The Evolution of American Fashion

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Dorothy Dandridge was an actress and singer and a notable pin up girl. The dress is so chic and absolutely fitting for a wedding. The detail on the dress and the large silk sash are classic touches to look out for on modern vintage inspired dresses.

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Very little change from the 30’s. Shoulders are slightly more emphasized and skirt hems have risen to just under the knee. As if to make up for this flagrant disregard of proper decorum, necklines have risen sharply and continue to stay there for the rest of the decade.

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The end of WWII helped spark a creative time in fashion. This time era was when the butterfly and banjo sleeves and shoulder pad trend was created. The world, then, was deep into the grip of the Great Depression. 

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This would be your typical women's sportswear in the 1920's.Sportswear separates were huge in the U.S., but gained popularity around the world when Coco Channel brought sportswear into the French fashion scene. American fashion became known for its sportswear.  

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whether men purchased their suits in the United States or had one custom made in a small tailor's shop in Rome (like the gangster suits of Al Capone) men's fashion in the 1920's was classic.Men's fashion hasn't changed a whole lot between The Roaring Twenties and today.Because the number of quality suit cutters and tailors has decreased making it difficult to find a designer suit at a decent price.

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The first hat is a fancy straw hat with pink rose trim. (c. 1912)  The second is a black silk faille hat. ( c. 1914)   By 1911 hats were at their largest, often with the brim extending beyond the breadth of the wearer’s shoulders.

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This is a 1900's newspaper ad. Men's fashion began to be more chic.  This was the start of a new trend.

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The above 1855-1856 Day dress shows three flounces, an elongated bodice with a peplum, pagoda sleeves and full, embroidered undersleeves (or engageantes).Day dresses were modestly flounced, while Ball gowns had double or triple skirts/flounces Notice that the sleeves have a triple flounce at the upper arm and a few inches below the shoulder, the expanding fan-like appearance of the front bodice and the oversized bonnet (called a Poke bonnet).

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For evening wear, this accessory was referred to as a bertha and usually made of lace. Another popular fashion adapted from of the pelerine, was the fan bodice (and one of my favorites for that period). Sleeves were extravagantly puffed throughout the forties and by 1845, long, wide pagoda sleeves (another favorite) were worn with false undersleeves or engageantes. 

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"1776" was a successful Broadway musical that earned the 1969 Tony Award for Best Musical. It's success would lead its way to Hollywood when Columbia Pictures under the supervision of Jack Warner adapted the critically acclaimed musical for the big screen with much of the original Broadway cast. Released in 1972.

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This would be your typical headdress during this period. As you can see the style of the headdress did evolve over time. It began to be less bulky.

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The skirts became so full that by the late 1850's hoops were needed to support the skirts, as the heavy layers of petticoats could no longer achieve the desired effect. The bodice and shoulders were very narrow, accentuating a weak upper body silhouette and tiny waist accentuated by the voluminous skirts. In the 1840s and 1850s deep bonnets were worn that modestly hid the face and neck except when the wearer looked directly at the viewer . In fact, except for evening wear, clothing covered virtually every bit of skin except the face 

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The young queen Victoria came to the throne in 1837, and would rule England until 1901 during the height of the British Empire. During this period she became a happily married mother of nine children, and represented the ideal of womanhood for her age-- modest, devoted to family and duty, and the guardian of morality. Her tastes in clothing were also influential, reflecting her values, and those of her times. The major characteristic of the dress silhouette in this period was the exceptionally full and long skirts that completely shrouded the lower body .

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After 1815 women's dress became increasingly fussy and decorative, as skirts became fuller, and the waistline gradually descended to the natural waist. Severe corseting also returned, as did layers of petticoats. In this period, women were pushed back into a more modest role, befitting the "weaker" sex, often described as delicate, fragile, and decorative. The intellectuals and artists of the Romantic movement valued emotion and sentiment, in contrast to the cold reason that was perceived to have driven the revolutions of the 18th century enlightenment. 

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From the end of the seventeenth-seventies there is, quite suddenly, an enormous increase in the number of documents which may be consulted by the student of fashion. In a word, the fashion plate springs into being, and it is interesting to note that some of the earliest fashion plates were not concerned with the whole costume but with the method of dressing the hair. The fantastic hairdressing fashions of the decade made ladies all the more eager to be aware of the latest mode, and the engravers and publishers were not long in satisfying their curiosity.

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The head-dress of women reached its most fantastic height in the middle seventies; indeed, it almost seems as if the growing tendency for men to wear their own hair, or at least to combine more and more of their own hair with a diminishing wig, spurred the perruquiers on to invent even more elaborate head-dresses for women in order to keep themselves in employment. The dressing of a head for a fashionable function occupied three or four hours. With head-dresses of such enormous size it was essential for ladies to have hats to match, although sometimes a comparatively small hat was worn pinned firmly on top of the coiffure. 

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Major General Nathaniel Greene outfitted his Kentish Guards in Scarlet with green facing. The New York City Bold Foresters, led by Colonel Alexander Hamilton, were attired in green short coats with small hats and brass plate reading “Freedom”. A short coat was quite contrary to the usual military fashion of long coats, most with tails prevalent in revolutionary war uniforms. Artillery men wore dark blue garments with red collars and cuffs and lined their coats in red.