Sarah Lane

History has transformed dramatically over the past 100 years, shaping the modern world as we know it. While history metamorphosed, women’s fashion has changed alongside it. Each decade of fashion has its own unique styles that defined women of the past. Women were often viewed as the lesser sex throughout some of the 20th century—enslaved by gender roles and societal ideals. Even though women may not have always been able to express themselves in society, women have always revealed themselves through they clothing they wear. Fashion has been the symbol of rebellion, liberation, creativity, and self-expression to women all throughout the 20th century, and the looks of the past have strongly influenced modern day fashion trends seen today. Diana Vreeland once said, “Fashion is part of the daily air and it changes all the time, with all the events. You can even see the approaching of a revolution in clothes. You can see and feel everything in clothes.”

At the turn of the century, women dressed significantly different than what is seen today. In the 1900s, the fashion world was still in the Victorian Era, which started in 1837 and ended around 1901. The Victorian Era of fashion was inspired by the time span in which Queen Victoria reigned over the United Kingdom; she not only ruled the UK, but she also influenced fashion, culture, and the world during her reign. Victorian fashion is primarily characterized by elaborate clothing. A major staple in Victorian fashion was the corset, and it was utilized to define women’s waists and give a more feminine silhouette. Along with the corset, women also wore elegant dresses with wide, full skirts to contrast their tiny waists. Women either wore hoop skirts made from large crinoline underskirts or long bustle skirts with petticoats. Over their dresses and skirts, women would wear elaborate jackets with puff sleeves and ruffled necks. Under their skirts, women would typically have on delicate, laced-up shoes with a kitten heel, and to complete the look, women paired their outfits with bonnets or small parasols. After the Victorian Era came the Edwardian Era, which gets its name from King Edward who reigned from 1901 to 1910. Edwardian fashion was very similar to Victorian fashion, but the clothes were not quite as elaborate or uncomfortable. Corsets were loosened, and crinoline became a trend of the past. Eventually the two eras inspired the “Gibson Girl”, which was a women’s fashion ideal created by the illustrator Charles Dana Gibson. His illustrations depicted delicate and feminine women with beautiful, bare-faced women with flowing, long, wavy hair effortlessly pinned into a bun atop their heads wearing long dresses with corsets. The “Gibson Girl” trend lasted throughout the 1910s.

In the 1920s, fashion completely revolutionized. During this time, young women rebelled against societal beliefs and fashion of the previous decade. Instead of restrictive corsets, pinned up long hair, and long bustle skirts, young women wore short, loose, beaded dancing dresses with short, bobbed hair. Flappers wanted to redefine what it meant to be a woman. Unlike the past, Flappers began wearing makeup. Previously, the only women that wore makeup were famous actresses or prostitutes. Flappers did not start lightly, they wore full-faces of makeup. Flapper makeup consisted of face powder, black eyeliner, dark eyeshadow, cheek rouge, and red and berry-colored lipsticks. The eyeshadows were darker shades like black, brown, grey, or even silver. Lipsticks were usually only worn in the middle of the lips to make them appear smaller. In addition to their heavy makeup, flappers wore very thin eyebrows that were downturned to make them appear sad. Flappers, also, chopped off their hair into close-cropped bobs that were usually dyed to a darker shade. Famous silent-film actresses such as Louise Brooks or Colleen Moore wore their hair in sleek, short bobs with straight bangs that inspired many to cut their hair. Flappers also began wearing drop-waist dresses with beads or fringe, and to go with their dresses, flappers would wear close-fitted cloche hats, strapped kitten heels, and rayon stockings connected to garter belts. In the 1930s, many of the trends from the 20s remained, such as short hair, but many trends were phased out due to the Great Depression. The Great Depression began on Black Tuesday, October 29, 1929, when the stock market crashed. During that time, women’s fashion was conservative—skirts were lengthened and waist-lines returned to the normal position. Fashion was not a major focus during the 30s because the world was more concerned with its economic state. Due to the stock market crash, clothing designers began using cheaper materials for clothing, and clothing became more accessible and mass-produced.

