous extensive wardrobe of clothes, obviously you would have looked
much better,” Clouting said. “In the earliest days there was strong disapproval
of any kind of ostentation, but by the end it was regarded as a patriotic duty
to be seen to make an effort and look your best.”
Many chose to marry in uniform, but one
wedding dress on display, made from a length of pre-war lingerie silk, was worn
by the bride it was made for, and later borrowed by 12 other women.
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Model Sadie Doherty wears 1940s style
clothing. Photograph: Jack Taylor/AFP/Getty Images
The vintage photographs include several of
family members of the museum staff. When Clouting’s parents married in 1940,
her mother wore her older sister’s dress, before the couple went on to spend
their wedding night in an air raid shelter.
Another photograph shows Rosie Linton’s
aunt Ida, who had been a dancer and chorus girl and made her glorious white
dress out of old costumes – then dyed it pink to wear at parties. Members of
the public are invited to contribute their own family photographs of war wear
to the museum’s Twitter, Instagram or Facebook pages.
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