A Brief History of Women's Dresses
Author:
Martin
The history of women\'s dresses throughout the course
of history is particularly interesting. For a start,
did you realise, that dresses were not originally a
fashion for women. In many cultures throughout history,
and throughout the world, dresses have been worn by
men; consider the Scottish kilt (although kilts are
reported to be of Scandinavian heritage), or the toga
worn by the ancient Greeks, to understand this fact.
Interesting facts aside, here, we will consider the
history of women\'s dresses during the early stages
of the 20th century, concentrating particularly on Western
history.
For fashionable women, understanding a little of the
history of dresses goes a long way for informing a sense
of style. The reason for this is down to current fashion
trends, which consistently take from previous fashions
to create new trends. By understanding the past, it
is possible to incorporate the best the past has on
offer into your own sense of contemporary style, and
create a unique style that is avant-garde in its approach
to fashion. A true fashionista knows how to take influences
from previous fashions to create elegance that is truly
unique.
During the rather demure times of the early 1920s, it
was common to see masculine styles of dress, with strong
angles, made from sturdy materials, but this changed
dramatically as we moved into the 1930s. The 30s heralded
a return to the feminine ideal, with a change of hemline
and cut, this was a frugal age, and was reflected in
the attire of the times, with very little disposable
income, families were required to ‘make do and mend\'.
Literally, if clothes were damaged, they were then mended;
this gave rise to some very unusual, but innovative
designs, when new clothes were fashioned from the odds
and ends of old clothes. Dresses tended to be extremely
slimming and well fitted, the reason for this was a
lack of materials from which to work, where dressmakers
were required to fashion women\'s dresses out of less
material, because of this, we saw the hemlines rise
a good few inches, and clothes tailored for a close
fit. These dresses were extremely stylish and elegant.
During the 1930s and 1940s, we saw a cultural shift
in attitudes towards women, who were slowly becoming
liberated within society – with the women\'s movement,
arrived a significant shift in fashion, which moved
towards more revealing creations. Women\'s dresses
were fashioned with lower backs, revealing the upper
portions of the buttocks, and waists were tucked in,
women\'s bodies became the focal point of their outfits,
whereas in the past, fashion strived to conceal the
female form.
The war years, and the post war years, brought further
poverty and lack of provisions, again, hemlines were
taken up to save money and time. This trend gave rise
to the 1960s and the invention of the mini-skirt, the
shortest style of dress to date.
Article Source:
http://www.articlesbase.com/fashion-articles/a-brief-history-of-womens-dresses-4052172.html
About the Author
So, here we have it, a brief history of the mid 20th
century in women\'s fashions. Browse through a collection
of the latest trends in
women\'s dresses at
www.womens-clothing-shop.net,
and see if you can spot some of these earlier trends
in our contemporary fashions.
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