BRIDAL DESIGNS: 1945-1959
We’re on a journey of Bridal Fashions through the ages… did you see the gorgeous collection of Wedding Dresses, spanning 300 Years of Bridal Fashions at the Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A) last year? If you didn’t, we’re taking you through the years, in a series called Through the Ages… A Designer Showcase. Read all about the 1700 to 1790, 1790 to 1840 and 1840 to 1914 and 1914 to 1945 if you missed them.
With the help of the V&A and Edwina Ehrman’s Book ‘The Wedding Dress, 300 Years of Bridal Fashions’, let us take you through the ages. Don’t forget to purchase her book, its fabulous…Today, were concentrating on the years 1945-1969… in the decades that followed the Second World War, couture’s dominance of the high fashion market was successfully challenged by high-quality, innovative ready-to-wear designed for young, affluent customers. Although Paris reasserted its influence over high fashion immediately after the war, from the 1960’s a wave of young British ready-to-wear designers established London as an alternative fashion centre for cutting-edge design.
White was the dominant colour for wedding dresses throughout the period. Bridal fashions at first followed contemporary fashion and until the 1970’s were made in day and evening lengths. Bridal designers largely took their cue for romantic styles inspired by every era from the Victorian period through to the 1940’s. The Second World War ended on 2 September 1945. With the success of the Christian Dior (1904-57) in February 1947, re-established Paris’ pre-war reputation as the creative force behind women’s fashion. Ernestine Carter, fashion editor of the magazine Harper’s Bazaar, attended Dior’s first show and recalled the overwhelmingly positive response to ‘the contrast of the discipline of the fitted bodices with tiny wasp waists and the billowing grace of the full skirts, the softly curved shoulders and nonchalant back-dipping, open collar’. Dior’s silhouette, which he described as the Corolle line, essentially refined and represented the hour glass fashions that had been popular in the late 1930’s. The style, which the press hailed as the ‘New Look’, influenced fashion for at least a decade.
In contrast, Britain burdened with national debt, remained in the grip of austerity. Cloth and clothing were in short supply and clothes rationing remained in place until 15th March 1949. The British Government apparently was horrified by the quantity of fabric required for the longer length full skirts and branded the New Style unpatriotic and inappropriate. Women, longing for an end to years of thrift and ‘making do’, were seduced by its novelty, luxury and feminity and many responded by lengthening their skirts. The British designers followed Dior but were more restrained.
When Princess Elizabeth, the future Queen Elizabeth II, became engaged to Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten in July 1947, Norman Hartnell was asked to make her wedding dress. This most prestigious of commissions confirmed the Designer’s position as London’s leading Couturier. Hartnell based his design loosely on the figure of Flora in Sandro Botticelli’s painting La Primavera. The goddess’s dress is sprinkled and garlanded with flowers symbolising love and the advent of Spring. Hartnell chose traditional floral motifs to decorate the satin dress and fifteen-foot court train, including roses, orange-blossom and sprays of corn, which are emblematic of love and fertility. The wedding dress had squared shoulders, a fitted bodice which defined the curve of the waist without suppressing it, a shaped neckline and long slim sleeves. It’s skirt, which is cut on the cross, falls from a low pointed waist into a deep circular train.
In the early 1950’s British Vogue identified two styles of wedding dress: the traditional, made of ivory satin, full length, sweepingly full worn with a tiara and long tulle veil or lace and the new more youthful, bouffant short, formal wedding dress, tipping the ankles with crisp fabrics like Organza, lace and chiffon.
During the 1950’s the number of British women with the income, time and inclination to patronise London’s couture houses diminished. Young designers turned their back on couture, believing that the future of fashion lay with high-quality, innovative ready-to-wear wedding dresses. In 1951 women had access to television sets and could watch the Cotton Board’s Fashion Shows. By 1955 the television service was available to 94% of the British population. In 1955 Brides Magazine, which targeted a middle-class readership, was launched in Britain. Published quarterly, it was the country’s first magazine dedicated to weddings.
The principal cost of a dress lay in its fabric. Most of the fabrics recommended for patterns were man-made. With styles changing and the fullness of skirts in the 1950’s silk was a costly fabric to use. Man-made fibres offered a cheaper alternative.
In the second half of the 1950’s shorter wedding dresses became increasingly popular for brides who considered themselves young and up to date. The ballet-length (mid-calf) was characterised as the career girl’s choice. Screen goddess Grace Kelly wore this style of dress in High Society in 1956. Many of the shorter styles could be worn after the wedding for evening occasions. By 1957 the British economy had recovered. Weddings continued to be formal family occasions. In 1959 70% of people married in church and most chose traditional white weddings.
Don’t you just love Grace Kelly’s beauty and style? Princess Katherine has a very similar style don’t you think? Fashion repeats itself many times over the decades. What is your favourite style of wedding dress? If you had the choice of buying a ready to wear one or designing and making one from scratch, what fabrics would you use? Who is your favourite Designer today? We’d love to hear your thoughts…
Our thanks go to the V&A Museum and to Edwina Ehrman for their wonderful insight into the world of Bridal Fashions from 1945 to 1959. We’ll continue with the 1960’s next week…
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Through the Ages: A Designer Showcase