Recession Fashion - 1930's

1930's hat design from the French La Gazzette magazine



Early 1930's french fashion


Check out popular 1930's makeup styles
and 1930's Hairstyles

Womens Fashion of the 1930's was directly influenced by the great Wall Street Crash of October 24, 1929 and subsequent Depression. The Autumn, 1930 Sears Catalogue admonished, “Thrift is the spirit of the day. Reckless spending is a thing of the past.” The beginning of the decade saw women sewing more. Clothing was mended and patched before being replaced. Less ready-to-wear garments were purchased, even though styles were dramatically changing.

A softer, more feminine style replaced the boyish, flapper look of the twenties. At the beginning of the decade, hemlines dropped dramatically to the ankle and remained there until the end of the thirties. Necklines were lowered while torsos were sensuously molded beneath squared shoulders. Darts were replaced by soft gathers. Dress waists returned to the natural waistline. Moderately full skirts accentuated a small waist and minimized the hips. Dress bodices were designed with inset pieces and yokes. Necklines received dramatic attention, often with wide scallop-edged or ruffled collars.

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1920's Fashion Film

Hollywood Fashion in the 1920's

This is a beautiful color film from 1928 featuring some female stars of the day in sparkling up to date styles.
By the late 1920's fashion designers were very forward looking. The Cloche hat was queen - which
has become the iconic image of that decade.The single biggest change in womens fashion was the switch from corseted restricting garments to a loose, more feminine style. The Sillouette was flat and straight [ just for a few years ], as the waist made a welcome return by 1929 and 1930.

Joan Crawford - Photographed from 1920 to 1930

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1929
1928
1927

1926
1925
1924
1922
1921

The wonderful and generally forgotten Hollywood Diva of the 1920's.
She's largely and unfortunately remembered for her role in Whatever happened to Baby Jane
[ remember the eyebrows ? ] ..though it is a great movie.
Here she is in all her Flapper glory in a timeline of photos from 1920 to 1930.Enjoy.
Images courtesy of Joan Crawford Best
A quote from Joan "

"I wanted to be famous, just to make the kids who'd laughed at me feel foolish. I wanted to be rich, so I'd never have to do the awful work my mother did and live at the bottom of the barrel--ever. And I wanted to be a dancer because I loved to dance... Maybe the illusions, the daydreams, made life more tolerable, but I always knew, whether I was in school or working in some damned dime store, that I'd make it. (Funny, but I never had any ambition whatsoever to become an actress.)"

Famous Glamour Photographers

Helmut Newton

Helmut Newton's growing reputation as a fashion photographer was rewarded when he secured a commission to illustrate fashions in a special Australian supplement for Vogue magazine, published in January 1956. He won a twelve-month contract with British Vogue and he left for London in February 1957, leaving Talbot to manage the business. He left the magazine before the end of his contract and went to Paris where he worked for French and German magazines. He returned to Melbourne in March 1959 to a contract for Australian Vogue.

He settled in Paris in 1961 and continued work as a fashion photographer. His works appeared in magazines including, most significantly, French Vogue and Harper's Bazaar.

1950's Glamour Photography

These photos depict a very common style of the 1950's in glamour photography.
Photographs that were selected were mostly of girls with hour glass figures. There were however no modelling agencies and this made it difficult in terms of finding professionals. Most of the support staff of make up crews, lighting, costume and props was also missing. Most of the photographers worked with women who were willing to have their photo taken, in many cases models were asked if they would have their photo taken off the street. Then there was no question of having a location chosen or a costume selected. Everything was done extempore. Most photographers used to look for willing models on beaches, naturally. There was however a kind of charm to this type of work where not everything was artificial and made up.
Found on Vintage girl watchers

Vintage Vogue - 1950's

The Second World War left women craving for glamour, style and swathes of fabric where scraps of material had once existed. Dior's full skirted and waisted designs fulfilled all the early dreams of the feminine woman in the early 50's. As a new, more liberated society evolved, women moved toward freer more relaxed clothes and began the move away from the dress rules and associated formality of decades.Fashion Era
See also Vanessas Treasure

1920's Flapper makeup

Flapper Makeup

For a full How to Apply 1920s Makeup Tutorial

Check out The makeup Look Timeline

Also The History of Glamour makeup

Prior to 1920, wearing makeup could be a dangerous proposition. It contained chemicals such as lead, sulfur and mercury. Beyond the health risks, it was not proper for nice girls to wear makeup. Those who did wore pale, muted colors and their supplies were hidden away from disapproving fathers and husbands. Women who feared the consequences of wearing makeup often vigorously pinched their cheeks and lips to give them color.

The prevailing attitude was that a lady had no reason to be in the sun and therefore should be pale. Some historians even suspect that the look became popular because of the prevalence of tuberculosis, which made its sufferers look very pale.

Read more at Love to Know

Also get the Flapper Look here !!
It's a dream daarling !!

Fashion Design - 1920's

Found these on this Creative Commons Book of Fashion Design
Seems to span the decades of fashion.I picked out some nice examples
of womens fashion from the 1920's.

Anita Page - The Tribute the Academy Awards forgot.

Anita Page - The Tribute that the Academy Awards forgot.

This tribute by Anita Page was made by Aaron1912 on Youtube
The actual Oscars that year forgot about her.

Academy Awards: Tribute To Anita Page

The glorious Anita Page, star of the 1920's.
This was the Oscars tribute to her passing at the sprightly age of 98 in Sept 2008.

Vintage Hat Fashion - 1920's to the 1950's

Photos courtesy of My Vintage Vogue

By the mid 1920's women's hair had become much shorter with the shingle cut and the cloche, which hugged the head like a helmet with a very small brim, had come into fashion. Now, after World War 1, there was suddenly such a proliferation of styles and materials that many women had to rely on the advice of milliners.
From the 1930's to the 1950's it could be said that New York, with its many European immigrants had become the world's leading millinery city, with department stores such as Sacs Fifth Avenue, Henri Bendel and Bergdorf Goodman leading the way with their own millinery workrooms.
During the 1930's and 40's the tendency was for hats to have higher crowns with smaller brims and once it was War-Time again, it was mainly the trims which were changed with women making do with turbans made from pre-war materials.
By the 1950's the arrival of ready-to-wear clothes was robbing the milliners of their crucial part in the world of fashion. Equally during the War many women, who had not previously worked, found themselves employed and were then loathed to lose their new-found freedom and independence. This new situation meant, however, that they no longer had so much time or energy to spend on being fashionable.
Visit Hats UK


Also for the definitive breakdown on vintage makeup styles from several classic eras, the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s and 1950s see the Vintage Makeup Guide 

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Umbrella Fashion ! - Vintage Vogue

Yes ..Umbrellas can be feminine [ depending on who is wearing one !!]
Found on the excellent My Vintage vogue