1940s Fashion: The Definitive Sourcebook

by Charlotte Fiell

From the ashes of the Second World War came forward-thinking fashions, the likes of which had never been seen before.  The early Forties were defined by thriftiness and practicality, a make-do-and-mend attitude in a time of war. However, the latter half of the decade saw the emergence of the traditional femininity, elegance and luxury often associated with the era. Spanning the austerity of the war years to the introduction of Dior's revolutionary New Look, this extensive survey brings together vintage photography and illustrations to follow the season-by-season fashion evolution of the Forties, providing a comprehensive overview of this period of contrasts. 1940s The Definitive Sourcebook covers every aspect of female fashions from the decade, from lace evening gowns, tailored jackets and furs to figure-sculpting undergarments, satin negligées and scandalous bikinis, offering the most comprehensive appraisal of this age of wartime and post-war glamour. This in-depth look at the styles and trends that shaped 1940s fashion features images of the decade's most iconic stars and designers. Stylish leading ladies such as Veronica Lake, Joan Bennett and Barbara Stanwyck are included as well as designs by Dior, Lucien Lelong, Balmain and Worth. Authored and edited by renowned design historian, Charlotte Fiell, this volume also contains an authoritative introduction by fashion historian, Emmanuelle Dirix, as well as the biographies of the key designers and fashion houses of the period.

Genres: Fashion, Nonfiction, Fashion History, History, Historical, Reference, Art

512 pages, Hardcover

First published April 23, 2013

About the author

Charlotte Fiell is a leading authority on the history, theory and criticism of design and, to date, has written 60 books on the subject.

Charlotte initially studied at Heatherley School of Fine Art in London and then later at the British Institute in Florence. She subsequently took a BA(Hons) degree in the History of Drawing and Printmaking with Material Science at Camberwell College of Arts (UAL), London. Following on from this, she trained at Sotheby’s Institute of Art in London.

Reviews

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this for a project of mine and this is an outstandingly detailed work. When it comes to research for the era this is well worth returning to. You can see that a lot of hard work went into creating this.

[Liselotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series is my absolute favourite fashion history series. Not because you'll learn anything, but just the visuals in it are amazing and truly inspirational for many wonderful outfits. I adore them

[Laurie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The third (and, hopefully, not the last?) of this series gives us a lot more information than the first or even the second. We’ve got 36 pages of text, and it goes over the many changes the world went through in this decade. The Second World War changed the economy, there were shortages of materials, Paris was invaded, and there were radical changes in gender roles. Women went from needing pretty dresses for visiting and shopping to needing trousers and overalls so they could safely work in factories and in the defense industries (my mother was an arc welder in the shipyards, so I heard tales of this in first person, too). The shape of skirts went from full to narrow to accomadate fabric rationing. Hems went up, although not as far as in the 20s. Designers, unable to change silhouettes as they usually did for new seasons, concentrated on buttons, trims, and fabric manipulation to make dresses look new.

The rest of the book is the usual feast of period photos, clothing catalogs, designer drawings, and other period ephemera. There are more pages devoted to accessories and lingerie than in the previous two volumes. I’ve got to give this one a full five stars! l

[raffaela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another book I checked out for sewing inspiration. I skimmed through this, but it seems to have a good variety of clothing, both function-wise and year-wise. The Introduction, which gives a historical overview of how fashion played a part in WWII, was also fascinating. I only wish that the author would write a similar book for the 1950s...

[Anie · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent introductory visual guide to 1940s European fashion -- I'm sure that for a fashion historian or a real 1940s aficionado, there's not much interesting in here, but for someone like me, this is a great reference guide and really fun to read through.

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you enjoy vintage fashion, you'll want to read this while wearing a fashionable bib.

My library doesn't have this book, so I've had to do interlibrary loan to see it. That means requesting, waiting two weeks, having it for three weeks, reluctantly giving it back, waiting a week or so for it to get to the library where it lives, then starting the process over again. I must've gone through this process over a dozen times to finally get through the entire book.

That's why it's taken me over a year-and-a-half to get through it's luscious 500 pages. I read every word, pored over every detail of every bit of fashion on every single page.

I'm actually a little sad that I've finally finished it.

My only disappointment was how small the evening gown section was. But, according to each section's very informative description, that was actually how it was in the 1940s due to WWII.

If I had the $200 needed, I would buy this book in a heartbeat.

[Sandrine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous book, a must-have for anyone interested in the 1940's fashion (or just the 1940's at all honestly, since it's an underated subject from that era)! The introduction by Emmanuelle Dirix was the highlight for me. I did not expect to learn so much about 1940's fashion as part of History! It explained not just the obvious, but also the subtle influence History had on fashion in the US, France, Germany and the United Kingdom.

The book was lacking men's wear, but was thourough with women's haute couture.

[Deborah]

Another great resource.

[Katy Grace · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would have loved for each section to have shown photographs in chronological order and there were a few printing errors. Pretty exhaustive, it’s essentially a 500 page Pinterest board.

[Anna Katherina · Rating 2 out of 5]

The 1940's "definitive sourcebook" is only slightly better than the 1920's and 1930's ones by the same two authors- and you can read my review of the 1920's one over here; nothing I have to say about this one is very much different to what I had to say about their 20's sourcebook (and everything I said about the 20's applies to the 30's nearly to the letter), so there's really no point in repeating myself.

The only difference between this 1940's sourcebook and the other two, really, is that the introduction is longer and the sections actually have introductions of their own finally- if you can call a 1 page bit of text an introduction to 200+ pages of fashion plates that still aren't chronologically organized, anyways. Even with that minor improvement, however, the book is basically the exact same- right down to the organization.

Overall, the book can once again be boiled down to essentially being a glorified pinterest board... This one's just vaguely more informative this time.