In the 1940s, the world was just rising out of the Great Depression to face the Second World War. During this time, women’s clothing was modeled after utility clothes produced the war. Key features of women’s clothing in the early 1940s was padded square shoulders and narrow skirts that ended below the knee. Many women began to wear more comfortable clothing for work, such as tailored suits, slacks, and blouses with padded shoulders and skirts. The fashion world completely changed in 1947 when Christian Dior launched his “New Look”. The “New Look” was much more feminine than the former utilitarian style. Key features of the new look were the more rounded shoulders, defined waist and bust, and padded and full skirts that ended below the calves. The 1950s was a regressive time for women. In the previous decade, women were working in factories and offices while making their own money. While men were at war, women gained a new sense of freedom. In the 40s, women would wear more comfortable clothes, but after the creation of Christian Dior’s “New Look”, women were influenced to look more feminine. In order to get the ideal “New Look,” women would have to squeeze into corset and wear pads on the bust and hips to achieve an hourglass figure, which outraged women all over. Women did not want to give up the freedoms they just gained, but eventually, men returned home from the war and women were expected to go back home and be perfect housewives/mothers. The man of the house was to be the breadwinner, and women were to spend money on making themselves appear beautiful and wealthy. During the 1950s, usually dolled themselves up in A-line dresses in either solid pastel or floral patterns, nylon stockings, and small pastel colored kitten kittens. Women would complete the “perfect housewife” look with cat eyeliner, red or pastel pink lipstick, and coordinating accessories like gloves, bags, and jewelry. Everyone attempted to be “happy” and “normal” after the war, but the façade faded and unhappy youth and housewives did not want to conform any longer. Many youth in the late 50s started following the Beatnik fashion trends, such as turtlenecks, berets, neck scarves, and striped tops. In 1957, Top of FormHubert de Givenchy created the ‘sack dress’, which juxtaposed Dior’s “New Look” and gave rise to new trends of the 60s (1940-1949).

The 1960s was a dynamic period for fashion. At the start of the 60s, everyone adored the fashions of Jackie Kennedy. Jackie was always adorned in dresses or suits with perfectly matching accessories, but after the assassination of her husband, John F. Kennedy, see was not in the public eye anymore. Women started looking for a new style inspiration after Jackie Kennedy, so many began to follow the trends of Brigitte Bardot. Bardot’s style was significantly different than Jackie Kennedy’s. Brigitte Bardot was sultry and often wore off-the-shoulder dresses paired with her wild, wavy blonde hair updos and heavy eye-makeup. While some may have followed Bardot’s style, many, especially younger women started following the Mod movement. The Mod movement was created by Mary Quant and characterized by short shift dresses, geometric patterns, bold colors, black turtlenecks, and white go-go boots. Also, at the time, materials like vinyl were commonly being used to create shoes like Mary Janes, oxfords, saddle shoes, and loafers in a wide range of varying colors. To match their colorful new vinyl shoes, many women would pair them with geometric, giant plastic earrings and bangles. Young women that sported the Mod style also wore the iconic hairstyles that went along with it, like the pixie cut, the bob, and the beehive. Also, prevalent was the unique doll-like makeup; women would wear pale blue eyeshadow with thick black kohl eyeliner and almost cartoon-like false lashes paired with baby pink lipstick (1960-1969). This look was made popular by models like Twiggy and Jean Shrimpton. Mary Quant wanted her style to be fun and freeing, almost like an extended childhood for young adults. Towards the end of the 60s, many women began wearing more natural colors, comfortable clothes. In New York, 1969, the hippie music festival, Woodstock, inspired the clothing that would dominate the next decade. According to Daniel James Cole and Nancy Deihl, “The major theme of fashion in the 1970s is variety. The late 1960s established fashion genres that were explored further by designers in the 1970s.” In the early seventies, the fashions of the hippie movement were popularized; hippie women would be found wearing bohemian style clothing such as prairie dresses, peasant blouses, vests, fur coats, and bell bottom jeans. Hippies would adorn themselves in a multitude of chunky accessories like oversized tortoise shades, wide brim hats, chunky necklaces. Women usually didn’t wear much makeup during this time, but if they did, they would often wear something pearlescent to give them a natural glow. Bronzers and lip gloss became popular at this time, but nothing was as important as hair! There were so many hairstyles to choose from back then—waves, bowl cut, afro, shag, pageboy, feathered, mullet—the styles were endless. Also, during this decade, many new trends such as the graphic tee, hot pants, and pantsuits were prevalent as well. In the late seventies, the punk movement made way into the fashion culture as a rebellion against the hippie movement. Punk fashion was exemplified by black leather, studs, fishnets, cheetah prints, and heavy makeup topped with red lips. Many would emulate the fashions of their favorite punk musicians. The Punk movement may have stayed in the 70s, but it did not end there.

