The prevailing styles of 1940s fashion? Well, that depends. Stylistically, the decade began with one look (fuelled by wartime make-do-and-mend attitudes) and ended with an entirely other New Look (a chic-for-chic’s-sake celebration). Of the former, this sombre excerpt from a 1943 issue encapsulates the mood around consumption in the early decade: “By the time this issue of appears, a new type of currency will be coming into circulation in the United States.
Not plastic pennies or a new series of banknotes, but rationing stamps.” Throughout the Second World War and for several years afterwards, various measures were taken to conserve resources and ration clothing to better equip the war efforts and recovery throughout Europe. In Paris, especially during the German Occupation, the couture industry was tightly regulated.
In Britain, extreme rations were imposed on textiles and leather goods, while in the US fabrics were a little less scarce due to domestic cotton production. The biggest trend at the start of the 1940s was utility dressing. It was not just a descriptor of fashion void of frivolous details; it became its own category of clothing.
In the UK, the government launched a Utility Clothing Scheme known as CC41, enlisting top designers of the moment, like Hardy Amies, Digby Morton, Charles Frederick Worth, and Edward Molyneux, to design a capsule collection following the restrictions on fashion. Following the liberation of Paris, French designers took back the helms.