1940s Fashion: The Definitive Sourcebook

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.