"The Label"

Fashion has always been aspirational. Whether that was wanting to please the Royalty of the time through imitation or more relevant today in our admiration of all things Hollywood, people have always looked for direction on what they should be wearing. We want to look like those we admire but without the finances to do so, this can sometimes be impossible. In the last sixty to seventy years however, it has been easier to mimic that high-end fashion look. The advent of modern man made materials has made fashion more accessible to the masses. Modern consumerism and the rise of the "label" have all given us the illusion that we can be the same as our idols. A movie star walks the red carpet in a glamourous dress and two weeks later it is available in the shops. Is this true though? Has the gap narrowed between those that have, the supposed "trend setters" or is it just as wide as ever. Beth Ann Krier (Oct 1988) wrote "Some would even argue that it has divided society along class lines by heightening the distinctions between the upper class, which tends to favour natural fibres, and lower-class consumers of cheaper synthetic goods." I think this is somewhat disingenuous as the mass don't "favour" cheaper synthetic goods, it is more a matter of economics.

Return to glamour.

Christian Dior released his first collection in 1947, his new style was revolutionary and put Paris back on the fashion map.  Dior seemed to know exactly what women wanted after the rigours of wartime austerity, clothes had been scare and it was a time of make do and mend.  Women wore sharp shoulder suits with knee length skirts emulating the silhouette of 1930's style.  Dior's new style of nipped in waist, voluptuous amounts of fabrics that made up the full bodied skirts and wide cart wheel hats where exactly what women wanted after the hardship of the war years. Dior's look was reminiscent of the Belle Epoque when luxury and pleasure were indulged without remorse. After the war women were expected to go back to their previous role of caring house wife creating a happy home, a loving wife and a devoted mother Dior's new style, which her called " flower woman" epitomised this image.

Fig 9:Bar suit from the New Look collection, 1947
ADAGP Archives, Paris 1996
Archives Christian Dior

  

According to designmuseum.org (date unknow) Rita Hayworth picked out an evening gown for the première of her new movie, Gilda. The ballerina, Margot Fonteyn, bought a suit.The US couture clients came back in force for the autumn 1947 collections and Dior was invited to stage a private presentation of that season’s show for the British royal family in London, although King George V forbade the young princesses, Elizabeth and Margaret, from wearing the New Look lest it set a bad example at a time when rationing was still in force for the general public.