Today's post 1950s Dress Styles: 8 Popular Vintage Looks from Vintage Dancer.
The Two 1950s Dress Silhouettes
During the 1950s women wore dresses like we wear t-shirts and jeans today. 1950s dresses were a closet staple and came in a wide variety of colors and two main silhouettes. Shoulders were narrow and soft. The waist had to be tiny and pulled in- a “wasp” waist. A tight bodice came to the natural waist or slightly higher, where the skirt took over. The skirt is where the two main silhouettes of the 1950s emerged. The very full skirt and the tight sheath skirt. They were complete opposites but both were worn equally by women in the 1950s.
Summer Print Dresses
1950s dress fabrics were endless and made a dress more casual or elegant depending on where it was worn. Cotton was used for leisure wear, mostly in shirtwaist dresses. Wool and linen were popular for day, as were the new synthetics rayon and polyester. Tweed like wool and acetate blends were in vogue for fall in the mid 50s. Silk shantung could be used to make a dress a little bit more dressy for dinners out.
Colors went from light and girly to bold – pastels were very popular in all clothing, and dresses were also done in jewel tones like royal purple, ruby red, navy and emerald green. Allover patterns were used even more frequently – there were small or large florals, plaids, polka dots, gingham checks and stripes, as well as novelty prints with science or western themes. It was very chic to wear prints from famous artists’s works. Whether all over or just around the skirt border prints made a dramatic statement.
1959 Fall Colors, Various Collar Styles
1950s dresses, and women’s clothes in general, were rarely left plain. Fancy collars such as peter pans, wings, mandarin, middy, man-tailored, detachable, pilgrim and shawl collars added drama to the neckline while trims of braid-work or piping on large pockets and shirt cuffs contrasted with the body color. Buttons were large, becoming part of the statement, not just utility.
Tropical Print Summer Dress
Summer dresses exposed more arm then ever before. Halter tops and sleeveless shirt dresses allowed sun to kiss the shoulders. Tropical prints, inspired by Hawaii and other sunny vacation sports, became even more popular in the 1950s, along with “Tiki” parties. The strapless evening gown was more widely accepted, especially for teens attending prom.
“New Look” Dresses
Full Dresses
Dior’s New Look full-skirted dress is the most iconic dress style of the 1950s, especially during the first half of the decade. The bodice was very fitted and a very full circle or gathered skirt ballooned out from the natural waistline. The fullness was made by gathering or pleating up to 5 yards of lightweight fabric. The skirt could be worn with a petticoat underneath to give it added fullness or with a thin slip for easier movement.
As for the bodice, the options were vast. It was usually tailored, and often decorated with large buttons and bows. Necklines could be scooped, v-neck, boat-neck, square-neck, or sweetheart. There were also collars on these dresses. Collars could be large and pointed, peter pan or bertha. Bertha collars were very large and round at the bottom, they fit around the entire neck like a bib. Collars were often done in white to contrast with the rest of the dress. Black and white was an especially common pairing.
Summer Nylon Wrap Dresses
For a less tailored look, the bodice fabric was sometimes left drapey, with a wrap top that crossed over in the front or gathering down the sides, although these were less popular. Halter tops were worn in the summer, with a v-neck and two thick straps tying behind the neck. Sleeveless dresses were also very popular, but sleeves could be very short cap sleeves or elbow length. Short puff sleeves and dolman sleeves were also used on full-skirted dresses. Needless to say they was no single style of sleeve or neckline that wasn’t part of the 1950s dress aesthetic.
Shirtwaist Dress
Shirtwaists
The shirtwaist dress was a very popular version of the full-skirted dress. Shirtwaist dresses, or shirtwaists for short, had a fitted button-down top, like a blouse, that ended at the waist. The buttons would extend a little bit below the waist for getting in and out of the dress. A full gathered/pleated or circle skirt completed the bottom. Sleeves were often cap, short or elbow length, and could also be full long sleeves. Sleeves were cuffed at the ends. The collars were usually pointed or small peter pan collars for most house dresses.
Donna reed wearing a Shirtwaist Dress
The 1950s shirtwaist dress was the uniform of all housewives and Donna Reed was the mascot. It was easy to put on, easy to launder, and easy to move in. With a clean, pressed apron over the dress it could be worn all week before cleaning was necessary. Shirtwaists could be a solid color but were usually in a cotton percale print or gingham. Gingham check was introduced in 1950 and became wildly popular for house dresses as well as shirts, play suits, capri pants, and skirts. It was part of the “All American Western country girl” look of the 50s. Pink gingham was the most popular color.
Windowpane Print Shirtwaist Dress
“Someday you will be a charming little wife in a cottage built for two. Your husband will enjoy looking at you across a breakfast table each morning in a frock as fresh as a daisy. When he leaves for the office, let him carry with him a vision of the little wife as pert and efficient in her becoming house dress as the office girls in their trim tailleurs.“ – Clothes with Character, by Hazel Thompson Craig
The shirtwaist dress made its way to evening wear too. When made of textured solid colors in Rayon, taffeta, and silk and embellished with lace, bead work or rhinestones the shirtwaist became glamorous.
