a history of fashion: new look to now

HISTORY OF FASHION

New Look to Now

J U N E M A R S H

he light was thin and the air freezing in Paris on the morning of February 12, 1947. It was Europe’s coldest winter since 1870 and the city was still suffering from wartime shortages. There was little fuel, electricity was rationed and the streets were covered in snow.

The Paris couture trade, which had dominated international fashion since the late 18th century, was in a precarious state. French newspapers were on strike and the majority of American buyers were on their way home, not wishing to stay in Paris outside of the official schedule and having already completed business with the established couture houses.

I N T R O D U C T I O N

Dior and the New Look

A small crowd had gathered outside the courtyard doors of 30 Avenue Montaigne; elegantly dressed women in square-shouldered, knee-length fur coats and elaborate hats waited impatiently for the debut haute couture collection of the much talked-about, but little-known Christian Dior.

Everything was completely new at the house of Dior; the hammering had only just finished as the first guests arrived. Fashionable decorator Victor Grandpierre had designed the interior in classic white and pearl grey. Tall windows were dressed flamboyantly with grey satin drapes and festooned blinds. Crystal chandeliers hung from the high

“God help the buyers who bought before they saw Dior! This changes everything.” CARMEL SNOW , Harper’s Bazaar

OPPOS I TE This is the iconic New Look ensemble, a tailored suit with nipped-in waist and full skirt called the Bar suit.

R IGHT 30 Avenue Montaigne in Paris, the building where the House of Dior is still based.

he light was thin and the air freezing in Paris on the morning of February 12, 1947. It was Europe’s coldest winter since 1870 and the city was still suffering from wartime shortages. There was little fuel, electricity was rationed and the streets were covered in snow.

The Paris couture trade, which had dominated international fashion since the late 18th century, was in a precarious state. French newspapers were on strike and the majority of American buyers were on their way home, not wishing to stay in Paris outside of the official schedule and having already completed business with the established couture houses.

I N T R O D U C T I O N

Dior and the New Look

A small crowd had gathered outside the courtyard doors of 30 Avenue Montaigne; elegantly dressed women in square-shouldered, knee-length fur coats and elaborate hats waited impatiently for the debut haute couture collection of the much talked-about, but little-known Christian Dior.

Everything was completely new at the house of Dior; the hammering had only just finished as the first guests arrived. Fashionable decorator Victor Grandpierre had designed the interior in classic white and pearl grey. Tall windows were dressed flamboyantly with grey satin drapes and festooned blinds. Crystal chandeliers hung from the high

“God help the buyers who bought before they saw Dior! This changes everything.” CARMEL SNOW , Harper’s Bazaar

OPPOS I TE This is the iconic New Look ensemble, a tailored suit with nipped-in waist and full skirt called the Bar suit.

R IGHT 30 Avenue Montaigne in Paris, the building where the House of Dior is still based.

THE REVIVAL OF FRENCH COUTURE THE REVIVAL OF FRENCH COUTURE

More than sixty years on, Harper’s Bazaar’s extraordinary claim that “almost every woman, directly or indirectly, has worn a Balenciaga,” continues to be relevant today as we see his pure lines and perfect proportions displayed on the runways of contemporary designers.

BALENC IAGA’S EARLY L I F ECristóbal Balenciaga was born on 21 January 1895, in the medieval fishing village of Guetaria, in the Basque province of Guipuzcoa, on Spain’s rather stormy Cantabrian coast. His father was the captain of a small pleasure boat used during the summer vacations for ferrying King Alfonso XIII

Diana Vreeland once declared, “If a woman came into a room wearing a Balenciaga dress no other woman existed. He didn’t care a bit about youth. He didn’t care about bones or anything we admire today. He would often say women did not have to be perfect or beautiful to wear his clothes. When they wore his clothes they became beautiful.”

Carmel Snow noted in Harpers Bazaar that “Balenciaga inspires us with all the masterly simplicity of line which evolves so gradually, so surely, that imperceptibly it penetrates the consciousness of women of fashion, and designers, too. What Balenciaga is thinking today will – though you don’t realise it – influence your choice in a years, perhaps three years’ time.”

On the right in this photograph by Richard Avedon, we see a three-quarter length Balenciaga coat with gathered elbow-length sleeves and flowing unpressed pleats..

On the left is a 1950s Balenciaga double-breasted suit, closely fitted in the front with a barrel back.

