1930's Fashion

The 1930s were referred to as the glamour years. Following the Wallstreet Crash of 1929, many women retreated into the fairytale world of the talkie (movies), where they idolized starlets, such as, Marlene Dietrich, Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo and Jean Harlow. These women were iconic style mavens that wore designs by Hollywood designers Adrian, Walter Plunket, and Travis Banton and costume designer, Edith Head. These styles were the biggest influence of fashion in the 1930s. Every woman wanted to copy the “Hollywood Glamour” look. To carry off the thirties style, women needed a lithe figure, that was toned and streamlined, with thin hips and broad shoulders. The new bias-cut evening gowns, with their sinuous columns of silky fabrics, were quite revealing. The thirties woman, for daywear, might have chosen a tailored suit that reached below the knees. For evening wear, she might’ve chosen a classically draped, bias-cut dress by Madeline Vionnet, topped with a fur greatcoat. During the thirties, we also see the rise of maverick designers, like Elsa Schiaparelli, who’s fashions were inspired by surrealist artist like Jean Cocteau and Salvador Dali. Unfortunately, the start of World War II, in 1939, brought an end to the lavish, excessive designs of the period.

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Worsley, H. (2011). Decades of Fashion: 1900 to the Present. London: GmbH.