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As material was very
scarce, women's clothing became less flamboyant than in the 1920s and
early 1930s. Dresses became shorter,
less frilly. Clothes from the 1930's were often re-used and spruced up
to make them look more "fashionable"; make-do-and-mend was the order of
the day.
If you go to car-boots or charity shops you can sometimes find clothes
that are the same style those worn in the 1940s i.e. - dresses, hats,
cardigans, handbags, sometimes the occasional fur. It means searching
constantly.
Original, genuine 1940s clothing usually has marked on
it CC41. This is the "Civilian Utility" clothing made to a standard
pattern in 1941 and carried on throughout the war. Patterns involved the
least amount of material possible. To get hold of such clothing
the best way today is via the internet. eBay has pages of vintage 1940s
clothes for sale i.e. - underwear, dresses, coats, hats, shoes, handbags
stockings etc, and there are a few specialist suppliers of WW2 civilian
clothing.
EBay is also a very useful research tool to use just for
browsing to find examples of period clothing - although be aware that
some items may be listed as "genuine 40s" but probably aren't.
We have found that eBay sellers can be notoriously optimistic when
dating what they sell - they know that simply listing something as
genuine 40s (when it actually isn't) gets more interest and
potentially makes it more valuable. |
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Two
well dressed ladies from another re-enactment group. Notice the
matching hats. Furs were all the rage. |
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For the larger lady it is easier to get someone to make the dresses for
you but make sure they do not use modern materials. Remember, nylon was
only just coming out in the USA in the 40s!! If you have long legs
ensure that the stockings will be long enough as the originals were only
for standard 40s size people who were shorter than many of us are today.
If there are any problems, you can always
ask other re-enactors for advice. Once you have made friends you can
compare with each other. If you are going as a civvie or into uniform
then beforehand look in the library / internet / war movies / to ensure
you get it all correct. |
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HAIRSTYLES
Hairstyles
had no spikes and perms, or coloured highlights. The height of
fashion at the time was to roll longer hair up into a "snood", but
more glamorous looking hair had swept back curls. You could
also try rolling your hair into those little sponge rollers that you can
still buy in the likes of Boots.
Nocturn.com is a site that shows
examples of ladies' period
hairstyles.
We can't
all have personal stylists like the model shown opposite during a
40s style fashion shoot, but you might like to try the following
technique if you have hair of a similar length:-
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Apply GHD thermal protector and S Factor Heat Protector and
Shine spray before curling your hair with GHD straighteners.
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Backcomb sections around the front of the hair, smoothing them
into barrel curls before pinning them into place. Finish with
a spritz of Hard Head hairspray.
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OTHER
USEFUL WEBSITES
There
are a few great websites which go into considerable detail about
ladies' fashions, clothing, hair, make-up and accessories of the
1940s period. Rather than copy that information here, click on
the links below to have a look for yourself on some of them.
Happy surfing :-)
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