The 1970s may have been a wild time in women’s fashion, but the 1980s was even wilder. In the 70s, many women enjoyed wearing subdued, natural colors, but in the 80s, bright colors were everything. Women wore bright colored eyeshadows with intense blush and colorful lipstick. Since athleticism and exercise were popular in the early 80s, women were often seen wearing leotards, tights, and leg-warmers in every shade in the rainbow. A big trend in the 80s was big hair; the bigger the hair, the better you were. Women would curl, crimp, perm, and practically fry their hair off to make their hair look voluminous and texturized. Also, during this time, “power dressing” was common among women in the workforce. Women would dress more masculine and powerful in order to gain power and confidence among male co-workers. A working woman may have been seen wearing “tailored, pinstripe suit, albeit with a short skirt, set off with enormous, mannish shoulder pads” to gain recognition in the workplace (Dyhouse). Towards the end of the 80s, punk was slowly branching out into the goth and metal subcultures. Like, punk, goth and metal fashions were edgy, dark, and strongly influenced by music. Many goth women looked up to Siouxsie Sioux of Siouxsie and the Banshees for inspiration on clothing and makeup. Unlike the 1980s, the 1990s were very minimalistic in fashion. People did not wear the bright, gaudy colors of the previous decade. Many wore blacks, whites, greys, and muted and neutral colors. In the early 1990s, grunge music and fashion was all the rage. Popularized by bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Hole, grungers wore plaid flannel shirts, graphic music tees, converse shoes, and tattered jeans. Grunge was extremely prevalent in the 90s until Kurt Cobain committed suicide and the trend started losing the following it once had. Additionally, many young women in the during the time began wearing plaid school girl skirts. Young women were inspired by pop-culture icons like Britney Spears, Nancy Downs form the Craft, and Cher Horowitz from Clueless. Another 90s fad was to dress like characters from the hit TV show Friends. Women would choose the character they would want to emulate—Rachel, Monica, Phoebe—and steal her style! In fact, many women would ask their hairdressers to style their hair after Rachel Green from friends, so the “Rachel” became a very common style back then. Women in the 1990s, and throughout the 20th century have been inspired by pop-culture icons that lived during the time.

The trends of the 20th century have influenced the past as well as the future. Women in the 20th century have paved the path for modern women to wear whatever they please. Every rebellious decade has influenced society to progress forward into the world we live in today. Now, women are free to do and wear whatever they want. In fact, many women today wear clothing inspired or even from the past 100 years. Catherine Bardey once said that fashion was “a subtle blend of elegance and ease, a juxtaposition of the old with the new, a little tradition mixed in with the avant-garde.” Fashion inspires itself from decade to decade, modifying old styles into new trends. No one knows what is next in the future of fashion, but the inspiration will most-likely come from the past, but from the ashes of the past a phoenix of the future will rise.