Fashion & War don't mix, yet it is true that the latter has an indirect influence on the outward appearance of the survivors.
At the start of the First World War,no one could have predicted the upheavals that were about to take place.The absence of large numbers of men encouraged women to take over the those who were now away at war.As mothers,wives & daughters were forced to work often in factories,they demanded clothes that were better suited to their new activities.
Social events had to be postponed in favour of more pressing engagements,such as caring for the wounded.Women donned nurses overall or wore trousers in the arms factories.The need to mourn the increasing number of dead,visits to the wounded & and the general gravity of the hour meant that dark colours became the norm during the first WW.They ushered in a monochromatic look that was, at the time, unfamiliar to young women in comfortable circumstances.
1914-1918 war had at first little effect on fashion.When the grim reality of the war was brought home to the British public and women became involved in it,the hobble skirt,which had already eased,quickly disappeared.The prevailing style of fashion,with narrow skirts either worn alone of under full tunics,was transformed by the tunic being lengthened and the inner tube dispensed with.The result was costumes and dresses with wide,even voluminous skirts,coming to a few inches above the ankle.
Freedom was necessary for the great number of women now working in factories & offices and undertaking all sorts of unaccustommed activities,including driving vans,manning railway signal boxes & even sweeping chimneys as well as serving in the police force.Sometimes women wore trousers for the rougher tasks & land girls look to breeches.
Max Radin,managing director of Ramar Dresses with a lifetime's experience in fashion manufacture in London,says: 'Before WW I there was no such things as a mass production industry.Soon after the war it began to take shape.
The coat frock was the first women's wartime & post- war fashion to be successfully manufactured by good quality factory methods and it was a conspicuous item of dress during early post-war years.This long-sleeved,one-piece, go everywhere dress rated catelogues on its own from the stores where it was shown with petals,yokes,embroidery,braid &various other trimmings.It was fairly simple to make,& it lent itself to the tailoring techniques which had been stimulated by the war.
During WW I,emphasis on traditionsal female forms gained new importance.At the same time that the "
pannier" skirt (a full skirt that widened at the hips by the addition of inverted cones that opened at the top) and "
barrel" shape(a full skirt that was gathere at the ankles) were introduced.Biedermier curves as well as the lines worn during the reign of Louis XV became popular.Voluminous skirts were worn with bodices & peplums were attached at the sides of the skirt,there by emphasising the shape of the hips.For the first time,day dresses barely calf-length,though worn with high lace up boots.
pannier skirt
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