Vintage Dress Styles by Callum Asterman
Vintage dresses illustrate the varied creativity skills on the part of the designers to make a simple piece of clothing that is made up of essentially of just a skirt and bodice, and maybe a sleeve or two, take on so many forms. Just by viewing a black and white photograph of a dress and you highly likely to be able to approximate which decade it comes from; the women’s dress, more than, say, the men’s suit, is the true signifier of change.
The 1920s
The flapper look is perhaps the most recognisable dress style of the pre-war years, and it is synonymous with fashion of the Roaring Twenties. Pearls and Beads, fur and feather all accessorised basic, airy dresses. Seemingly always worn with short bobbed hair styles and a hat, it was the dress of the jazz age, a spirit of looking forward after the First World War, and the time of commercial flight, fast cars and ocean-going liners.
The 1930s
The majority of accessories of the flapper look were popular later into the 1930s, but dresses were designed to be more feminine, figure-hugging profile. There was a general trend into longer styles as the thirties progressed, and ankle-length or even floor-length dresses would be seen at more formal occasions. But as the decade drew to a close, war once again intervened, and rationing, women’s manual labour and the scarcity of materials put fashion on the back burner.
The 1940s
In the forties The Second World War had a huge impact on fashion, and even after 1945, when materials were still in short supply and the nation’s economy was geared towards rebuilding the shattered towns and cities, clothing had to continue taking a back seat. Dresses during this period reflected this mood, with availability of materials forcing the length to the knee.
The 1950s
Like the 1920s, the Fifties were a time of increasing prosperity after the destruction of war. It was the age of the teenager, the second great wave of Hollywood screen icons and, of course, rock and roll. There was a definite move towards glamour and glitz, and after decades of going up and down in length, dresses suddenly grew in the other direction: sideways. Starting at the hip, they would splay outwards with pleats and folds galore. Bodices became a little more daring, too, with plunging necklines ideal for showing off bright and brilliant jewellery.
The Sixties
Although the 1960s is associated with the mini skirt, dress and Cooper, the fashion of the first half of the decade kept the 50s feel, although width of dresses started to decrease and lines became smarter and more controlled. That was the style until a certain designer by the name of Quant started to turn everything on its head. Dresses shrunk to lengths of shortness never seen before, and the bold colours, knee boots, bob haircuts and false eyelashes were in vogue. It was then that the hippy era appeared, whose dresses were characterised by length, looseness and flowerey styles. Of all the decades discussed here the sixties is perhaps the hardest to categorise
About the Author
Callum Asterman writes for Rokit vintage clothing and discusses why vintage dresses remain an attractive item for fashion buyers today.
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