1940s Fashion: The Definitive Sourcebook - by Charlotte Fiell (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

With over 500 images of daywear, outerwear, evening wear and accessories, 1940s Fashion: The Definitive Sourcebook is a sweeping visual history of the golden age of fashion.

Was there ever a decade of more contrasts than the 1940s? The Second World War saw the rise of thrifty fashions, make-do-and-mend, practical styles and workwear - and by the end of decade high glamour, Dior's New Look and luxurious cuts and fabrics had taken hold. In this encyclopaedic, beautiful book, fashion and design historians Emmanuelle Dirix and Charlotte Fiell explain how the upheaval of the decade rewrote fashion history.

Covering every aspect of female fashions from the decade - from lace evening gowns, tailored jackets and furs to figure-sculpting undergarments, satin negligées and scandalous bikinis, as well as military uniform - hundreds of images show this age of wartime austerity and post-war glamour in all its detail.

Contents include: Utility fashion, Veronica Lake, Joan Bennett, Dior, Lucien Lelong, Balmain, Barbara Stanwyck, Jean Patou, Elsa Schiaparelli, Jaeger, uniform and workwear (Land Girls, welders, Women's Army Corps, Junior Air Corps, factory workers), lipstick, jewellery, stockings, Molyneux, Hattie Carnegie, Adrian, suiting, Norman Hartnell and more.

About the Author

Charlotte Fiell is a leading design historian who has written numerous bestselling books on all aspects of design. She studied at the British Institute in Florence, Camberwell College of Arts in London, and later trained at Sotheby's Institute, also in London.

Emmanuelle Dirix is a highly regarded fashion historian and curator. She has lectured at Antwerp Fashion Academy, the Royal College of Art, University of the Arts London and the University of Manchester. Recent projects include the exhibition and book Unravel: Knitwear in Fashion, 1920s Fashion: The Definitive Sourcebook and 1930s Fashion: the Definitive Sourcebook.