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La mode sous l'Occupation
Before the outbreak of WWII, French fashion represented the very pinnacle of style, and French women the epitome of chic. At home and abroad, couturiers’ wealthy clients eagerly awaited the latest collections, and design houses throughout the world looked to Paris for inspiration. Unparalleled for glamour and elegance, all things French were noted and emulated - and especially French fashion.
One morning in September 1939, into this idyllic world of haute couture and Café society came the shattering experience of war, followed by the German Occupation. French women, determined not to give way to the inevitable austerities, sought innovation: hats made from blotting paper or newspapers - the latter signalling political allegiances - and blouses made out of parachute silk, often obtained through dubious means. Not only did life go on, but creativity flourished - culottes, which enabled stylish bicycle journeys, became the vogue, and couturiers capitalized on deprivation with wit - dubbing designs ‘Coal’ and ‘Black Coffee’, or naming an entire collection after Métro stops.
Fashion under the Occupation provides the only in-depth history of these blackest years in French history, long overlooked by fashion history because of the impoverished industry and deprivations that affected design. Widely acknowledged as the authoritative work on fashion during this period, it is available in English for the first time and will be essential reading for anyone interested in fashion, French cultural history, and particularly the German Occupation of France.
One morning in September 1939, into this idyllic world of haute couture and Café society came the shattering experience of war, followed by the German Occupation. French women, determined not to give way to the inevitable austerities, sought innovation: hats made from blotting paper or newspapers - the latter signalling political allegiances - and blouses made out of parachute silk, often obtained through dubious means. Not only did life go on, but creativity flourished - culottes, which enabled stylish bicycle journeys, became the vogue, and couturiers capitalized on deprivation with wit - dubbing designs ‘Coal’ and ‘Black Coffee’, or naming an entire collection after Métro stops.
Fashion under the Occupation provides the only in-depth history of these blackest years in French history, long overlooked by fashion history because of the impoverished industry and deprivations that affected design. Widely acknowledged as the authoritative work on fashion during this period, it is available in English for the first time and will be essential reading for anyone interested in fashion, French cultural history, and particularly the German Occupation of France.
347 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 27, 2017
As a casserole, light on the meat and potatoes, heavy on the gravy.
There were way too many breathless exclamatory quotes from the typically air-headed fashion magazines, studded with really excellent detail on wartime hardships and the truly ingenious ways women worked around them. But what about men?
For an international audience, more background explanations of the couturiers and their high-flying patrons would be helpful. I for instance recognized many of the couture names and that of the deathless Colette, but how many of my generation would be confused? Let alone a younger group?
There were way too many breathless exclamatory quotes from the typically air-headed fashion magazines, studded with really excellent detail on wartime hardships and the truly ingenious ways women worked around them. But what about men?
For an international audience, more background explanations of the couturiers and their high-flying patrons would be helpful. I for instance recognized many of the couture names and that of the deathless Colette, but how many of my generation would be confused? Let alone a younger group?
January 22, 2021
Fashion under the occupation is how we learn about french women courageous impulse to express themselves in the clothing they wear adapting itself to their new and crazy and straightened lives, and how narrowly the french fashion industry escaped extinction.
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February 13, 2015391.00944 V427 2002
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews