Fashion

The bikini was developed in the 1950's. Swing skirts and poodle skirts were everyday wear. Heels and gloves finished the look. Pencil skirts were worn by women not teens and young girls. (to provocative) Boast bolero sleeves went with pencil skirts. Girdle was a neccessary accessory. Most things worn with women were to accentuate the hourglass figure. For afternoon tea women wore dresses with feminine touches. Wide collars were used to soften the neckline. Dressses were most commonly worn by women.

Men's workplace colors were usually blue, dark brown, and charcoal. Preppy was the look guys most used. A cardigan sweater and "letter" sweater was for most atheletes. There was a //Pink Rage// where men wore pink shirts and ties. Guys tried to be //TV Western//. With that kids only wore the coonskin hats. No man was dressed without a hat on his head.

In teen girls dresses were used as "school clothes". Around the house girls wore dungarees (jeans). Most had a jumper which could be changed with a different blouse underneith. The "sailor" look was big. Even little girls had to wear starchy pettycoats. For church they wore little white gloves.

A hair style for women was short and curly. They used pincurling and rollers. Perms were big then. The Poodle Frenzy gave birth to a hairstyle called the //poodle cut//.

A hairstyle for men was the ducktail//, D.A. or duck butt// They combed the hair back to the middle of the head then made a center part.The term "greasers" was used because to keep hair a certain way you had to spray or grease it. (real men didn't spray)The //D.A.// identified guys as rebels. Crewcut was another look for men in the 50's. Another is short and trimmed clean.(Marisa, Lacy)

Throughout the early 50s the ponytail was a popular youthful hairstyle and it matured into the French pleat. Fashionable hairstyles began with simple ponytails and ended the decade with complex beehive arrangements. Popular hairstyles were the poodle cut and the French pleat. For the more sophisticated, a permanent wave in the styles favoured by Elizabeth Taylor.Their popular bubble cut hairstyles were easily copied with the advent of improved hair products, particularly home perms. Other stars that captured the look of the day were Leslie Caron, Audrey Hepburn, Sophia Loren, Brigitte Bardot and Doris Day.Hairdressing was very big in the 1950s. As products such as hair lacquer sprays and plastic rollers came into general use it was easily possible for ordinary women to create more and more complex hairstyles of height.By the late 50s, outrageous backcombed bouffants, beehives, and French pleats were popular. Women mostly bought their hair lacquer from their hairdresser and decanted it at home into nylon puffer spray bottles. By the end of the 50s, hair spray in cans, commercial shampoo, conditioner and rollers all became big business that boomed in the sixties.(Savannah)

Nothing says the 50's like the //Saddle Shoe//. The spike stiletto was a fashion fixture. Wedges, Flats, or Ballet style shoes were worn with everyday where etc. Men's shoes were always dress shoes that got polished. (Marisa,Lacy)

In the 1950s Full skirts needed support so they would look good and nylon was used extensively to create bouffant net petticoats or paper nylon petticoats. Several petticoats often of varying styles were worn to create fullness. (Savannah)

Chanel reopened her fashion house in 1954 began to produce boxy classic Chanel suit jackets and slim skirts in braid trimmed, highly textured tweeds. They were made by richly textured wool slub fabrics. The silhouette was straight down and veered away from a nipped in waist.The suits were lined with silk fabrics.They were weighted along the facing join and inside lining with gilt Chanel chains. The fashion look was easy to copy and very wearable. Major chain stores sold suits based on the design. Accessorized with strings of pearls the style has frequently been revived over the seasons and in particular a collarless style of coat and jacket she popularised, is now called the Chanel line. (Savannah)

Dior showed his H, A, and Y lines. The line was a slender tunic suit with a slim skirt that later became more of a dropped waist tubular twenties style dress with a hemline that was creeping upwards. (Savannah)

The trapeze dress was a swinging dress triangular in shape and designed to be worn with low shoes and bouffant hairstyles. It was then modified into the short baby doll tent style. A shaped Tent dresses with cutaway armholes. Similarly the empire line dress that had been introduced annd was loved by young teenagers who looked childlike in the style, hence phrases like "baby doll style" were applied to it. The empire line dress was loved by young teenagers who looked childlike in the style and the opposite of looking 'grownup' like their mothers which by then was the worst possible 'fashion' look to have.(Savannah)





(Kim)