Utility clothing
Economical construction · Practical tailoring · CC41 scheme
The 1940s
Utility, New Look
Scarcity and wartime work made practicality urgent; postwar couture proposed new abundance. Utility clothing, American sportswear and the New Look reveal different responses to change.
Key styles
American sportswear
Practical fabrics · Adjustable fit · Freedom of movement
New Look
Soft shoulders · Nipped waist · Emphasized hips and full skirts
Zoot suit
Long, broad-shouldered jackets · High-waisted pegged trousers · Swing-era self-expression
Defining work of the 1940s
Selected examples dated to this decade.
Original no. 16
Digby Morton · autumn 1942
Pop-over
Claire McCardell · 1942
Uniform
Vera Maxwell · 1942
Shades of Picasso
Gilbert Adrian · 1945
Bar
Christian Dior · Spring/Summer 1947
Evening dress
Jacques Fath · spring/summer 1947
Designers active in the 1940s
Claire McCardell
1942
Made adaptable sportswear fashionable through wrap dresses, practical pockets and designs that allowed easy movement.
Digby Morton
autumn 1942
Designed carefully tailored Utility clothing for Britain’s 1942 programme of economical everyday dress.
Vera Maxwell
1942
Applied sportswear practicality to women’s industrial clothing, including the 1942 Sperry Gyroscope uniform.
Gilbert Adrian
1945
Carried Hollywood’s visual confidence into American fashion, translating modern art into precisely pieced dresses.
Irene Lentz
late 1940s
Designed sharply fitted suits for Bullocks Wilshire, using precise jackets and coordinated skirts.
Mainbocher
ca. 1948
Brought Paris couture traditions to New York, creating carefully fitted dresses for individual clients.
Christian Dior
Spring/Summer 1947
Launched the New Look in 1947, emphasizing shaped hips, narrow waists and generous skirts.
Jacques Fath
spring/summer 1947
Used visible corset lacing and tightly defined waists to give postwar eveningwear a dramatic structure.
The world behind
the wardrobe.
The Second World War shaped clothing through shortages, rationing and the demands of work. In Britain, the Utility scheme made controlled standards of manufacture and price part of everyday dress. In the United States, designers such as Claire McCardell developed practical sportswear for varied activities, helping establish the American Look. After the war, Christian Dior’s 1947 debut made a sharply defined waist and fuller skirt the focus of international attention. The New Look transformed fashionable proportions and continued into the following decade.
Britain’s Utility scheme
Government standards linked clothing quality and price with wartime limits on materials.
The American Look
Practical ready-to-wear gained prominence as American designers emphasized movement, versatility and women’s changing activities.
Dior’s debut
Dior’s first collection introduced the New Look, with soft shoulders, a small waist and an emphasized hipline.
Browse all 52 designers
Designers active in this decade. Available garment examples may come from another period; their dates are labeled.
- Adele SimpsonView garment · Later work · 1950
Wearable elegance shaped directly in fabric
- Ann LoweView garment · Later work · ca. 1960
A tradition of fine dressmaking
- Antonio CastilloView garment · Later work · 1956
Refined Paris couture and award-winning costume design.
- Armi RatiaView garment · Date not documented
Marimekko co-founder, textile artist and creative leader
- Bonnie CashinView garment · Later work · fall/winter 1964–65
Useful details become the design
- Christian DiorView garment · Spring/Summer 1947
A new silhouette for couture
- Claire McCardellView garment · 1942
Design for everyday life
- Cristóbal BalenciagaView garment · Later work · spring/summer 1956
Sculpting the space around the body
- Digby MortonView garment · autumn 1942
Practical tailoring
- Ebba von EckermannView garment · Date not documented
Handwoven wool · Vivid tweeds · Woven skirts
- Edward MolyneuxView garment · 1949
Modern taste and classical drapery
- Emilio PucciView garment · Later work · 1950s
The expressive printed surface
- Emilio SchuberthView garment · Later work · 1954
A founding figure of organized Italian couture
- Erik MortensenView garment · Later work · 1991
Danish craftsmanship at the heart of Paris couture.
- Germana MarucelliView garment · Later work · Late 1950s
A founding woman of organized Italian couture
- Gilbert AdrianView garment · 1945
Modern art, Hollywood and precise cutting
- Göta TrägårdhView garment · Later work · June 1955
Graphic textile patterns · Stylised foliage · Fashion illustration
- Hardy AmiesView garment · Later work · 1969–70
From patterned dresses to leather trousers
- Hattie CarnegieView garment · Earlier work · ca. 1935
American formality with intricate surfaces
- House of PaquinView garment · Earlier work · c. 1923–24
An influential couture house led by successive generations of designers.
- Irene GalitzineView garment · Later work · 1960–1961
An aristocratic amateur who became a couturier
- Irene LentzView garment · late 1940s
Tailoring for the California wardrobe
- Jacques FathView garment · spring/summer 1947
The waist and the sculptural neckline
- Jacques GriffeView garment · 1949–53
The expressive possibilities of draping
- Jacques HeimView garment · Later work · ca. 1950
Coordinated dressing across occasions
- Jessie Franklin TurnerView garment · 1940
Artistic dress for life at home
- Jo CopelandView garment · 1945
An independent voice in American design
- Jole VenezianiView garment · Later work · 1952
A founding woman of organized Italian couture
- Lucien LelongView garment · Earlier work · early 1930s
Couture shaped through creative direction
- Madame CarvenView garment · Later work · Autumn–Winter 1952–1953
Couture designed for petite women
- Madame GrèsView garment · Later work · fall/winter 1954–55
Structure made from continuous folds
- Maija IsolaView garment · 1960–1979
A painter’s eye for pattern and color
- MainbocherView garment · ca. 1948
Considered elegance for individual clients
- Marc BohanView garment · Later work · 1964
Poised couture with a slender, wearable line.
- Marcel RochasView garment · Earlier work · mid-1930s
Ruffles, proportion and tailored line
- Maria AntonelliView garment · Later work · 1960–1969
A founding woman of organized Italian couture
- Maurice RentnerView garment · Later work · 1954
High-end American ready-to-wear with precise tailoring.
- Micol FontanaView garment · Date not documented
The Fontana sisters and Rome’s couture industry
- Nettie RosensteinView garment · 1945
American eveningwear and graphic invention
- Nina RicciView garment · Earlier work · spring/summer 1937
A Paris house of feminine couture
- Norman HartnellView garment · Later work · 1950
Formal silk and a defined waist
- Norman NorellView garment · Later work · fall 1972
Refinement in ready-to-wear
- Pauline de RothschildView garment · c. 1949
Luxurious custom eveningwear before a celebrated career in interiors.
- Pauline TrigèreView garment · Later work · 1953
Clear shapes and tactile ornament
- Pierre BalmainView garment · Later work · 1953
Postwar form and embroidered detail
- Riitta ImmonenView garment · Later work · 1990
Individual dressmaking · Atelier fashion
- Robert PiguetView garment · Earlier work · 1935–37
Tailored restraint and postwar contrast
- Simonetta Colonna di CesaròView garment · Later work · 1955
Postwar Roman couture and American clients
- Tina LeserView garment · 1948
American leisurewear with textile range
- ValentinaView garment · Earlier work · 1939
Complex construction with apparent simplicity
- Vera MaxwellView garment · 1942
Practical clothing and coordinated color
- Zelda Wynn ValdesView garment · Later work · ca. 1955
Tailored glamour and a path for Black designers