THE REVIVAL OF FRENCH COUTURE THE REVIVAL OF FRENCH COUTURE

More than sixty years on, Harper’s Bazaar’s extraordinary claim that “almost every woman, directly or indirectly, has worn a Balenciaga,” continues to be relevant today as we see his pure lines and perfect proportions displayed on the runways of contemporary designers.

BALENC IAGA’S EARLY L I F ECristóbal Balenciaga was born on 21 January 1895, in the medieval fishing village of Guetaria, in the Basque province of Guipuzcoa, on Spain’s rather stormy Cantabrian coast. His father was the captain of a small pleasure boat used during the summer vacations for ferrying King Alfonso XIII

Diana Vreeland once declared, “If a woman came into a room wearing a Balenciaga dress no other woman existed. He didn’t care a bit about youth. He didn’t care about bones or anything we admire today. He would often say women did not have to be perfect or beautiful to wear his clothes. When they wore his clothes they became beautiful.”

Carmel Snow noted in Harpers Bazaar that “Balenciaga inspires us with all the masterly simplicity of line which evolves so gradually, so surely, that imperceptibly it penetrates the consciousness of women of fashion, and designers, too. What Balenciaga is thinking today will – though you don’t realise it – influence your choice in a years, perhaps three years’ time.”

On the right in this photograph by Richard Avedon, we see a three-quarter length Balenciaga coat with gathered elbow-length sleeves and flowing unpressed pleats..

On the left is a 1950s Balenciaga double-breasted suit, closely fitted in the front with a barrel back.

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D I O R A N D T H E N E W L O O KT H E S W I N G I N G S I X T I E S

produced her first original designs. She named her short shift dress the mini after her favourite car; it became her trademark. She celebrated youth, fun and a vague bohemianism. Mary Quant’s Bazaar was still an upmarket experience, beyond the pockets of most young Londoners; but the emphasis Quant placed on the girl, rather than the woman, was a radical development that would reshape fashion for much of the coming decade.

Within seven years Mary Quant’s business was worth a million pounds, which in the early sixties was staggering. In 1963 she opened a second branch of her shop in Knightsbridge, and launched her own lower-priced label, Ginger Group, to bring her designs to the mass market. Her distinctive daisy logo appeared on many new products including make-up, tights, shoes and underwear. In 1964 she went on a tour of the US, shortly after the Beatles, and secured a ten-year licensing agreement with J.C. Penney, the first major US retailer to recognise the importance of the mini.

Ernestine Carter, one of the most influential fashion writers of the time, wrote of Quant in her Sunday Times column: “It is given to a fortunate few to be born at the right time, in the right place, with the right talents. In recent fashion there are three: Chanel, Dior and Mary Quant”.

Some of Quant’s most popular designs were her experimental mixes such as sweater dresses with plastic collars, drop-waist dresses with box pleat skirts, knickerbockers and stretch stockings in a rainbow of colours and patterns. Other typical designs were knee-length white plastic lace-up boots, often called go-go boots, tight sweaters in bold stripes and short shiny plastic raincoats, zipped at the front. These clothes all became part of the ‘London Look’.

THE RCA AND THE R I SE OF THE BOUT IQUESBritain’s art schools were flourishing and by the late fifties, many had set up pioneering fashion and textile departments and were producing a host of talented young graduates who, encouraged by Mary Quant’s success, set up their own workrooms. The Royal College of Art had the largest and most sought-after fashion department, and was soon recognised as the breeding ground for some of the most exciting and innovative fashion talent in the country.

In the fifties and sixties the RCA was at the centre of the explosion of Pop Art culture, a vibrant,

invigorating movement that waved goodbye to Britain’s post-war austerity. At its head, the eminent Professor Janey Ironside, a former fashion journalist, nurtured the talents of many iconic names in fashion: Marion Foale & Sally Tuffin, Ossie Clark, Bill Gibb and Zandra Rhodes, to name a few.

In response to the demand for more affordable, fast-moving and youthful fashions, boutiques were springing up all over central London; many of the best were started by Royal College of Art graduates. James Wedge, Marion Foale and Sally Tuffin all made names for themselves in the sixties. Wedge, originally a highly successful milliner working for couturier Ronald Paterson, was joint owner with

The garments above were designed by Ossie Clark and are typical of his romantic style.

This is a colourful fabric designed in 1964 by Zandra Rhodes.