The Coatdress
Coat Dress
The coatdress was another full-skirted version. It was slightly similar to the shirtwaist dress, but had the styling of a long coat instead of a shirt. These dresses buttoned all the way down to the bottom of the skirt and had no back zipper. Buttons were often oversized, and the collar was larger, resembling that of an overcoat. Shoulders on coatdresses could be slightly more padded, and sleeves were usually long or dolman shape. They came with a matching self fabric belt. Because of the heaviness of the large collars, buttons and sleeves coatdresses were worn most often in fall and winter. .
Sheath Dresses
1950s Slim Fitting Sheath Dresses
The other silhouette of the 1950s dress was somewhat opposite of the full skirted style, although the main features of the New Look remained. Dior, once again, led the way for subtle variations of the sheath dress naming his collections Corolla, Tulip, H, A and Y Lines.
The bodice was the same – tailored, fitted and nipped in at the waist. But the skirt of this type of dress was very closely fitted to the body from the waist down. The tighter and straighter the better. This was the lean sheath dress, also known as the wiggle dress today. In its snuggest form they have become symbols of the modern Pinup movement.
1950s Style Sheath Dress aka Wiggle Dress
Wiggle dresses zipped up the back. The bodices were often decorated with small collars and bows. The skirts often featured welt pockets on the sides or two oversized front patch pockets. Big buttons could be used to decorate the front too.
The bodice was usually tailored and either sleeveless or with short or elbow-length sleeves. The neckline was often a high scoop or boat-neck. The high neckline with a long straight skirt gave the illusion of slenderness. The skirt was what we would call a pencil today. It curved over the hips and tapered down to mid-calf. There was a vent or kick-pleat added to the back of the skirt so the wearer was able to walk.
In 1952 Vogue commented “We want skirts we can step out of an automobile in without splitting their sides, sleeves that can reach for a telephone without straining their shoulders.”
Pencil Dress
Comfort while remaining classy was what women demanded. While Paris lead the way with design it was American fashion houses that made them more comfortable. Despite how tight they looked in magazines, on real women they were a tad more roomy.
There were two lengths of skirts. The shortest, ending just below the knee had a kick pleat half way up the thigh. It was the easiest length to walk in. The longer mid calf sheath with decorative kick pleat came up to the knee but was difficult to walk in. Gliding in small steps like a geisha was about all you could do in them. Sheaths dresses were sexy. Paired with wiggle enhancing high heels they made girls into women.
Little Black Dress
Every woman, teens included, had to have at least one little black dress in her wardrobe. This meant a 1950s sheath dress. It was the perfect dress to dress up with pearls, or dress down with a colorful scarf. When you didn’t know what to wear your wore your little black dress. Going to a cocktail party meant half the attendees were wearing a little black dress too. They could be fitted, bloused, double breasted or with a sexy deep V neckline. An alternative to black was navy blue for evening wear.
Bell Dress
1951 Bell Dress
A trend that emerged towards the end of the decade was the bell dress – a kind of combination of the two skirt shapes. The bodice was tailored and fitted as usual, and could follow any of the bodice styles found in dresses. However, the skirt started out gathered at the waist, puffed out around the hips, and then tapered back in to be fitted at the calf, creating a bell-shaped skirt. They were not flattering on most body shapes since they accentuated the thighs.
Jumper Dress
1957 Jumper Dress
Another carry over style from the 1940s was the jumper dress. Loved by girls and teens the women’s version was usually a deep V neckline worn with a blouse underneath. The shoulder straps were wide. The skirt could be either full or pencil with the pencil shape being more common- more womanly.
1950s style jumper dress
The younger version was a full skirt with a high waist that would end just below the bust or had a bib front, like overalls. Two narrow straps buttoned on the front and criss-crossed at the back. The main difference between the 40s version and 50s version was the fullness of the skirt. Since young teens wanted to dress more sophisticated the jumper dress was increasingly going out of style by the mid 50s.
Chemise Dress
“Sack the Sack!” “Bring Back Curves!”
Black Chemise Dress
In 1957 the Chemise or spindle dress was more joke than fashionable attire. The fancy name was Chemise but the street name was sack, bag, or shoplifters delight.They fit like a tube that ballooned out in the middle. Its non form shaping qualities quickly made it a freak fad that women and especially men hated. Only stick thin women could look good in it. Women with hips looked even wider in it. A wide belt around the hips didn’t help at all. Nor was gathering the fabric to the back and accenting with a large bow. Oh the comical horrors! By 1960 the sack dress became a straight shift dress with a shorter hemline that women (and men) liked better .
Dior’s Chemise Dress
Despite its ill fitting issues it was a dress that nearly every woman bought in 1958. It sometimes had a white collar and matching bow at the curve of the back. It buttoned down the back too requiring help to put it on. The perfect length was just below the knee. Any longer and it really did look like a tube of lipstick.
“I believe the chemise dress was one of the ugliest style foisted upon American women by designers. The dress disregarded the bust line and the waist, dropping straight down until it fit tightly over the buttocks. My chemise was yellow, and I looked like a waddling stick of butter.” – Carolyn Sucker, What We Wore
Trapeze Dress
1959 Trapeze Dress
A cousin of the hated Chemise dress is Dior’s Trapeze dress. The top was fitted to just under the bust and flared out in a slim A line to the knee. It was more successful than the Chemise since it accented the bust but hid the hips and thighs.
Both the Chemise and Trapeze were short lived fads in 1958. By 1959 no one dared to be seen in them,
What style of 1950s dress is your favorite?
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